APPLE PIE
Filling:
1kg Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced
30-50ml sugar
Pastry:
750ml flour
250g butter
125ml castor sugar
1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
vanilla essence
little water if necessary
125ml dried cranberries
5ml cinnamon
Filling: Put apples and sugar in a saucepan and cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Pastry: Sift flour into a large bowl and, using your fingertips, rub in the butter. Stir in the sugar. Add egg, vanilla essence and enough water to make a pastry.
Knead gently on a lightly floured work surface. Divide in half. Wrap one half of the pastry in clingwrap and place in fridge to chill. Lightly roll out the rest of the pastry and press into a 22cm pie plate. Cover with clingwrap and chill for 30 minutes.
Stir cranberries and cinnamon into apple mixture and spoon into pastry shell. Sprinkle with a little extra sugar if necessary. Remove remaining pastry from fridge and grate over apple filling. Put pie on a baking tray and bake at 180°C for 40 to 45 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown. Serve warm with custard.
BANGERS WITH BACON AND APPLES
Serves 4
30ml wholegrain mustard
2 cloves garlic, crushed
30ml brown sugar
30ml chopped rosemary leaves
500g pork sausages
250g streaky bacon
4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
100ml orange juice
Combine mustard, garlic, sugar and half the chopped rosemary, and mix well.
Add the sausages and toss well to coat with the mixture.
Wrap each sausage in bacon.
Combine apples with the orange juice and rest of the rosemary. Place into an ovenproof roasting dish.
Arrange the bacon-wrapped sausages on top and cook in the oven at 200°C for 25-30 minutes.
Turn the sausages around halfway through the cooking time so they are golden and crispy all round.
Serve warm.
TROUT AND APPLE SALAD
Serves 4
2 bunches of asparagus
30ml olive oil
500g lightly smoked trout fillets
2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
lemon juice
salt and pepper
rocket leaves for serving
Dressing:
30ml soy sauce
15ml peanut oil
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
15ml grated ginger
45ml lime juice
10-15ml honey
pinch of Chinese 5-spice powder
Blanch the asparagus in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, and then refresh under cold water. Drain and set aside.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the trout until just cooked and still pink inside. Sprinkle with lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Sprinkle apples with lemon juice.
Combine all the ingredients for the dressing in a screw-top jar and shake well to mix. Arrange the rocket leaves on a serving plate. Place the asparagus, trout and apples on rocket and drizzle with dressing before serving.
APPLE SAUSAGE ROLLS
Makes 6 large
15ml olive oil
1 bunch of spring onions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
500g pork sausages
250ml fresh breadcrumbs
15ml chopped fresh sage
salt and pepper
2 green apples, grated
1 roll of frozen puff pastry, defrosted
1 egg, beaten
Heat the oil and fry spring onion and garlic until soft. Remove the sausage meat from the casing and put in a bowl. Add the spring onion, breadcrumbs, sage and seasoning.
Put grated apple into a clean tea towel and squeeze out excess liquid. Add to sausage mixture and mix well.
Unroll pastry on to a lightly floured surface and roll out lightly into a slightly bigger rectangle. Divide pastry lengthwise into three and then in half widthwise, giving you six smaller rectangles.
Divide the sausage mixture into six portions and shape into a sausage shape to fit rectangles. Place down the one side of the pastry. Brush the edges with beaten egg and fold the pastry over the filling. Press the edges to seal with a fork. Brush outside with beaten egg and put on a baking tray and bake at 200°C for 20 minutes until pastry is golden brown. - Saturday Star