Apple and Rhubarb Pie

From Sydney Food, Bill Granger, Murdoch Books, 2000.

Apple and rhubarb are a perfect match for a pie so with Granny Smith apples cheap at the moment it was time to make that pie.

Firstly I set about to make the pastry. I used 4 cups of plain flour and sieved it with ½ cup icing sugar and a pinch of salt. The recipe called for 380g of butter to be rubbed into the flour until it was like fine breadcrumbs. I felt that the amount of butter was a little too much so I began to cut it into cubes a little at a time and mixed it in until I felt that there was sufficient. I didn’t measure to see what was left over from the 380g but I guess it was approximately 80g. I now mixed in ½ cup cream and used my hands to mix it until it began to form a dough ball. This was split into two, wrapped in cling film and placed in the refrigerator while I made the filling. 

I used 5 apples (about 1kg). They were peeled, quartered, cored and sliced thinly. I cut into smaller pieces about 250g rhubarb. I tossed 50g butter into a large frying pan and when it had melted added the apples to cook for 5 minutes. Then in went the rhubarb and 300g caster sugar. They were stirred and let cook for another minute. Now 2 tablespoons flour were sprinkled in with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and the mixture was left to cool. The oven was turned on to heat to 200ºC.

One ball of pastry was now rolled out until thin and placed in the bottom and sides of the pie tin. It went back into the refrigerator as the filling had not fully cooled.  When the filling was ready it was spread over the base. The other pastry ball was rolled out for the top. An egg was beaten and the edges of the pie base were brushed with the egg before the top was placed on. The edges were pushed together firmly and crimped all around with a fork. The top was now brushed with egg, a couple of holes were cut into the top and the pie went into the oven for an hour. About half way through the cooking the oven was turned down a little as the top had browned up well.

This was delicious—as I knew it would be. The pastry was light and flaky. I was a little worried as I had used less butter but it came out very well. The filling, of course, was a wonderful mix of sweet and tart.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔