Comfort Me with Apples

COMFORT ME WITH APPLES

Well, the results are in: we didn’t win the Philly Chili Bowl this weekend. I know! But reader, the competing chilis were not only respectable: they were delicious! They were inventive! One memorable brew used Chinese five-spice powder instead of a traditional chili powder. It was an ingenious spin: Chinese five-spice powder is a custom blend of punchy flavors, much like a chili powder. Think of it as a first cousin by marriage. It’s pungent, it’s full, it’s balanced—try it in your next chili. Other noteworthy stews were spinoffs: there was a seafood chili with a creamy cheesy broth that packed a punch. There was a chili gumbo: fresh, peppery, and full of good acidic flavors. And the meats—by golly, the meats! There was beef, pork, shrimp, chicken, venison, rabbit, oxtail, bison, and tofu, the Great White Not-Meat. And to make a killer evening even better, a portion of each chili was siphoned off for donation to Project H.O.M.E.

It was a great experience, and I can’t wait for the next cook-off. But of course, a win would have been a welcome result. While we licked our wounds, we settled in with some forgiving wedges of my husband’s apple pie.  The recipe is a riff on Sam Sifton’s recent offering in the New York Times Magazine. A few Golden Delicious storage apples later, and the smell wafting from the oven was balm for our dented pride.

From Pie Fidelity, Feb. 19, 2012

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 1/2 pounds apples, peeled and cored, then cut into wedges (5 large will do it)

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 recipe all-purpose pie dough

1 egg, lightly beaten

1. Melt butter in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and add the apples. Stir to coat the fruit and cook. Meanwhile, whisk together the spices, salt and 2/3 cup sugar, and sprinkle this over the apples, stirring to combine. Let the apples soften, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Sprinkle the flour and cornstarch over the apples and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for another 3 to 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat, add cider vinegar, stir and allow to cool completely. (The fruit mixture will cool faster if spread out on a rimmed baking sheet, but why dirty another dish?)

2. Place a large baking sheet on the middle rack of oven and preheat to 425°F. Remove one disc of dough from the refrigerator and roll it out on a lightly floured surface until it is roughly 12 inches in diameter. Roll it onto the pin, and using the pin, move the dough over the pie dish; unfurl it directly into the dish. Press to fit neatly, trimming it to leave a 1/2-inch overhang. Place the pie dish in the freezer while you work with the top crust.

3. Roll out the remaining dough on a lightly floured surface until it is roughly 10 or 11 inches in diameter.

4. Remove pie crust from freezer and spread the cooled pie filling into it. Cover with remaining dough. Press the edges together, trim the excess, then crimp the edges with the tines of a fork. Using a sharp knife, cut three or four decorative steam vents in the top of the crust. Lightly brush the top of the pie with egg wash and sprinkle with remaining tablespoon of sugar.

5. Place pie in oven and bake on hot baking sheet for 20 minutes, then reduce temperature to 375°F. Continue to cook until the interior is bubbling and the crust is golden brown, about 30 to 40 minutes more. Remove and allow to cool, about two hours. If you have a windowsill handy, cool it there. Eat with a schmear of self-pity.

Better luck next time.

--Kristen

The Wonders of a Pre-made Piecrust

The Wonders of a Pre-made Piecrust

The Swiss Chard Torta is such a delicate savory pie. The secret is in the crust. Making your own piecrust is not necessarily on the top of anyone’s to-do list, but it is well worth the effort. The trick to good piecrust is to use cold ingredients, cold utensils, and cold hands. You mix the flour (1 cup) and salt (1/2 teaspoon) and then cut in the shortening (1/3 cup). Add a tablespoon of ice water and gently work the dough. Add a couple more tablespoons of ice water and keep working the dough until it comes away from the sides of the bowl. Then you have to refrigerate it for at least an hour, but it’s better to chill it overnight. This “allows the fat to re-solidify, so the gluten will not develop as much when the piecrust is rolled out.” Rolling out chilled pie dough is like pushing Sisyphus’ stone. You roll and roll and don’t seem to be getting anywhere. But as the dough warms a bit and is worked under the pin, it finally begins to give way. The next thing you know, it’s spread thin on your bakery board. Ah, the jubilation at having made your own crust.

Now, who really has time for all that? In our day and age where scheduling is our medium, multitasking is our method, and busyness is our art form, we have to look for shortcuts, cut corners where we can. So when we want to make a Swiss Chard Torta with only an hour to spare, we reach for the wondrous pre-made piecrust. Patented in 1954 by Bill Hamilton Armstrong this pre-made piecrust was first packed as a roll not formed in a tin. It has since saved a many dinner, and dessert. As I’m not into high fructose anything and stay away from BHA, BHT, and TBHQ, I prefer the piecrust from Trader Joes. They actually do have better ingredients, better pizza or piecrust in this case.

So when you are short on time (and who isn’t), don’t pass over the Swiss Chard Torta recipe. Instead, sauté some chopped Swiss chard (1 pound), onion (1/2 cup), and garlic (3 cloves); whip up those eggs (2 large); mix in the ricotta (1 cup) and grated Parmesan (1/2 cup); add the chopped parsley (1/2 cup) and then reach for the premade piecrust. Viola, in about fifteen minutes at 400°F, and then thirty minutes at 350°F, you will have a wonderful semi-homemade dinner for four. And if you don’t tell anyone, chances are they won’t know that you didn’t slave away making your own piecrust from scratch.

Geoffrey