Pommes à la Portugaise

Pommes à la Portugaise (poached apple cases with orange frangipane) teaches one clear lesson: every element must hold its shape before the dish is assembled. The apple cases stay firm, the crème frangipane stands in a mound, and the swollen fruit is drained properly. The final ten minutes in the oven warm and settle the composition; they cannot repair a loose filling or a sodden apple.

The original assumed an entremetier with poached apple cases, a bowl of stiff crème frangipane, and semolina-croquette preparation already waiting. Here, those brigade batches become four apples, two small saucepan preparations, and one shallow gratin dish in a moderate home oven. The separate service bowls were scaffolding and have been scaled away. The firm cases, orange, macaroons, Curaçao-swelled currants and sultanas, semolina base, and red-currant glaze are the dish, so every one remains. One cook, one stove, one evening.

When it is right, each apple arrives upright and glossy, its ruby jelly catching the orange julienne while the filling stays soft beneath its surface. The decisive step is the crème frangipane: cook it until the spoon leaves a clean track and it holds a ridge before the apples are filled.