Flan de Pommes Chaud Ninon

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •8-inch (20 cm) loose-bottomed tart tin, about 1¼ inches (3 cm) deep
• •Rolling pin
• •Parchment paper and baking weights
• •Wide 12-inch (30 cm) sauté pan
• •Wide 3-quart (2.8 L) saucepan
• •Small saucepan
• •Pastry brush

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the flan pastry

   Combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Rub in the cold butter until the mixture resembles fine crumbs with a few small flakes remaining, then add the beaten egg and mix just until the dough begins to gather. If dry flour remains, add the ice water a teaspoon at a time; stop as soon as the dough holds when pressed. If it feels sticky, don't add more flour. Flatten it into a disc and chill it for 45 minutes, and the butter will firm while the gluten relaxes.

2. 2

   Bake the shell pale

   Heat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Roll the pastry between two sheets of parchment to a ⅛-inch (3 mm) thickness, then line an 8-inch (20 cm) loose-bottomed tart tin, pressing the dough into the corner without stretching it. Save a walnut-sized scrap for repairs, trim the rim, prick the base, and chill the lined tin for 20 minutes. Line it with parchment and weights, then bake for 20 to 22 minutes. Remove the weights and bake for another 8 to 10 minutes, just until the base is dry and the shell is the palest blond. This is cuisson à blanc, blind baking, but colorless never means raw. If a crack appears, press a speck of reserved dough into it while the shell is hot and return it to the oven for 2 minutes.

3. 3

   Stew the apple base

   Melt the butter in a wide pan over medium heat. Add the sliced cooking apples, sugar, and lemon juice, cover, and cook for 8 minutes until the fruit releases its juice and begins to collapse. Uncover and continue cooking for 25 to 35 minutes, stirring and pressing the apples against the pan, until they become a thick, coarse mass. Draw the spoon across the bottom: the furrow must stay open, and a spoonful set on a plate must hold its mound without syrup gathering around it. If it spreads, keep cooking uncovered over medium-low heat. Ça se rattrape. Never add starch, because reduction concentrates the apple while starch makes the filling pasty. If the bottom catches, transfer the unburned apple to a clean pan without scraping the scorched layer. Let the finished filling stand for 10 minutes.

   This reduction is the step that must stay. The filling supports the entire decoration, so cook by the spoon test rather than the clock.
4. 4

   Poach the white quarters

   Combine the water, granulated sugar, and lemon juice in a wide saucepan, stirring over medium heat only until the sugar dissolves. Bring the sirop blanc, the clear poaching syrup, to the gentlest simmer. Add 8 apple quarters in one layer and cover them with a parchment round if they float. Poach for 6 to 10 minutes, turning once, until a thin knife enters with slight resistance. Boiling will break their edges, so keep the syrup quiet. Lift the white quarters onto a tray, then ladle 1½ cups (360 ml) of the clear syrup into a small saucepan and reserve it for the glaze.

5. 5

   Poach the pink quarters

   Tint the syrup remaining in the wide pan with one very small drop of rose-pink coloring. The syrup should look like a pale blush, because the fruit deepens as it poaches. Add the remaining 8 apple quarters and poach them at the same gentle simmer until tender but intact, 6 to 10 minutes. Lift them onto a separate tray so the pink cannot bleed onto the white fruit. If a quarter splits, keep it for the center of the dome, where neighboring fruit will support it.

6. 6

   Reduce the white syrup

   Bring the reserved clear syrup to a steady simmer and reduce it to about ½ cup (120 ml), 10 to 15 minutes. It is ready when it falls from a spoon in a heavy thread and brushes over a cold plate in a thin, glossy film. If it becomes sticky like candy or crystals form at the rim, add 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g) water and warm it gently until smooth again. Keep it warm enough to remain fluid.

7. 7

   Build the Ninon dome

   Spoon the warm stewed apple into the pale shell and shape it into a smooth dome, keeping the filling within the pastry rim. Arrange the poached quarters over it with their curved sides upward, alternating white and pink regularly in two close, staggered rings. Press only enough to seat them; force will push the filling outward. If the components have cooled, warm the assembled flan for 8 minutes in a 300°F (150°C) oven. Brush the quarters delicately with the reduced clear syrup, working from the center outward so you glaze rather than dislodge them. Serve warm, while the butter still lends the apple its sheen and the shell remains crisp. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Use two sorts of apple because they have different jobs. Golden Delicious or another soft-cooking apple collapses into the firm Charlotte filling; a firm dessert apple holds the clean quartered shape required on top.
• •The pink is a visual treatment, not a new flavor. Use the smallest touch of coloring and keep the syrup pale. Raspberry, beet, or red wine would change the flavor and no longer follow the Ninon preparation.
• •Don't pour the glaze over the tart. A pastry brush lays down the thin clear coat the entry calls for, while a ladle adds enough weight and syrup to loosen the carefully arranged fruit.
• •Serve with black coffee or a lightly sweet demi-sec Vouvray. The flan already has butter, fruit, and syrup in generous measure, so it needs no cream alongside.

Advance Preparation

• •Bake the pale flan shell up to 1 day ahead. Cool it completely and keep it airtight at room temperature so it stays crisp.
• •The stewed filling and both colors of poached apple can be prepared up to 1 day ahead. Chill them separately, keeping the white and pink quarters in separate containers with a little of their respective syrup.
• •Before serving, warm the filling gently and bring the quarters just to room temperature. Assemble no more than 30 minutes ahead, then warm briefly and glaze at the last moment; longer holding softens the shell and gives the dome time to slide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 265g)