The day before New Year’s Eve, I dug out our French tart pan with its removable bottom and made dessert: Tarte aux Pommes from Julia’s book, with an occasional glance at La Rousse. Not my first turn with this dish, so it didn’t take forever and the scent of the apples baking was ambrosia-like. A few days before that, I cavalierly added some lemon juice and sugar to some heavy cream, and to my delight—and surprise—it turned into a passable version of crème fraiche to garnish the tart. The penultimate…