The recipe with no name
When I was a very little girl, my mother taught me this tasty recipe. It is just a few ingredients and pretty simple. I was very interested in hanging around her in the kitchen. And, she showed me one day. I loved it. It was delicious.
I made this recipe as a child and teenager a lot. I cooked it many times for my high-school friend Rebecca and her family. It would be gone in one sitting! It was just the validation I needed as a young teenager! So I kept making it time and time again.
This recipe doesn’t have a name. Quite fascinating. A nostalgic memory perhaps? I remember writing down the ingredients on a scrappy piece of paper and then one day it landed in my personal recipe book of all time favourite recipes.
With the pastry, you may like to try lard, like the Sicilians, or just use butter. I have frozen the pastry, thawed it in the fridge overnight and worked with it to make this ‘recipe with no name’ and it works very well.
Serve hot or at room temperature. It’s actually quite yummy straight from the fridge too. Really lovely on it’s own for breakfast or with lashing of cream, ice-cream or both! And perfect as a gift for those special people in your life.
Serves: 8 - 12 Sicilians
Ingredients
8 medium granny smith apples, peeled and sliced
1 cup plain flour
1 cup self raising flour
3 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons butter or lard
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup milk, full cream
Method
First, cook the apples, with a tablespoon of water, in a saucepan with the lid on (to create some steam) until partially cooked. Keep and eye on the apples as they are cooking and stir it from time to time so the apples cook evenly rather than some getting cooked too much or burnt on the bottom of the pan. When cooked, strain the liquid from the apples and let them cool to room temperature
Pre-heat an oven to 180 degrees celsius, fan forced
In a medium bowl combine the plain flour, self-raising flour, sugar and a pinch of salt
Add the butter or lard to this bowl and, with your fingertips, work the butter or lard in to the dry ingredients until breadcrumbs form
Make a well in the centre of this mixture and add the egg and water. With your fingers and hand combine well until a shaggy dough forms in your bowl. Sprinkle some flour on your bench and place the dough on there and knead until the dough comes together really well. There is no need to rest the dough - you can work with it straight away
Divide the pastry into two pieces and with a rolling pin, roll two pieces of pastry on a floured surface to cover an approx. 35cm round baking tray (an aluminium pizza tray works well) and put aside
Get your tray and butter it liberally
Place one piece of pastry on top of the tray and place the cooked apples on top so it covers about 3/4 of the centre
Place the second sheet of pastry over the top of the apples and seal the apple pie with your hands by pushing both sheets of pastry down together
Cut off the excess pastry and crimp the sides of the pie to seal it
With a sharp knife, make a small steam vent on top of the pastry
With a pastry brush, gently lather with milk over the whole pie and liberally sprinkle raw sugar over the top of the pastry (especially the crimped outer layer - it’s very yummy!)
Cook in a pre-heated 180 degrees fan forced oven for approximately 30 minutes, or until the pastry is brown and crispy on the top and bottom