Thursday, August 15, 2013

Patchwork strawberry & apple pie

Patchwork strawberry & apple pie / Torta patchwork de morango e maçã

As if being a cookbook junkie wasn’t enough, I’m hooked on food magazines as well – Donna Hay, Gourmet Traveller and Delicious Australia are my favorites, but there are others I adore, too, and use very often. BBC Good Food always comes with delicious recipes from people like Mary Berry and James Martin, and the photos are beautiful (I highly recommend a visit to the magazine’s website).

Months ago, a strawberry and gooseberry pie was published, and the patchwork topping looked gorgeous – it reminded me of the strawberry and rose hazelnut tart I made years ago. Because gooseberries are impossible to find here in Brazil I replaced them with something equally tart and flavorsome, a Granny Smith apple – the result was truly great.

Patchwork strawberry & apple pie
adapted from the delicious Good Food mag

Pastry:
1 large egg, at room temperature, separated
225g unsalted butter, soft but not greasy
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon table salt
350g all purpose flour

Filling:
400g ripe strawberries, halved, or quartered if large
75g granulated sugar
1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and finely diced
pinch of ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons semolina or ground almonds

Pastry: put the egg yolk, butter, vanilla, sugar and salt in a food processor, and pulse until creamy and soft. Add the flour and pulse until the mixture comes together in clumps – don’t overwork it. Tip onto a lightly floured surface and squish the dough together. Split into 2 pieces, one slightly larger than the other, then shape into rectangles. Wrap in cling film and chill for 2 hours.

Meanwhile, make the filling: put the strawberries and sugar in a wide pan and cook for 5 minutes or until syrupy. Drain in a colander over a bowl and leave to cool completely (reserve the syrup to be served with the pie later on).

Lightly butter a 35x10cm (14x4in) tart pan with a removable bottom and line it with the larger piece of pastry. Prick the base several times with a fork, then freeze for 40 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F and place a baking sheet in the oven. Line the pastry with foil and fill with baking beans. Bake on top of the baking sheet for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and beans, and bake for a further 10 minutes or until the bottom of the pastry is golden and feels sandy. Roll the second pastry disc to roughly the size of the tart and cut into 4cm squares. Refrigerate for 5 minutes.
Scatter the semolina or almonds over the pastry base (this will help to prevent a soggy bottom). Add the apple and cinnamon to the drained berries, mix to combine, then place on top of the semolina/ground almonds. Space the pastry squares over the tart, brush with the egg white. Wrap only the edge of the pie with a collar of foil to protect it from overcooking (I didn’t do that), then bake for 30 minutes or until golden and crisp. Serve warm with thick cream and the fruity pink syrup in a jug for pouring.

Serves 6-8

8 comments:

Laura (Tutti Dolci) said...

Your patchwork top is so pretty!

anilou said...

It put a smile on my face to see your top three favourite magazines are Australian. You have very good taste! Your tart sounds fabulous.

Deepshikha Das said...

I love the combination of apple & strawberry, it looks absolutely delicious and is a perfect summery combination. Great pictures too!

iscribbler said...

I love the way you've presented the pie! The square motif is really cute and now I'm thinking round circles for a round pie. :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Patricia, I too love to collect cookery books and just love food magazines, especially the three you mentioned. Most nights instead of reading other books I take one of my cookery books to bed and drool over the pictures and decide which recipe I would like to try.
Keep up the good work, I just love the recipes you put up for us.
Gabriele

Priya Suresh said...

Thats a cute patch work pie..Cute and stunning.

Patricia Scarpin said...

Anilou, I love anything Australian. :D
xx

Iscribbler, that sounds great, it would look beautiful!

Patricia Scarpin said...

Gabriele, I do the same sometimes - best reading before bed time! :D
Thank you for your kind words. xx

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