Apple pie is a true Tasmanian classic. There was nothing better as a young fella after being dragged around by my father either fishing, woodcutting or whatever we were doing, and enjoying a bit of apple pie after after a bitterly cold winters day in Tasmania. The state is even nicknamed the apple isle, for good reason. A bit of lavender infusion for this recipe puts a further Tasmanian spin on such an iconic dish.
Ingredients
The pastry;
170g butter
1 1/2 c S/R flour
1/4 c water
1/2 c caster sugar
Pinch of salt
Braised apple
5 granny smith apples. Peeled, cored and diced.
1 litre of water
Lemon juice
2 Tbsn of crab apple jelly (coming soon)
1 tspn cinnimon
Rhubarb compote
1 bunch (roughly 300g) rhubarb
1 punnet (125g) tart berries. Strawberries preferably
100ml water
1/4 c sugar
Apparatus
Rolling pin
Mixing bowl
18cm flanned tart case
Strainer
2 small, heavy based pots
The pastry
Dice your butter and place it on the bench to warm up until it becomes mailable, but do not melt it.
Mix together the flour, salt and sugar, then work in your butter by firmly rubbing the dry ingredients into the butter. Do not rush this process, it will take a little while, just firmly rub it together with your hands and fingers until you are left with a bowl of what resembles sticky bread crumbs.
Incorporate the water into the butter and flour crumbs, in increments, until the mixture becomes a binded dough. Shape the dough into a disc shape, roughly 1 inch thick, then place into the fridge until firm enough to roll.
Once your dough is firm enough to roll, place it between 2 sheets of grease proof paper with a light dusting of flour between the dough and paper, and roll with the rolling pin until the dough is roughly 5 millimetres thick. Smear a light coating of butter onto tart case, then sprinkle with flour. Apply your rolled pastry to the lubricated tart case. Ensure the dough protrudes half a centre metre over the edges of the tart case, then neaten and trim the edges af desired. Rest your prepared pie shell until your apple and rhubarb components are ready.
Apple filing
Place your apples into a pot with water and a little lemon juice. Bring to simmer, and braise for roughly 10 minutes. Once your apples have softened, strain them and set aside.
Place the apple jelly into a small pot with the cinnamon. Add enough water to help break down the jelly to make it malleable. Warm the jelly enough until it is a smooth, highly viscous consistency. Mix the apple sauce with the stewed apples and set aside.
Rhubarb compote
Clean your rhubarb and remove the leaves and other impurities. Cut the rhubarb into roughly 2 inch sticks, then place into a pot with your berries, water and sugar.
Gently simmer your ingredients until the rhubarb starts to breakdown and set aside for 10 minutes with a lid on. After the 10 or so minutes of resting time, you should be able to simply stir this lovely concoction, and your rhubarb will break down into soft strands. The compote will to keep its natural colour if you do not over cook the rhubarb at the braising stage, therefore keeping its natural integrity. I have had many people ask me over the years if I use food colouring during this process. If you do not over cook the rhubarb, and many other foods for that matter, you can maintain the natural colour many ingredients.
Set compote aside.
Cooking the pie
Bring your oven to 180c and cook your prepared pie shell for 8 minutes, or until the top, outer shell has started to cook, then rove from oven.
Smear your rhubarb compote as evenly as you like across the bottom of your tart case, then do the same with your braised apples.
You should have a little pie dough left, so you can roll it out and cut it into strips to place over the top of your pie so it resembles a chequer, chess board type appearance like I did, or you can simply place an enclosed lid fully over the whole pie. Just be sure to prick holes in the lid if you fully enclose it, as it the apple and rhubarb needs to breath and will blow its own hole if you do not make one for it.
Sprinkle a little brown sugar over your pie lid, and bake for a further 15 minutes, or until the pastry lid is cooked and the sugar has caramelised.
Serve with:
Van Diemen vanilla bean ice-cream
Candied apple peel
Serve immediately with suggested sides, or allow to cool and serve hot or cold as desired at a later time.
#Pro tip: Granny smith apples are consistently referenced as a favoured cooking apple, yet they tend to easily turn into pulp. Using pink lady or ambrosia apples will allow you to cook the apples without transposing them into a pulp, allowing you to get arty with your apple slithers.
Tales of a Tassie Chef 