Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2 (186 page)

Other ideas

Use the same system for canned and frozen fruits, like plums, peaches, or apricots. Thaw, if frozen; drain thoroughly, and halve and seed them if necessary. Give them a preliminary baking of 10 minutes or so with 2 or 3 tablespoons of melted butter, a pinch of cinnamon, drops of lemon juice, and a sprinkling of sugar to enhance their flavor. Then pour on the custard mixture and proceed with the recipe.

POMMES SOUFFLÉES, CALVADOS

[Individual Apple Soufflés in Apples]

This is the attractive kind of recipe that looks much dressier than it is—apples baked in wine, then filled with an apple soufflé mixture and baked again on butter-drenched
canapés.
For an essentially simple process, the recipe is purposely detailed because you will want to use this way of baking apples with other fillings and toppings, some of which are suggested at the end of the recipe. Ahead-of-time notes follow each step in the process, so that you can do parts of the dessert whenever you have time, and be ready for the final baking several hours in advance of serving.

For 6 people

1)
Preliminary cooking of the apples

6 firm, unblemished apples 3¼ to 3½ inches in diameter (such as Golden Delicious, Rome Beauty, York Imperial)

1 lemon, quartered

A 10- to 12-inch flameproof baking dish 3½ inches deep and smeared with 1½ Tb softened butter

½ cup dry white wine or vermouth

⅓ to ½ cup sugar (more if apples seem sour)

½ stick cinnamon

A 10- to 12-inch round of heavily buttered waxed paper

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Wash the apples, then prepare one at a time: shave off bottom of apple so it will stand solidly upright. Slanting your knife down toward the core, cut a cap off top of apple about 2 inches in diameter. Peel, reserving peel and all edible apple bits for Step 2. With grapefruit knife, hollow out apple centers and remove seeds, leaving a ½-inch shell of apple all around sides and bottom. Rub inside and out with cut lemon and place in baking dish. When all apples are done, squeeze
remaining lemon juice over them and add lemon pieces to the dish.

Pour the wine around the apples, sprinkle on the sugar, add cinnamon, and bring to simmer on top of stove. Cover with the waxed paper, and set in middle level of preheated oven for about 30 minutes, regulating heat so that liquid never quite simmers. Apples should be tender when pierced with a knife, and ready to eat, but they must keep their shape so that they will stand up to their final cooking. Remove from oven and let cool for at least 10 minutes, waxed paper in place over them.

(*)
AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE
: May be baked even a day in advance. Remove from refrigerator at least half an hour before final baking, Step 4.

2)
The apple purée (soufflé base)

The peel and all edible bits from apple centers

¼ cup water

A heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan with cover

1 cup apricot jam pushed through a sieve (3 Tb for now, the rest for later)

A food mill or sieve

3 or more Tb sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 Tb Calvados, rum, or Cognac

1 egg yolk blended with 3 Tb heavy cream in a small mixing bowl

Optional: drops of red food coloring

While shells are cooking, simmer apple peel and trimmings with water in the covered pan over moderately low heat for about 15 minutes. When tender, purée with 3 tablespoons of the apricot jam through food mill or sieve. Add sugar, vanilla, and spirits; boil down rapidly, stirring constantly until mixture is almost thick enough to hold its shape on a spoon. You should have about ⅔ cup; gradually stir it into bowl with cream and egg yolk. Return to saucepan and stir over moderately high heat until mixture comes almost to the boil and thickens again. Taste, adding more sugar if necessary and drops of red coloring if you think they are needed.

(*)
AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE
: May be completed a day in advance; film surface with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.

3)
Preliminaries to baking the canapés:

About ½ cup clarified butter (melted butter, skimmed; clear liquid spooned off milky residue)

A frying pan

6 rounds of bread 3 inches in diameter and ⅜ inch thick (use homemade-type white bread)

The remaining sieved apricot jam from Step 2

An unbuttered ovenproof serving platter large enough to hold apples easily

The cooked apples

A pastry brush

Film frying pan with ⅛ inch of clarified butter, and set over moderately high heat. When bubbling, add as many bread rounds as will fit easily in one layer, and sauté for a minute or so on each side to brown very lightly, adding a little more butter if needed to
keep bread from burning. These are now called
canapés;
paint one side of each with a coating of apricot jam and set them jam-side up on a platter. One by one, drain the apples, pouring accumulated juices back into baking dish. Paint inside and out with more of the strained apricot jam, and place one apple on each
canapé.
Dribble over them any remaining butter.

the sauce:

A sieve (or the food mill)

A small saucepan

1 tsp arrowroot blended with 3 Tb Calvados, rum, or Cognac

The remaining apricot jam (about ¼ cup, plus sugar if needed, and a tablespoon or so of butter)

Discard lemon rind and cinnamon stick; strain contents of apple-baking dish into saucepan. Beat in arrowroot mixture and apricot jam; bring to the simmer. Simmer 2 to 3 minutes, until sauce has turned from cloudy to clear, and has thickened lightly. Taste for flavor, adding more sugar and butter if you feel the need.

(*)
AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE
:
Canapés
and sauce may be made a day in advance, but do not arrange apples on
canapés
more than an hour or two before baking.

4)
Baking and serving—about 10 minutes at 375 degrees

2 egg whites at room temperature

An egg-white beating bowl and hand-held electric beater or balloon whip

Pinches of salt and cream of tartar

The apple purée from Step 2

A rubber spatula

The platter of apples

Confectioner’s sugar in a small fine-meshed sieve