It's raining apples

It’s raining apples. The tree on our plot is laden with rosy fruit and the windfalls are carpeting the ground. They are good to eat, good to cook and if left any longer good to rot. Our neighbour, Franco, says they are too hard for his teeth when we offer him a bag. This sets him reminiscing on his youth in Italy. He tells how he and his brothers would crush apples with a clothes mangle – put it all in a large drum and leave it to ferment for a week. Then they would guzzle it … very alcoholic he says! You don’t say! Cider Italian style. 

Well I make something much more sedate...

A quick apple tart

You will need a quantity of sweet pastry – how much depends on how large a tart you want. I usually make a quantity using 10 oz flour to 5 oz butter. If you want to make it really quickly just buy the pastry.

Preheat the oven 200 degrees or gas mark 6. Put the pastry in the fridge to rest while you peel, core and cut the apples into quarters and then half moon slices. Put these into a bowl of water acidulated with a squeeze of lemon to stop the slices browning. Roll out the pastry reasonably thinly in a rectangle or circle. Arrange rows of overlapping slices of apple on the pastry. Cram them in as they do shrink in the oven. Now sprinkle soft brown sugar liberally over the slices and then dot with butter. Finally shake over some ground cinnamon. Bake the tart for about 20 -30 minutes until the pastry is golden and the apples soft and slightly caramelised. Delicious hot or cold – irresistible with ice cream or cream.