Apple and Caramel Pie

I love apple compote. It reminds me of my grand parents’ house, where we used to make batches and batches with the apples of the garden. Where I am from, apple compote is mostly used at breakfast, on bread instead of jam, to flavour a natural yogurt or inside those wonderful “turnovers” my mother used to buy after school… Another thing that is synonymous with Brittany, is a love for salty caramels… Oh yeah. I got some beautiful cooking apples at the weekend and decided to put the two together; sure, what could go wrong with those flavours?

This time, and for auld time sake, it has to be flaky pastry. Just put 120g of organic white flour in a bowl and grate in 80g of salted butter. With a table spoon, stir the butter shavings and the flour together. Add in 4 to 5 tbsp of cold water and keep stirring with the spoon in between. Use your hand to finish but don’t let it go too wet! Put the dough ball in cling film and then in the fridge to rest for one or two hours.

Now, for the salty caramel…

In a strong and wide pan, put 200g of white sugar and pour 120ml of cold water over it. Shake the pan a bit to make sure all the sugar is covered and heat up on a medium heat. It is going to take a few minutes to darken but do not leave it unattended. Prepare the rest of the ingredients for the sauce, which are 100g of cubed salted butter and 10cl (100ml) of double cream. You want the sugar to turn amber brown but not too dark or it will go bitter….

When the sugar turns to a deeper colour, take it off the heat…

Take the pan off the heat, but be careful, it is still very hot! Put the cubes of butter in and keep stirring; once melted – which will happen very quickly – pour in the double cream and keep stirring until nice and smooth. Add a little pinch of sea salt at the end.

While the sauce cools a bit, peel, chop and stew the apples with a bit of honey and water. Once cooked, mash them up a bit and allow to cool. Start rolling 2/3 of the pastry for the bottom and keep 1/3 third for the top. Lay the dough on a buttered and floured dish. Pour the caramel sauce at the bottom…

The stewed apple compote must be cool by now, gently spoon it on top of the caramel sauce. “Paint” the edges with egg wash and cover with the other rolled pastry… Then seal and egg wash the top too, before baking at 200c for about 40 minutes.

Serve hot or at room temperature, with a bit of fresh cream or ice cream if you wish, either way, it is going to be really tasty. A nice dish to bring a few cultures together. Isn’t it what it’s all about?

And the truth is, you will have a bit of salted caramel sauce left, put it in a glass or a small jug and keep in the fridge. The hard part will be too keep away from it!