Breakfast Recipe : Apple Walnut Gorgonzola Rustic Tart

Every fall we are blessed with a bounty of apples and walnuts. I grew up in what used to be a walnut orchard. At one time our house had 5 huge trees, covering both front and backyards, and yielding 500 pounds of walnuts a year (which sounds great unless you are the teenager chain-ganged into investing your afternoons and weekends raking mountains of dank leaves and stooping to select those numerous pounds of nuts.) The trees are old now.

We've lost 2 of the 5 trees (industrial orchard trees don't last permanently and these were planted a minimum of 50 years ago), and the continuing to be trees are just sputtering. It's only a matter of time prior to they're gone too. So we take pleasure in the bounty while we have it (and leave a lot for the crows and squirrels.)

This tart is a riff on an apple walnut turnover I made this summer. Same idea, an outstanding combination by the way, simply this time with maple syrup instead of honey, and in a dead-easy-to-assemble rustic tart kind. It's tasty, and a little sweet. I consumed a huge slice for lunch; my father had his for dessert. Would be excellent for a brunch too.

Apple Walnut Gorgonzola Rustic Tart Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 Pâte Brisée (tart dough) for a 10-inch tart (see all butter crust recipe) or 1 packaged, flat pie crust
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1/4 cup fell apart gorgonzola cheese (or blue cheese).
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, sliced, or 1/2 teaspoon dried.
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup.
• 2 large granny smith apples (or other good cooking apples such as jonagold or fuji), peeled, cored, sliced.
• 1 teaspoon of lemon juice (optional).

Method

Toss the walnuts, gorgonzola, thyme, sliced apples, and maple syrup together in a medium size bowl. As you are working with the apples (chopping them, mixing them in with the other ingredients), if you desire, you can squeeze a little lemon juice on them to help keep them from discoloring. Cover the mixture with plastic wrap while you prepare the crust.

    

Preheat oven to 350 ° F. Roll out pastry dough to 13-inches, at an 1/8 of an inch thickness. Place pastry dough on a rimmed baking sheet. (Rimmed because the pastry will leak butter during the cooking process.) Mound the filling in the middle of the presented dough, and expanded equally to 1 1/2 inches to 2 inches from the edge of the dough. Pleat the edges of the dough over the filling.

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until crust is nicely browned. If at any time it appears like the walnuts are getting a little burnt, you can lightly tent a piece of aluminum foil over the center.
Eliminate from oven and let cool for 10 minutes prior to serving. A pizza wheel works great for slicing up the tart.

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