Chef Daniel Bouloud's Recipe Index

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Daniel Boulud's Café Boulud Cookbook, coauthored by Dorie Greenspan, Scribner, November 1999.

Makes 6 servings

The apples:

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 6 Rome apples, peeled and cored, each cut into 6 to 8 wedges
• 1 moist, plump vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/3 cup Armagnac

Warm the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. When the butter is foamy, add the apples, vanilla and sugar and cook, stirring constantly, until the apples are lightly caramelized, 7 to 10 minutes. Lower the heat, cover the pan and cook 5 minutes more, until the apples are almost cooked through. Add the Armagnac and, standing away from the pan, set it aflame. When the flames subside, turn the apples over in the Armagnac; when the flames die out, transfer the apples to a plate and cool to room temperature. (Once cooled, the apples can be covered airtight and kept refrigerated for up to 12 hours.)

The croustade:

• 8 sheets phyllo
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and still warm
• ½ cup confectioner's sugar, sifted
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds
• Creme fraiche, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, for accompaniment

1) Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350^o F. Place a 10-inch tart ring or, in a pinch, a 10-inch springform pan minus the bottom, on a nonstick baking sheet. Stack the phyllo on your work surface and cover it with a damp towel. (While you are working with one sheet of phyllo, keep the rest covered with the towel.)

2) Brush the top sheet of phyllo with butter, dust it with confectioner's sugar, and lift the sheet off the stack. Crumple the dough and press it into the ring - it should be fairly flat and shouldn't come up the sides of the ring; sprinkle with about one-fifth of the almonds. Repeat this procedure three more times, until you have four buttered, sugared, and almond-sprinkled sheets of phyllo in the ring.

3) Spoon the apples into the center of the croustade, leaving a 1-inch border bare. Working as you did before, butter, sugar and crumple a sheet of phyllo, fitting it into the ring to cover the apples. Sprinkle this layer with almonds and cover with another crumpled sheet of buttered and sugared phyllo. Slip the croustade into the oven and bake about 10 minutes, watching the top of the tart carefully to make certain it doesn't brown too much. The top should be just lightly browned after 10 minutes. Remove the croustade from the oven.

4) Increase the oven temperature to 400^o F. Butter and sugar another sheet of phyllo, this time crumpling it very lightly so that when you place it on top of the croustade it creates a light, airy crown. Bake the tart 7 minutes, or until lightly browned, before pulling the baking sheet from the oven.

5) Butter the last sheet of phyllo and, once again, crumple it to make a crown. Place it on top of the croustade and dust it heavily with confectioner's sugar. Return the tart to the oven and bake until the top layer caramelizes evenly, about 5 minutes. Check the progress of the sugar frequently because it can go from brown to burnt in a flash. Pull the croustade from the oven as soon as the top is a golden caramel color and allow it to cool for 5 to 10 minutes.

To serve: Lift off the cake ring or remove the springform and, using two large, wide metal spatulas, transfer the croustade to a serving plate. Serve the tart warm or at room temperature the day it is made with creme fraiche, lightly sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. To feel like a true Gascon musketeer, serve a shot of Armagnac alongside each slice of croustade.