Squished apple tart

SERVES 6-8 // PREP TIME 15 MINS // COOK 30 MINS

Pastry, caramelised apple and ice-cream is a combination that’s pretty hard to beat. This is more or less a fine apple tart, but the apple goes just that bit further to become almost like an apple-sauce topping. Half a 375gm sheet of butter puff pastry (see note) 4 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and halved 110 gm (½ cup) caster sugar 10 gm unsalted butter

Vanilla ice-cream, to serve 1 Preheat oven to 190°C. Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface to a 3mm-thick rectangle and cut out a 20cm x 30cm rectangle. Place on an oven tray lined with baking paper, top with a sheet of baking paper and another tray. Bake until golden and crisp (18-22 minutes).

2 Meanwhile, cut apple halves into 2mm-thick slices with a mandolin and arrange in rows on an oven tray lined with baking paper to form a rectangle the same size as the pastry (trim edges). Sprinkle 50gm sugar over apple and dot with butter, then bake until apple softens (8-10 minutes).

3 Top apple with pastry, another sheet of baking paper and an oven tray, flip over so the tart is inverted with the apple on top, then weight top with a small ovenproof saucepan and bake until apple is soft and pastry is crisp. (8-10 minutes). Remove from oven, then remove top tray and baking paper.

4 Heat oven grill to high.

Dust tart with remaining sugar, cover edges with foil to prevent burning, and grill until caramelised (1-3 minutes). Cut tart into slices and serve with ice-cream.

Note We’ve used Carême puff pastry. Remaining pastry can be reserved for another use.