Dutch Apple Pie

Farmers Market in Kingston had a new farmer from Yakima today with all sorts of apples, so I bought about ten.  It will be interesting to see how the pie turns out, for I used Delicious apples like like to use in a Tarte Tartin.  The recipe is from America’s Test Kitchen.  Not hard, not simple and a little time consuming.

Dutch Apple Pie

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

To create a flavorful, deep-dish apple pie recipe worthy of presentation, we sautéed a combination of Granny Smith and McIntosh apples in sugar, cinnamon, salt, and butter. Once they were softened, we removed them from the pan and added heavy cream to reduce and deglaze the pan. Combining the apples and cream mixture in a prebaked pie crust and topping the pie with a crunchy streusel were the finishing touches on our Dutch apple pie recipe.

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INGREDIENTS

Pie Dough

1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour (7 1/2 ounces)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
½ teaspoon table salt
4 tablespoons vegetable shortening, chilled in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces, chilled in freezer for at least 30 minutes
4 – 6 tablespoons ice water

Apple Filling

2 ½ pounds Granny Smith apples (about 5 medium)
2 pounds McIntosh apples (about 4 medium)
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
¾ cup golden raisins
½ cup heavy cream

Streusel Topping

1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour (6 1/2 ounces)
cup packed light brown sugar
cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cornmeal
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

INSTRUCTIONS

SERVES 8

The most efficient way to make this pie is to use the dough’s chill times to peel and core the apples and prepare the streusel, then cook the apples while the dough prebakes. We prefer ceramic or metal pie weights for prebaking the pie shell. If you don’t own any, rice or dried beans can stand in, but since they’re lighter than pie weights, be sure to fill up the foil-lined pie shell completely. For a finished look, dust the pie with confectioners’ sugar just before serving.

1. For the pie dough: Pulse flour, sugar, and salt in bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade until combined. Add shortening and butter and process until mixture is pale yellow, rides up sides of bowl, and resembles coarse crumbs with butter bits no larger than small peas, about ten 1-second pulses. Turn mixture into medium bowl.

2. Sprinkle 4 tablespoons ice water bit by bit over mixture; with rubber spatula, use folding motion to evenly combine water and flour mixture until small portion of dough holds together when squeezed in palm of hand (dough should feel rather wet). Add up to 2 tablespoons more ice water if necessary. Turn dough onto clean, dry work surface; gather and gently press together into cohesive ball and flatten into 4-inch disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour, or up to 2 days, before rolling.

3. Remove dough from refrigerator (if refrigerated longer than 1 hour, let stand at room temperature until malleable). Roll out on lightly floured work surface or between two large sheets of parchment paper to 12-inch disk. Transfer dough to pie plate by rolling dough around rolling pin and unrolling over 9-inch pie plate, or by folding dough in quarters, then placing dough point in center of 9-inch pie plate and unfolding. Working around circumference of pie plate, ease dough into pan corners by gently lifting dough edges with one hand while pressing around pan bottom with other hand. Trim dough edges to extend about 1/2-inch beyond rim of pan. Fold overhang under itself; flute dough as desired, refrigerate or freeze dough-lined pie plate until firm, about 1 hour in refrigerator or 30 minutes in freezer.

4. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Remove dough-lined pie plate from refrigerator or freezer and press doubled 12-inch piece heavy-duty foil inside pie shell and fold edges of foil to shield fluted edge; distribute 2 cups ceramic or metal pie weights over foil. Bake, leaving foil and weights in place until dough looks dry and is light in color, 20 to 25 minutes. Carefully remove foil and weights by gathering corners of foil and pulling up and out. Continue to bake until pie shell is golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes longer. Remove from oven.

5. For the apple filling: Peel, quarter, and core apples; slice each quarter crosswise into pieces 1/4-inch thick. Toss apples, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in large bowl to combine. Heat butter in large Dutch oven over high heat until foaming subsides; add apples and toss to coat. Reduce heat to medium-high and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until apples are softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in raisins; cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until Granny Smith apple slices are tender and McIntosh apple slices are softened and beginning to break down, about 5 minutes longer.

6. Set large colander over large bowl; transfer cooked apples to colander. Shake colander and toss apples to drain off as much juice as possible. Bring drained juice and cream to boil in now-empty Dutch oven over high heat; cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened and wooden spoon leaves trail in mixture, about 5 minutes. Transfer apples to prebaked pie shell; pour reduced juice mixture over and smooth with rubber spatula.

7. For the streusel topping: Combine flour, sugars, and cornmeal in medium bowl; drizzle with melted butter and toss with fork until evenly moistened and mixture forms many large chunks with pea-sized pieces mixed throughout. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and spread streusel in even layer on baking sheet. Bake streusel until golden brown, about 5 minutes; cool baking sheet with streusel on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle streusel evenly over pie filling. Set pie plate on now-empty baking sheet and bake until streusel topping is deep golden brown, about 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack and serve.

 

My husband loves Apple Pie, so we will see how he likes this  one.  To make sure the bottom was cooked through, I put a baking pan in the oven, while I doing the first round of baking the crust.  I put the pie pan on the hot baking pan, so it had a little heat to start.

Dutch Apple Pie

It’s that Morel time of year!

Growing up on a farm in Northern California, on Sundays we always had “Supper” rather than dinner.  The family would all get together, usually at my grandparents house and have a wonderful late lunch.  It was the one day, my father was not working all day on the farm.  In today’s culture families are so read out, we don’t have this opportunity.  My home town of Colusa, California was small, but our family was big.  There were aunts and uncles and cousins everywhere.  We would come together on holidays and weekends for huge potlucks.  I remember one outside at one of my uncles farms where there were over a hundred people that were all related.

Today, rather than have a late dinner, I took a break and made “supper”.  I am sure my style of supper without fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy is different from the way I grew up.  But here is Sunday Supper, with Salmon poached with peas and fresh morels.  Sided with asparagus from yesterday’s Farmers Market in Poulsbo.  This was very easy and quick to prepare.  The Parsley garlic butter was left over from a couple of days ago.  Enjoy!

Poached Wild Salmon With Peas And Morels

Ingredients

2 SERVINGS

  • 2 6–8-ounce center-cut wild king salmon fillets (each about 1 1/2-inch thick)
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt plus more for seasoning
  • 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
  • 4 ounces fresh morels; sliced, stemmed shiitake; or other mushrooms
  • 1/2 cup shelled fresh (or frozen, thawed) peas
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons minced fresh chives or 2 pea tendrils

Preparation

Place salmon, skin side down, in a large high-sided skillet. Add wine, 2 Tbsp. salt, and cold water to cover salmon by 1/2″. Cover pan and bring liquid to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, uncover, and gently poach salmon until just cooked through and barely opaque in the center, about 6 minutes, depending on thickness. Transfer salmon and 2 Tbsp. poaching liquid to a plate; tent loosely with foil.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add 1/2 cup salmon poaching liquid and peas and simmer until peas begin to soften, 2–3 minutes. Add cream and bring sauce to a simmer. Cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Using a spatula, transfer salmon, skin side up, to paper towels. Gently peel off and discard skin. Invert salmon onto serving plates and spoon mushroom sauce over. Garnish with chives.

It’s that Morel time of year!