A Tale of Two Pies for Sweet New Zealand

I am an American, thus I make apple pie.  It's just something we're born to do.

I bought a bag of Granny Smith apples last week to make a pie for my lovely neighbor who had fed our cats while we were away for four days.  I thought I would just eat the ones I didn't use in my pie, apples that is, not cats.  However it seems that I had forgotten that I don't actually like Granny Smith apples because they're just to tough and fibrous, and don't do nice things to my tummy. 

Yes, I still call it my tummy.  Don't judge!

So then it's Monday night and I have all these apples sitting on my bench, taunting me with the pie potential.

Staring apples with the bright and shiny skins - lies!

I did what any self-respecting American with a baking addiction and too many icky apples would do - I made another pie.  But just not the same pie; I went the Tim Taylor route and added More Power!!!  (Remember that show, a staple of a 90's childhood?) 

Here's pie numero uno, made with Edmond's Sweet Short Pastry, which I love even though it sticks like the devil to any surface it's applied to.  Like. The. Devil.  I followed a basic two-crust apple pie recipe for the filling, which didn't call for much more than some white sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and flour.  Meh, it was alright.  My neightbor loved it, but I believe that because someone made it for her, and you always love food that you didn't make yourself.


Not a beauty pageant winner, that's fo sho!

Back to those extra apples.  I may have peeled and cut them up while watching The Mentalist.  A girl's gotta keep up with her shows, and that Simon, he's so darn cute, even if he is Australian. 

Also, this happened in the middle of pie-baking, and I managed to get a shot of it.  Win!


Hungover kitty needs a bigger drink than just her water bowl!

I used the same Edmond's crust because (a) I'm a little lazy and (b) I had two sheets in my freezer - kind of a no-brainer here.  But the filling, oh the filling; I added brown sugar, cloves, and lemon juice to the mix, and the kicker was that I softened them up in my magical non-stick wok to get those juices alllllllll up in there. 

Result: magic!  The crust still stuck to the pie plate though, even though I sprayed it.  Here's the Winning Pie:

Look at that thing of beauty, you can see the caramelized juices giving the apples a nice warm bath of love.  Makes me want to be one of those apples.  Is that weird?

I am so enamoured with this apple pie that I'm putting on my big-girl hat and submitting it (my first ever!) for Sweet New Zealand, hosted this month by one of my NZ food blog idols Pease Pudding.  Eeek!

Here's the recipe, if you find yourself in possession of too many apples and an episode of The Mentalist (or some other similarly riverting crime drama)!


Amazing Apple Pie
serves: 8 or so
time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 6 Granny Smith (or equally tart) apples
• Two pie crusts - I used Edmond's Sweet Short Pastry but any will do
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 egg

1. Preheat over to 180 C/350 F.
2. Put one pie crust into a pie plate so that it comes up to the edge of the rim.
3. Peel, core and cut apples into thin slices, set aside in a bowl and drizzle lemon juice over the apples.  Mix in sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and let them sit for a few minutes.  This will bring out some of the juices.
4. In a large frying pan or non-stick wok, melt the butter.  Add the apples and sugar mixture and the flour, and let them simmer on medium-low heat for 7 or 8 minutes, until soft but not translucent.  At this point you will want to eat them straight out of the pan, but restrain yourself, it will be worth it.
5. Turn off the heat and let the apples cool for a few minutes, then spoon into the pie shell.  Shake the pie plate gently from side to side to get them to settle into harmony with each other.
6. Cut the remaining pie crust into strips and lay them on top in a lattice, or in a single sheet (be sure to cut a few slits in the top to let the steam out if you do the single sheet option).  Use a fork to press the top crust into the bottom crust and make a pretty pattern.
7. Whisk up the egg into an egg wash and brush over the top of the crust.
8. Bake for 30 minutes on a low rack, covering the edges with tin foil if you're worried about burning the crust.
9. Let cool before serving, preferably with vanilla ice cream on the side!

Greytown In A Bottle And On A Plate

This weekend Mr. Baker and I made the trip over the hill to the Wairarapa in order to partake of two of his favorite things: pies and pinot noir.  Wellington On A Plate were so accomodating to incorporate these two things into one great tasting event in such a lovely location for me, just so I could gift J with tickets and a weekend away for his birthday!  Or maybe I just got lucky....

We shacked up in style with a cozy little cottage, complete with woodburner and spa tub.  That's a huge improvement for us, Lords of the Oil Heater that we are!  Some wine, bread, smoked salmon (more luxury!), sausage and a selection of cheeses was our dinner on Friday night in front of the fire.  

Let me tell ya, this former Girl Scout rocked that fire!  I was using all my fire-building knowledge I learned when I was 13, making an upright A-frame with small bits and newspaper underneath to take it from little wee flames to rip-roaring bonfire.  What's that you say - I smell like woodsmoke?  That's just my fire-building badge of honor, sir/ma'am!  It's a lovely fragrance!  Eau de campfire!  It'll be all the rage next season!

I love Greytown.  It has some great lovely wee shops, and I can always find lots of stuff I want, but can't have yet because old Mr. BankAccount and his strict ways.  Also the things I so covet really belong in a nice house, not our leaky make-do flat.  Not that I don't love our flat, but I dream of the great farmhouse kitchen that I will build one day, and all the storage space it will have, and the shelves that will display my beautiful thingses.  Like these!


Me likey!



I want to make these pitchers, in this cerulean glaze.  Coz I lurves them.  I might sneak back here to buy one.

Both found at Mondo on Main Street.  Shopping and not buying is thirsty work, therefore a stop at the White Swan was in the cards.  Jonno never passes up the opportunity to check out a new watering hole!

Some refreshment before the main event!


Now for the Pies and Pinot, to be served at the lovely Wairarapa Wine Cellar.  Inside, it looks like a library of wine, my kind of decorating scheme!  How can you not buy a bottle when greeted with this lovely sight?

We were presented with five courses of pies, each paired with a different Pinot Noir, specially picked by some muckity-muck to do with some big hospitality organization.  He wore a big green collar thing with a gold chain and heaps of pins on it and pretty much looked like the Mayor of Pies and Pinot.  Sadly, I did not get a photo of my new hero.  I cry. 

The pinots, I don't really remember - let's just say the pourers were quite generous with their quantities and since we were all standing up at barrel tables, I felt tipsy pretty quickly.  And five rounds is quite ambitious.  Oh!  They greeted us with a glass of bubbly too, that was a nice way to come in from the cold and rain. 

The pies, they were a mixed bag.  We had coq au vin, rabbit, pork, angus beef, venison, lamb, and chocolate peach - all from different bakers.  They served each round with cards detailing the pie and the wine, some with actual recipes so that we could recreate them at home if we were so inclined.  I don't think I'm quite that adventurous - my favorite pie was the rabbit, which I'd never had before, and I don't really see myself rolling up to the butcher to buy me some bunny for dins.  Nah, don't think so.  I'll just eat the finished product, thankyouverymuch.

5x large portions of pinot makes for 1 tipsy pie-taster!

The only thing to do after many pies and pinots is to stumble back to the spa!!!  Then sleep it off in front of our crackling fire.  Ah, luxury. 

On our way out of town we detoured down south to Lake Ferry, mostly because I wanted to have lunch at the Lake Ferry Hotel, which I'd read about on the Crate Outdoors.  I was a bit underwhelmed - we were the only people there for lunch until about1:30 except for two suspect-looking chaps with many many tattoos, and the food definitely left us wanting.  The view out the window was lovely though, I could have sat there all day with a glass of wine and a book in front of their fire, if I didn't feel like I was being watched by some interesting folks. 


view at Lake Ferry during a brief spell of sunshine!

After lunch, it was a little more exploration of the South Wairarapa, then back over the hill.  We walked in our door ten minutes before the threatening southerlies arrived and the sky opened up with freezing rain (in our neighborhood) and snow (just about everywhere else in New Zealand).  I lit a candle, cranked the oil heater, and we cuddled down under some blankies, and it was almost like we were still in our cozy Greytown cottage.