Rustic Apple Frangipane Tart

We've gone apple-frenzy these days and
have just been loading up on all kinds of apples : Gala, Washington, Granny Smith, Jonathan Gold, Red Delicious and D's fav - Fuji. It's fall, this is the perfect all-American fruit and we've just been seeing apples everywhere. I came back from Costco with another few dozen of different varieties today - yes, more apples, which means I need to use up the existing Granny Smiths fast. While waiting for D to get his H1N1 shot, I was thumbing through a magazine and saw this simple recipe on Apple Galette. I've always wanted to bake one of those country fruit tarts, you know, the rustic-looking type that does not have perfectly-crimped edges and look like you've spent an entire day baking the perfect pie. Rustic and ad-hoc....that's more my style when it comes to cooking.

Since I couldn't take the magazine home with me (so tempted to tear just that page with the recipe but I didn't!), I went back to my good 'ol, reliable friend, Giada for a basic pie dough recipe. In fact, I happen to have an episode of her fig tart recipe on TIVO. The frangipane adds a nice, almony flavor to the tart Tart (got it?). Perfect pie dough - flaky, buttery and not too sweet. D said it was the best tart I've ever made!

Ingredients

For pastry dough:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (leave in refrigerator, covered for at least 30 mins)
2 sticks (10 Tbsp) unsalted butter, cold
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
4 Tbsp ice-cold water
1/4 tsp salt

2 large apples, cored and sliced (lengthwise) to ~ 1/8 inch thick. I used Granny Smith as I like the tartness balanced against the sweet almony frangipane (also because D doesn't like the Granny Smiths raw)

For frangipane:
1/4 cup almond meal (or you can use whole almonds, pour them on a sheet pan and roast in oven @ 360˚F for 12 mins then grind using food processor)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 stick unsalted butter
1/2 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Egg wash: 1 egg
Sprinkle of sugar (granulated) or demerara

Mix and pulse the all ingredients (except cold water) for the dough in the food processor for ~ 3 mins.
Slowly add in water. Pulse couple more times.
Pour and wrap in cling wrap - refrigerate for an hour.
In the meantime, mix all the ingredients for the frangipane in the food processor until you get a paste. Set aside (you can double the recipe and use only half for the tart; store the other half in the fridge up to a week or in the freezer up to 3 weeks)
Spread some flour on a clean, dry work surface.
Roll out the pastry dough in a circle, to ~ 1/4 inch thick.
Spread the frangipane on top of the dough.
Arrange the apple slices on top of the dough, in a fan-circular-form starting from the middle. Leave ~ 1 inch border so that you can fold in the dough to seal in the apples + juices.
Fold in the borders - no crimping - doesn't have to be perfect. The less perfect, the more rustic!

Brush the egg wash on to the borders; sprinkle some sugar
Bake in 425˚F for 45 mins.
Serve plain or a'la mode (good quality french vanilla ice cream is best!)