Sophia's Apple and Raspberry Sensation
I had a roll of French puff pastry in the freezer. Although I don't like to buy pre-prepared foodstuff, pastry seems to work fine. And it certainly saves a lot of time. So, I allowed it to defrost for about 2 hours. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
I peeled 4 large Granny Smith apples, cored and sliced them into slices of about 1cm thick. These I cooked in a saucepan with +/- 4 tablespoons butter and +/- 6 tablespoons yellow sugar (depending on how sour the apples are and how sweet you like it). I added a sprinkling of cinnamon and let them stew for a few minutes. Then I set them aside to cool down.
I prepared a thick custard using about 350ml full cream milk, about 2 tablespoons vanilla essence and about 3 tablespoons of yellow sugar (also depends on how sweet you like it). I use yellow sugar because it gives everything a rich yellow colour. Bring this to the boil, but don't let it boil over. While the milk is heating, mix 3 heaped teaspoons custard powder with a little milk or water and set aside. As soon as the milk is boiling, add the custard mixture to the boiling milk. Stir continuously until it thickens. Let it cool slightly while you roll the pastry out thinly, place in the dish (I gave the dish a light brushing of melted butter) and prick the bottom with a fork. Now place the apples in the bottom, then top with 1 punnet fresh raspberries (about 180g). Use a whisk to get rid of any lumps in the custard. Top with the custard. Then sprinkle with almond flakes. Brush the pastry with egg yolk and bake for 30 minutes. Then turn the grill on to allow the almonds to brown slightly - be careful to watch this closely and only let it grill for a few minutes. Allow the tart to stand for a about 10 minutes before serving.
I served a slice on a plate, sprinkled the plate with icing sugar, and decorated with a sprig of lemongrass. It was truly delicious! By the way, I use a tea infuser to sprinkle the icing sugar over - it works very effectively! There, my tip for the day!
