Apple and Orange Pie

I know it’s summer but in all fairness you could be forgiven for thinking the past weekend was actually the October bank holiday and not June! So with the rain bucketing down outside the options for activities for the day were limited and so the only thing to do was bake.

I had been craving an apple tart for a couple of weeks and had actually bought the bramley apples with the intention of making a regular old apple tart. The weather may not have ben summery but I did want something to brighten up my apple pie. I had a flick through some recipes and found hundreds of plain old apple and cinamon but then just when I was giving up and going to get on with it, I spotted a recipe for apple and orange pie. I like when I come across a recipe with ingredient combinations that I would never have thought of and putting oranges in an apple pie was one such recipe.

First up, make the pastry: 275g plain flousr, 0.5tsp salt, 150g butter (cold), approx 4 tbsp cold water. There are 2 ways of doing this, the “proper way” and the “lazy way”. The “proper way”, you get your hands dirty and rub the butter into the sifted flour and salt and then combine with just the correct amount of water. The “lazy way” is the put the flour, salt and butter into the food processeor and pulse until you get the desired breadcrumb texture. Add water to the processer and pulse to combine. The proper way is very therapeutic and provides the relaxation that you get from baking. The food processor is great when you have last minute guests or fancy something nice for after dinner midweek. However you make it, put it in the fridge for at least 30mins to chill.

While your pastry is chilling, it’s time to prepare the fruit. Obviously it depends on the size of pie you are making, but 3 large brambley apples and 3 large oranges should suffice. Prepare the apples by peeling, coring and cutting into large pieces. The large pieces are vital for ensuring your pie filling doesnt turn to “mush”. To prepare the oranges, cut a thin slice of peel and pith from both ends of each orange. Put the cut side down on a plate and cut off the peel and pith in strips. Carefully cut out each segment ensuring to leave behind the membrane.

Mix the apples and orange pieces together in the pie dish and sprinkle with 2 tbsp brown sugar.

Remove pastry from the fridge and roll out to the desired thickness. Because of all the juices created by cooking the apple and oranges this is a “bottomless pie”, ie pastry lid only. Cut a strip of pastry out, brush with cold water and cover the rim of the pie dish. Dampen the pastry strip and cover with the pastry.

Brush the top of the pie with a beaten egg and place in a 190oC oven for approx 35 minutes or until your pastry has a golden colour.

To serve sprinkle the top of the pie with caster cugar. You could also add a large dollup of cream or ice-cream. Yummee!