Original
Per fare torta di mel'appie
Recipe Source: Cap CXVI, Libro quinto, Scappi
Piglisi la mela appia & faccili brustolire nelle bracie, & poi levisi la scorza che fara arfa, con vino, o con l'acqua, & si tagli la parte migliore in fettoline, pestandole nel mortaro, con oncie due di mostaccioli per ogni due libre di felloline, & oncie quattro di cascio grattato, & sei di provatura fresca, & pistache fara ogni cosa, giungaseli seirossi d'oue crude, & due col chiaro, mezz' oncia di cannela pista, et mezza tra pepe, garfali, & noci moscate, & otto oncie di zuccaro, & d'essa compositione se ne fara torta nella tortiera, doue sia un sfoglio di pasta alquanto grossetto, & il tortiglione a torno. Et no volendole brustolire, si taglino in sette, e si faccino sof friggere nel butiro, overo stufar le con zuccaro, & vino, & acquarola. Tenendo l'ordine di farla cuocere al forno, al sotto il testo, & come le so proaferitte, et tal torta d'ogni tempo si puo servire fredda, & caldo beneplacito.
Translation
To Prepare an Apple Tourte
Translation Source: "The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi", page 486 (Chapter 5, recipe 116)
Translator: Terrence Scully
Get red apples and roast them in the coals, then remove the burnt skin with wine and water. Cut the best part into thin slices, grinding them in a mortar with two ounces of mostaccioli for every two pounds of apple slices, along with four ounces of grated cheese and six ounces of fresh provatura. When everything is ground up, add in six raw egg yolks and two eggs with their whites, half an ounce of ground cinnamon, half an ounce of pepper, cloves and nutmeg together, and eight ounces of sugar. With that mixture make a tourte in a tourte pan with a rather thick pastry shell and a twist around it. If you do not want to roast them, slice them and saute them in butter or else stew them in sugar, wine, and rosewater, following the procedure for baking the tourte in the oven or braising it, like the previous ones. A tourte like that can always be served cold or hot, as you like.
Redaction (8 servings)
** Makes 24 tartlets - 3 tartlets per person
Redaction Source: HL Suzanne de la Ferté
Shortcrust Pastry:
1 c. flour
1/2 c. butter, cut into small pieces
APPLE FILLING
2 medium Cortland apples
1/8 cup light brown sugar
1/8 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
CHEESE FILLING (makes enough for 4 batches)
10 oz Cream cheese, softened
5 tbsp Butter
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Ginger
1 pinch Salt
5 ea Egg whites
Method:
1. MAKE THE TART SHELLS: Add butter to flour with pastry knife or a fork, blending well until mixture resembles sand. Add just enough cold water to make a soft dough. Gather into a balland let rest.
2. MAKE THE APPLE FILLING: Peel apples, then coarsely grate them and squeeze out the excess liquid. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the sugars, lemon juice, vanilla and cinnamon.
3. MAKE THE CHEESE FILLING: With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon (or in a food processor or electric mixer) cream the butter and cream cheese. When the mixture is well blended, cream in the sugar, the ginger, and a pinch of salt. Whip the egg whites briefly to break them up, then add to the cream cheese mixture in a thin stream beating briskly all the while.
4. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
5. Cut the dough into 8 pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each piece to a 5-inch round and place on small square of waxed paper. Transfer the rounds to eight muffin tins. Press the dough into the molds and up the sides (there should be some extra dough at the top).
6. Pour the cheese filling into the tart shells.
7. Using a fork, fill the tart shells with the apple mixture, leaving all the excess liquid in the bowl.
8. Fold the excess pastry of each tartlet onto the top of the filling.
9. Freeze the tartlets.
10. The night before the feast, remove tartlets from freezer so they can thaw.
11. Preheat oven to 375°F.
12. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet; bake for about 35 minutes, until the crust is lightly browned. Serve.