Justin’s favourite pie is bilberry, closely followed by strawberry. I on the other hand, like Twin Peaks’ Special Agent Dale Cooper, prefer a nice slice of cherry pie. Whatever the flavour, we agree on having it à la mode, with thick pouring cream… or better still, both!
A few weeks ago, I discovered bags of frozen cherries for sale at Lidl. I’ve often banged on about the nutritiousness, convenience and value for money of frozen blueberries… well, the same goes for cherries.
To give the pie a bit of a twist, I made a sweet almond pastry – a classic, complimentary flavour to cherries.
The vibrant red fruit makes for a very attractive dish.
The combination of buttery pastry, tangy fruit and cold cream – truly delicious! What’s your favourite fruit pie?
In a large saucepan over a low heat, add the frozen cherries and 125g caster sugar. Stir carefully, occasionally until the sugar has fully dissolved and the cherries have thawed. Set aside to cool completely
In a food processor bowl, add the flour, ground almonds, sugar and salt. Pulse a couple of times to combine.
Add the butter and yolk and pulse 6-12 times until it reaches a breadcrumb texture
Add the ice-cold water, one tablespoon at a time, pulsing a couple of times between each addition until the texture begins to turn a bit lumpier
Empty the contents of the food processor bowl on to the middle of a 'cross' of two sheets of cling film. Use the cling film to bring together the pastry into a flattened disc. Chill in the fridge for an hour
Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
After the hour, divide the pastry into two uneven pieces - ? and ?s. Put the smaller piece back into the fridge
Grease a 25cm/10" pie dish. Set aside
Roll out the larger piece on a floured work surface into a circular shape and carefully push in down into the bottom and sides of the greased pie dish. Trim around the edge so that there's a ½cm overhang as there will be a little shrinkage
Cover the pie crust with a piece of parchment, cover with baking beans and blind bake in the centre of the oven for 12-15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely
Remove the smaller piece of pastry from the fridge and roll out into a round, slightly larger than the top of the pie dish
Fill the pie crust with the cooked cherry filling and some of the syrup
Brush the top edge of the baked & cooled pie crust with a little water and cover with the pastry top. Trim and softly press the pastry lid into the pie crust
Brush the top with a little milk and sprinkle the flaked almonds over the top
Cook for 30-40 minutes or until the top of the pie is golden brown
Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes before slicing and serving with cream or ice cream
This week, we’ve watched the first in Rick Stein’s new series, Rick Stein’s Road To Mexico. His first port of call was California where he met up with Alice Waters, owner of Chez Panisse. While there, one of her chefs was filmed making a rhubarb galette – it looked amazing. It’s no longer rhubarb season, so I’ve made a pear galette instead.
I much prefer rustic, unfussy food like this to haute cusine with all its foams, purées and the like. A galette is just the kind of rustic dessert I crave on a cold autumn evening. A circle of sweet pastry covered with in-season fruit and roughly folded in on itself, free-form.
Instead of a pear galette (or rhubarb), you could make one with stone fruits such as peaches, plums, nectarines or apricots. How about apple & pecan, fig, blueberry or cherry?
A savoury galette with autumn & winter vegetables is also a great idea; carrots, beetroot, caramelised onion… with cheeses and/or herbs – the variations are endless!
It’s such an easy, versatile dish to prepare and cook – pastry with whatever meat, veg or fruit that you have to hand.
If you don’t have Buy Me a Pie! app installed you’ll see the list with ingredients right after downloading it
For the pastry
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, caster sugar and salt
Using a food processor (on pulse) or hand pastry blender, cut in the cold butter until the butter is evenly distributed but still in large, visible pieces
Add the cold water all at once
Pulse until it begins to come together
Empty the pastry on to 2 lengths of cling film layered one over the other at right angles
Form the dough into a ball by lifting & bringing together the 4 ends of the cling film
Flatten the dough into a disk inside the cling film and chill in the fridge for at ½ to 1 hour
Once chilled, preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas mark 6
For the filling
Core & evenly slice the pears and put them into a medium-sized mixing bowl
Sprinkle over 2tbsp of the Demerara sugar and toss to cover the pear slices evenly
To finish
Tear off 2 sheets of parchment paper of at least 35½2 (14"2)
Roll the dough out between the two sheets into a 30cm (12") circle
Slide the dough on to a baking tray
Remove the top sheet of parchment paper and sprinkle the semolina evenly over the top of the dough
Lay the slices of pear on to the top of the dough in a circle - leaving a 2cm/¾" gap from the edge. Make the slices slightly overlap and ensure you cover the entire surface
Sprinkle over the remaining tablespoon of the Demerara sugar and the flaked almonds
Fold the edge of the pastry over, making sure you overlap it on to itself as you go around
Brush the melted butter over the crust edge
Bake in the centre of the oven for 30-35 minutes until the top is golden brown
Slide the parchment with the galette on to a wire rack to cool for 10-15 minutes before consuming
Notes
Serve warm with cream or ice cream
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H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/
When I was buying ingredients for last week’s apple and raisin puff pastry tart I needed two cooking apples. However, the Bramley apples in the supermarket were being sold in packs of four. I’m making an apple and sultana crumble this week to use up the two that were left over.
I may have mentioned before that fruit crumble isn’t one of Justin’s favoured puddings – he thinks the crumble topping is too often soggy, floury and not very nice – especially if too thick or a bit undercooked.
I think my crumble topping recipe is none of those things; it forms large, crunchy, nutty morsels.
Sprinkle granulated sugar over the top of it just before it goes into the oven for extra sweetness and crunch. You can serve it with thick, cold cream, hot creamy custard or a scoop of vanilla ice cream – they’re all good!
We are ‘pudding’ rather than ‘starter’ people and always have a sweet ending to our daily evening meal.
Sometimes, I’ve got to the day and haven’t had the time to make a dessert. At times like this, there are a few quick sweet dishes that can be rustled up in about half an hour. One such is jam and coconut slice which is one of Justin’s favourites from his childhood – and also great for using up pastry scraps.
Another is an apple and raisin puff pastry tart – using a sheet of ready-made puff pastry, of course.
All it takes is a couple of cooking apples – peeled, cored and chopped; a handful of raisins (pre-soaking them for an hour makes them more juicy and adds another layer of flavour – strong tea, brandy or armagnac perhaps – so recommended but not a necessity if your in a rush); a pinch of ground spice and aforementioned packet of puff pastry.
Delicious served with cream, creme fraiche or vanilla ice cream.
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