BAKING,  DESSERTS,  VEGETARIAN

Apple Pear Open Pie … come mingle with ‘Fruit in Baking’

2010/10/24 / 90 Comments

“It is, in my view, the duty of an apple to be crisp and crunchable, but a pear should have such a texture as leads to silent consumption.”
Edward Bunyard

mainThey’re rolling off shelves this year; apples are ruling the bazaar. Rosy, red and delicious like in Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, my heart leaps with joy when I see local varieties tempting us with almost a forbidden promise! No more guilt ridden shopping for imported fruit this year. The past few years saw a drastic fall in local apple production. Tempting, shiny rosy apples bore the Washington stamp, with Chinese Red Fuji and Australian Granny Smith jostling for space alongside – priced high and positively jet-lagged. This year has been wonderful with record breaking local production in the  Kullu valley, which is nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas. A snowfall in the higher climbs  of the mountains 2 days ago brought more relief to the native population of the region as prospects for an record high output shine! Good for them, and good for us too!

cats 66 e1287892250454With local produce  flooding the market, and the family reeling from an overdose of apple crumble, the next best option was apple pie, a first for me. I have loads of ‘apple to bake somethings‘ bookmarked, but had an open apple pie in my head! My father came by and dropped kilos of apples and small pears a few days ago. Some HAD to be baked, and the idea of a pie had me enchanted. The lad had seen me dig into cookbooks, turning pages, screeching to a halt at a delicious looking  American Apple Pie. He had been on my case since, but I was in no mood to do a double pastry one. Calories had to be cut, and I decided that my next best bet was an open pie, and the tiny pears would go in too.

2This was my first ever Apple Pie … and was it good! I added the pears to keep the apples company. The pie is baked for about an hour, loosely covered with foil. This way the apples get cooked but retain a bit of bite, the pears silently accompanying them {somewhat like the quote above says}! The walnuts and currants add to deep warm flavours, tying in nicely with the cinnamon and nutmeg. I let the pie cool for a bit to let the juices thicken. The hub liked it served warm with some low fat unsweetened cream, and the rest of us enjoyed it cold, with the cream of course!AP21

Pears are an excellent source of dietary fiber and a good source of Vitamin C. An apple, on average, contains more antioxidants than a large vitamin C dose of 1,500 mg. Apples are also full of phytochemicals that help with antioxidant activity, as well as in preventing cancer. Antioxidants combat particles in the body called free radicals, which can significantly damage the cells and may contribute to the development of certain cancer types. Apples can help turn all this around … read more here

APMMWhich brings me to the mingle. I am happy to host Monthly Mingle this month, the brain child of lovely Meeta of What’s For Lunch Honey. Being a HUGE fan of  ‘fruit in baking‘,  it was my my natural choice for the theme. Trying to include fruit in bakes, keeping it seasonal as far as possible, continues to be a passion with me. I enjoy following fruits in season, and discovering what more I can do with them. I loved doing the Chocolate Plum Clafoutis that Meeta beautifully wove into the MM badge below, and also recently, a Quark Mousse with Roasted Balsamic Strawberries.MMBadge 11.2010 500pxIf you bake with fruit this month, do send it to the Monthly Mingle. I will set the table up at the end of November, where we can meet over tea & coffee, fun, food, stories and laughter … and of course fruity bakes! Would love to see what you did with fruit this Oct/Nov, and yes, pumpkin is very much a fruit {Er, as is a tomato, well technically!!}. Also, If you don’t have a blog, but still have a picture, do drop me a mail at vindee{at}airtelmail{dot}in, and I will be happy to include you in the round-up. fruit oven

  1. Create a dish that fits the Fruit in Baking theme as described above, and post it on your blog from now till 22 Nov 2010 {Entries must be in English, please}.
  2. Your creation should be prepared for the current Monthly Mingle theme and only shared with a maximum of 2 other blog events. Let’s try and keep the creations as fresh as the ingredients you use.
  3. You must provide a link to this post and/or the official Monthly Mingle page.
  4. Once you’ve posted your dish, please send your entries to vindee{at}airtelmail{dot}in with your name, location, post link and a 300px wide picture {not bigger than 1 MB}

I am kicking the event off with this ‘Open Apple & Pear Pie’, and hope you’ll join me with ‘FRUIT in BAKING’.

AP rec1Apple & Pear Open Pie
Pastry recipe and inspiration from Baking Course, Isabel Moore
Shortcrust Pastry
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp/80gm butter, chilled, cut into pieces
2-4tbsp iced water
Method:
Run the flour and salt in the bowl of your food processor for a few seconds. Add butter and run until you get fine breadcrumb like mix.
Drizzle in 2 tbsp of water. The dough should begin to come together. Take out flour mix into a large bowl. Add another tbsp of chilled water, and knead the dough till it is smooth and silky. Add more chilled water if required, but make sure the dough is silky and pliable {This is important, else it won’t roll out}
Once it leaves the sides of the bowl cleanly, make into a ball, flatten, wrap in cling-wrap and chill for 30minutes.
cats 3Filling:
4-5 medium apples, cored, peeled, diced
8-10 small baby pears, cored,peeled, diced
Juice of one large lime
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup black currants
2 tbsp cornflour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Method:
Toss the ingredients together in a large bowl as soon as the fruit is cut, mixing well.
makingAssemble pie…
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Roll out the pastry to line a 9″ pie dish {greased if you like}, and line the dish. {I used a 10″ loose bottomed dish, so the dough fell slightly short}. Add the filling to the pie base, dot over with 2 tbsp of unsalted butter, and bake at 180C for 20 minutes. Then cover cover loosely with foil and bake for a further 40 minutes. Cool on rack. Allow to sit for a while so that the juices thicken.
AP31Note: Serve warm, at room temperature or chilled with unsweetened whipped cream, or a dollop of slightly sweetened cinnamon cream. Vanilla ice cream would certainly offer luxury on a warm slice!
♥ Thank you for stopping by ♥

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India
deeba

About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.

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