My grandad, God rest his soul, made the best apple pie in the world. Forget what you know about apple pie, because this is the real deal.
I learned most about cooking from Grandad. He always claimed that he learned from scratch when my nan died, but he always cooked the most delicious meals and knew how to make the most of the resources available – home-made steak and kidney pie, with really crispy roast potatoes, boiled cabbage and marrow with a gravy made from the previous day’s stock; pork chops with stuffing; bread pudding and the finest apple pie, made from windfall apples from the trees that stood in his garden.
Apple filling
- A good half kilo of apples. Cook more if you like – they’ll store in the freezer for ages.
- 6 to 8 cloves
- Juice of a lemon
- Few spoonsful of sugar
Pastry
- 100g of butter, cut into small cubes
- 200g of plain flour, sieved
- A pinch or two of sugar for dusting
Peel and slice the apples. Cut right down to the core – no point wasting any! – and cover with cold tap water. Add the sugar and cloves, and boil for five minutes before setting aside for a while.
Meanwhile, gently using the tips of your fingers, mix the butter and flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add water until you have a pastry dough consistency, and mix well to work some air into the pastry. Roll to 2 or 3mm thick.
Line a pie dish with the pastry and cut away the excess. Roll the excess into a ball from which you will make a lid later. Don’t blind-bake the base – for authenticity you need a slightly soggy bottom to the pie. Drain the apples, retaining the juice and cloves into a glass which you can refrigerate for a tasty drink later. See – nothing wasted!
Gradually layer apple pieces into the pie dish, building up a slight peak in the centre. Roll out the remaining pastry and coat the pie, making two holes in the top from which steam can escape. Bake until golden. Best eaten cold with Rossi ice cream.