Apple Crumble Pie

This recipe is kinda cobbled together from a bunch of different places because no single recipe seemed to be what I wished to make.

On the bottom is a standard shortcrust base. No sugar - there's going to be plenty of sweetness on top.

Chop up 6 peeled and cored granny smith apples into thin(ish) slices (used my spiral peeler/corer). Don't worry if it looks like too much apple - it'll shrink as we cook out some of the water.

On the theory that you should never put fruit into a pie uncooked lest you end up with a soggy mess, I cooked the apple in a frying pan for about 20 minutes on a medium temperature in 50g of butter and 1/2 cup of castor sugar to reduce the amount of liquid and soften the apple. Added some cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg. Yum!

On the top is 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar and about 45g butter which has been chopped into the flour and sugar to make little breadcrumbs. I used my mini blender (wand attachment) to do this chopping.

Roll out the dough to fill a pie dish.

The cooked apple, the crumble mixture and the pie base can all be prepared, covered and refrigerated before assembly when it's time to bake the pie.

Blind bake the base for 15 minutes at 190ºC. Then put in the filling, cover with the crumble mixture and bake for another 40 minutes.

Serve with a little cream.

Spanish Chicken Pie

Yet another pie I didn't photograph
before serving

I made this pie for lunch because I was having friends Sam and Jesse over who I know like Spanish cuisine. They are particularly fond of chorizo sausage. This recipe is from Woolworths Fresh magazine, issue 90, August 2013. Yes, the free one from the store.

It's an open pie (there's a name for this kind of pie - Sam can maybe remind me of it :-) that's made by

laying the ingredients onto the pastry and folding the sides up and over (but not completely over) to hold the filling in.

Ingredients (filling):

• 2 tbs olive oil
• 750g chicken thigh fillets, chopped into little bits
• 2 chorizo, sliced
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 large red capsicum, diced
• 1 tbs plain flour
• 3/4 cup chicken stock
• 2 tbs fresh oregano (I used 1 tbs dried)
• 16 pitted green olives - I sliced them in half
• 2 tbs grated parmesan

Ingredients (pastry):

• 2 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 160g butter, chopped
• 1 egg

Method:

Sam constructing the pie

1. First the pastry is made by placing the 2 cups of flour, paprika, salt and chopped butter into a food processor. Process until the butter is small like breadcrumbs. Add the egg and process until the mixture forms a ball. Well, that's the theory. I processed the mixture for some time before giving in and adding a bunch of water to make it ball up. I used a large egg too... Remove the dough, squish together and wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 30 minutes. You can make it the day before and store in the fridge, or up to three months before and freeze (defrost in the fridge).
2. Preheat oven to 200ºC.
3. Heat the oil in a pan and cook the chicken, in batches if necessary, until browned. Set aside, ensuring there's oil in the pan. Add the chorizo, onion and capsicum and fry for 5 minutes. Stir in the 1 tbs flour, pour in the stock and add oregano and chicken. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer for 15 minutes or until it's not too runny. Stir in olives and take off heat.
4. Roll pastry out (using additional flour on the rolling surface and top of the dough to keep it from sticking) until about 35cm in diameter. Transfer to cooking tray. Spoon filling into centre, leaving about 4cm around the edge. Fold in sides, sprinkle with cheese. You can also brush the pastry top with another beaten egg, but I didn't do this (it just makes the pastry brown more). Bake for 25 minutes (well, in my oven 35 minutes). Serve!

Now, I stuffed up at one point: I put in way more chicken stock that was called for. Over twice as much. I added more flour to turn it into gravy, but there shouldn't be as much as you see in the photos. It was still delicious though :-)