The pastry in this recipe is called pâte brisée sucrée (or pâte sucrée), which is a sweet French short crust and generally used for desserts. It is generally more crumbly and cookie-like, and you can flavour it with vanilla, kirsch, or brandy. Although you can use pâte brisée as the pastry, the addition of sugar and vanilla makes it extra nice for desserts.

Tarte aux pommes is a well-known dessert in the Normandy region of France. Normandy is famous for its rich cream and apples. A similar tart called tarte Normande has a mixture of applesauce and ground almonds in it.

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Recipe: Pâté Sucrée 

175 g (1 cup) all-purpose flour
75 g (½ cup) cake and pastry flour
4 ounces (7 tablespoons) butter, softened
1 egg
Pinch salt
40 g (3 tablespoons) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon water
1 egg, slightly beaten, for glazing




The recipe can be found in Le Cordon Bleu at Home (affiliate link).

adapted from Link


Serves 6; 1 tart pan (8 inch or 21 cm)

Compote
3 apples, chopped into a paysanne (small squares)
50 g (3½ tablespoons) butter
50 g (3½ tablespoons) sugar
1 lemon, juiced
50 ml (3 tablespoons) water

Garnish
3 apples, sliced into ⅛ inch (3 mm) thick slices
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons sugar
¼ cup apricot glaze

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Dust the work surface with flour. Roll out the pastry to a round about ⅛ inch (3 mm). Don’t roll it too thick or it will be hard and don’t roll it too thin or it will break. Roll the pastry up onto the rolling pin or fold it in half and then unroll loosely over the tart pan.

With your fingers, press the pastry into the pan. With a thumb and index finger, mold a 1 cm (½ inch) horizontal lip around the inside of the rim, then roll the rolling pin over the rim to cut off the excess pastry.

Pinch the lip of pastry into a decorative shape with pastry pinchers or your fingers. Prick the bottom of the pastry shell (also called docking) all over with a fork and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Blind bake the tart shell. Remove from the oven and cool.

To prepare the apple compote, peel and core the apples. Cut the apples into a paysanne (small squares).

Melt the sugar and water and cook until a golden brown. Add the butter, lemon juice, and apples. Cook until the apples are slightly tender, about 8 minutes, stirring very frequently.

Spoon the apple compote into the blind baked tart shell.

Peel and core the remaining apples. Cut each in half. Lay each half flat on a work surface and cut crosswise into ⅛ inch (3 mm) thick slices. Fan the apples and starting at the outside edge and working inward towards the center, arrange the apple slices.

Mix the softened butter with the sugar. With the back of a spoon spread this mixture over the apple slices.

Wrap aluminum foil over the cooked lip of the tart shell to protect from burning during cooking. Bake in the oven for about 40-50 minutes or until the apples are tender and golden brown. Remove and allow to cool on a cake rack.

To serve, heat the apricot glaze in a small saucepan. Gently brush over the apple slices to coat completely with the glaze. Serve warm or cold.

Tasting Notes

Since I used Granny Smith apples, the pie had a tartness to it. It had a pure, traditional apple pie taste. The pastry was delicious: flaky and crunchy. Next time I would add some cinnamon for fun.

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Running total: $125.09 + $1.76 (pâte sucrée) + $4.92 (tarte aux pommes) = $131.77

Butter used so far: 1 pound, 27.5 tablespoons

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Quiche can be served hot or cold and is typically served for breakfast or brunch, but it also makes a nice hors d'œuvre. According to Mastering the Art of French Cooking (affiliate link), a classic Quiche Lorraine does not contain cheese.

From Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom (affiliate link)

You can use heavy or light cream or milk. Here are the proportions:

* 1 egg in a measuring cup plus cream or milk to the ½-cup level
* 2 eggs in a measuring cup plus cream or milk to the 1-cup level
* 3 eggs in a measuring cup plus cream or milk to the 1½-cup level
* and so on

Blind bake the crust so that you have a crispy crust, which is especially important when baking a pie shell that contains a filling.

For the pâte brisée, follow the same instructions as for the Flamiche.

Recipe: Pâte Brisée

Measure the flour into a large mound on the counter. Make a well and add the salt, egg, and butter. Mix the ingredients in the well with your fingertips. Rub it in with your fingertips or pastry scraper until well blended. (The butter should not be too cold because then it will be too hard to rub in. However, it should not be too warm or soft because then it will make the pastry tough.) Add only enough water to bring the dough together. Knead the pastry very lightly (by pushing bits of dough away from you, which is called fraisage, or final blending). Wrap and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough and chill it again. Blind bake the crust by heating the oven to 425°F. Prick the base of the dough (called docking). Line the shell with parchment paper, foil, or even plastic wrap (which is the most flexible and doesn't melt in the oven). Fill with pie weights. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 375°F and continue baking until pastry is a light golden color. Remove the lining and pie weights. Continue baking if you're completely cooking the pie shell for about 8-12 minutes until browned. Cool.

Recipe for Quiche Lorraine 

Note: I've added leeks and cheese. I think I was sleeping when I was doing my research for this one since classic Quiche Lorraine doesn't include them. Next time, I'll leave them out!

Serves: 4-6

1 pound leek, white parts only, sliced (about 3½ cups)
½ cup water
3 tablespoons butter

½ to 1 cup bacon, cooked and sliced
3 eggs
1½ cups whipping cream
1 teaspoon salt (leave out if including the bacon)
pinch of pepper
pinch of nutmeg
8-inch pastry shell, partially cooked

¼ cup (1 ounce) Swiss or Gryère cheese, grated
1 tablespoon butter, cut into pea-sized dots

You can find the recipe in  Mastering the Art of French Cooking (affiliate link).

Tasting Notes

This is a tasty, rich quiche. I found the quiche too salty and next time wouldn't include the salt if I'm including the bacon too.

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Running total: $111.29 + $1.68 (pâte brisée) + $12.12 (quiche) = $125.09

Butter used so far: 1 pound, 15 tablespoons

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A pâté can be made from one or more of the following base meats (called forcemeats): beef, chicken, duck, fish, goose, ham, lamb, liver, pheasant, pork, seafood, vegetables, or wild game.

It is typically wrapped in caul fat (pronounced KAHL), which is the edible, lace-like fatty intestinal lining of an animal. As the pâté is roasted, the caul fat melts, bastes and flavours the pâté, and leaves a brown lacy texture on the top. What more could you ask from pig caul fat (which I guess is better than sheep caul fat)! Thin strips of bacon can be used as a substitute, and I've read that some chefs use cabbage or chard leaves instead. You can buy caul fat at some butcher shops and freeze it indefinitely.

Recipe: Pâte Brisée

Measure the flour into a large mound on the counter. Make a well and add the salt, egg, and butter. Mix the ingredients in the well with your fingertips. Rub it in with your fingertips or pastry scraper until well blended. (The butter should not be too cold because then it will be too hard to rub in. However, it should not be too warm or soft because then it will make the pastry tough.) Add only enough water to bring the dough together. Knead the pastry very lightly (by pushing bits of dough away from you, which is called fraisage, or final blending). Wrap and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Recipe: Pâté de Campagne 

Yield: 20 or more appetizer slices

For the spice mix:
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
24 allspice berries
6 cloves
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme

For the forcemeat:
¾ pound veal shoulder, coarsely ground
2¼ pounds pork shoulder (Boston butt or pork butt), coarsely ground
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
⅓ cup shallots, chopped
¼ ounce dried porcini mushrooms, chopped dry into ¼ inch pieces (about 3 tablespoons)
⅓ cup pistachio nuts
⅓ cup white wine
2 tablespoons cognac
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons salt
½ pound veal shoulder
4 ounces chicken livers, cleaned and trimmed of sinews
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon cognac

For assembling the pâté:
6 to 8 ounces caul fat
4 ounces country ham, cooked, sliced into long ½ inch thick strips
2 large fresh bay leaves
¼ teaspoon fresh thyme

The recipe can be found in  Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home (affiliate link).

I'm still not a fan of liver. I think this would be wonderful without it. The spice on the meat was very tasty. Although the pastry was flaky and tender, as you can see from the picture, I still need to work on my pastry skills!

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Running total: $87.68 + $1.68 (pâte brisée) + $21.93 (pâté pantin) = $111.29

Butter used so far: 1 pound, 5 tablespoons

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In this recipe, the pastry is pâte brisée (paht bree-ZAY), which is a French short crust and generally used for savory preparations (although puff pastry can be substituted as well). There are many definitions of what constitutes a pâte brisée:

* 3 parts flour, 2 parts fat, 1 part water
* 3 parts flour to 1 part fat with a little salt and liquid
* half fat to flour
* 5 parts flour to 4 parts fat (butter)

The final result should be tender, crunchy, and buttery.

One of the difficulties in making pastry is flour because the characteristics and quality of a specific flour (such as all-purpose) differs according to geographic region. That means that flour in the United States with similar specifications as flour in France may act very differently when used. Experimentation is the key. That is the only way to get a good result.

Another technique you’ll hear when talking about pastry is fraisage. This is a French technique of pushing out the dough with the heel of the hand. This thoroughly blends the flour and butter.

Tips:

* Handle the dough as little as possible to make it easier to work with and tender.

* Weigh the ingredients for accuracy.

* Always sift the flour.

* Ensure you rest the dough for about 30 minutes. If you don’t, the pastry won’t have enough stretch and will keep breaking when it’s rolled.

* To cool your countertop, set a bowl of ice water on it for a few minutes. In Julia Child’s book Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom (affiliate link), she suggests keeping a marble slab in the refrigerator and bringing it out to use when making pastry. (This sounds like such a good idea that I may just have to go shopping!)

* After blind baking the shell for a while, remove the pie weights and brush the shell with an egg glaze to make it resistant to liquid. Return it to the oven to continue cooking. (However, if your pastry cracks on the bottom, as mine did, your filling will escape so make sure your pastry fills the shell well!)

Recipe: Pâte Brisée

You can find the recipe in  Le Cordon Bleu At Home (affiliate link).

Recipe: Flamiche 

3 pounds leeks (before trimming), trimmed and sliced
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 egg yolks
¼ cup heavy cream
salt and freshly ground pepper

You can find the recipe in  Le Cordon Bleu At Home (affiliate link).