Friday, March 16, 2007

Apple Pie


After all my apple recipes I’ve tried this season thks to the tree out the back I cant believe it has taken me so long to get to the good old classical apple pie. With nearly the last of my Granny Smiths I made this superb version from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Dinners. The recipe suggests a mix of both cooking & eating apples however I stuck to the Granny Smiths & it was excellent, my mum proclaimed it was about the best she has eaten & was amazed at how easy the pastry was to make from scratch & of course the result no comparison to the frozen variety at all.

Apple Pie

Pastry
225g flour
140g butter
85g caster sugar
finely grated rind of 1 lemon
2 egg yolks

Filling
A small knob of butter
Flour, for dusting
1 large Bramley cooking apple
4 eating apples
3 tablespoons Demerarra or muscovado sugar
zest of ½ a lemon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
a handful of sultanas or raisins
1 egg yolk mixed with a splash of milk

Preheat oven to 150c. To make the pastry, in a food processor, whiz up the flour, butter, caster sugar & lemon rind, then add the egg yolk & a tiny drop of water to bind the mix together. Butter a 20cm inch metal pie dish (metal is supposed to conduct heat better & cook the bottom at the same time as the top – I used a ceramic dish with no ill effects).

Divide your pastry dough into two & roll half of it out on a flour dusted surface until 0.5cm thick. Lay the pastry in the metal dish & gently push it down into the sides. Don’t worry if it tears or breaks, just patch it up. Pop the pie dish & remaining half of the pastry into the fridge, peel your apples, core & cut into eighths. Toss them into a pan with the sugar, lemon zest, ginger, sultanas or raisins & a tablespoon of water. Simmer gently for 5 minutes or until the apples are just tender. Remove from heat & allow to cool completely.

Remove the pie dish from the fridge & pack the apple mix tightly into the dish. Egg wash the pastry rim & then roll out the remaining pastry & drape over the top of the pie. Roughly pinch the edges together & trim any excess pastry. Egg wash the top, make a couple of small incisions & bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes. Serve hot with ice cream, cream, custard or whatever takes your fancy.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I made this exact same pie but i doubled the pastry recipe as i just love crust :) Ohhh we were in heaven whilst eating this it was sooo good!