Seasonal Ontario Food

I suppose I should confess right off the bat that I am not the greatest maker of pies. Firstly, not eating wheat makes crust-making tricky, and secondly I only make them once or twice a year at most. That lack of practice shows. Still, if approached in a calm, relaxed manner pie-making is quite do-able. Mine always taste just fine, but they can be funny looking.

I took a picture of the raw pie, because I figured that might be as good as it ever looked. I like a well-filled pie but it must be said I did come awfully close to overdoing it. The crust barely fit. I used 9 1/2 apples; it was going to be 9 but one of them proved to be a haven for worms, so I added another. Seven of them were very small (one was not an apple at all but my last little quince) but the 2 that were large were really very large. Those were Mutsu. I also used the Golden Russets and Red Gravensteins.

It looked lovely baked, and overflowed just a tiny, tiny bit. As soon as it was lukewarm the vultures gathered, and the destruction of all my labour began.

1 recipe double crust pastry

6 to 9 apples, depending on size
1/4 cup arrowroot flour
1/2 cup Sucanat or sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons apple butter

Prepare the dough first, and set aside according to instructions.

Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Peel the apples, core them, and slice them fairly thinly. Mix them with the flour, Sucanat, and spices.

Roll out the bottom pie crust (you will need about 60% of the dough) on parchement paper, using a little extra flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin. Invert your dish over the dough, and flip it over with the paper. Peel off the paper, and patch and neaten the pie crust as required.

Put the apple butter in the pie crust and spread it as evenly as possible over the bottom. Add the apples and press them in as tight as you can. Keep them off the edge. Roll out the remaing dough on the parchment paper, and flip it carefully over the pie. Peel off the paper, and press it firmly around the edges, trimming off any extra if necessary. Cut a steam hole in the top if you like, but at any rate pierce it in a number of places with a fork or knife to let the steam out. Chill the pie for 15 to 20 minutes before baking.

Put the pie on a cookie sheet - this will catch any leaks; and they generally do leak. Bake it at 450°F for 15 minutes. Turn the temperature down to 350°F and continue baking for another 45 minutes. Let cool. Serve warm or at room temperature. The pie can be kept out for a day or two (if it lasts that long) or you can put it in the fridge, well wrapped, but it is better not.