Sunday means food

[starlady]

Why am I listening to this terrible Killers song

# Warm Pasta Salad with Spinach and Fresh Mint

# Summer Tabouli with Farro

My roommate brought home a ton of apples from her friend's tree, so I was directed to make a pie. First I had to find a suitable pie crust. I don't pre-buy pie crust because that takes too much forethought, and I don't keep shortening around the house anymore because I would buy a container, use it once, and then find that it had spoiled by the time I wanted to use it again. So, butter it is.

I wound up with the Simply Recipes pie crust. I have this ongoing mental block about crusts where I always freak out that it's not coming together enough and then add too much water because you're not supposed to overwork the dough, augh, and then I wind up with overworked dough because I've added too much water. So, that is my own issue, but I will say, if you're not baking for someone with almond allergies, adding the almond meal is a tasty addition.

I also apparently never posted this divine cranberry apple pie from Simply Recipes, which I made last Thanksgiving and will make again because it is amazing.

I pulled Dorie Greenspan off the shelf and saw that her "All-American Apple Pie" called for 2 Tbsp tapioca. OH DORIE NO. So I wound up back at the tried and true Betty Crocker apple pie recipe that I have been making since second grade, this time adding about 1/8 tsp allspice and 1/2 tsp vanilla to the filling and scanting the flour to about 1/4 - 1/3 cup. It made for a sweeter pie than I'm used to, though not overly so - part of the problem is that the apples I have aren't the ideal pie apples, which are pretty tart, in my opinion. But it is still pretty darn tasty, if I do say so myself.

Comments

[lovepeaceohana]

I love that Simply Recipes pie crust - I actually just made a batch of the regular crust last week, in order to make some handheld pies and then a shepherd's pie. It turns out so marvelously flaky and buttery and MMM, and makes me feel like I am actually decent at pie-making!

I've yet to make the sweeter crusts (my apples are probably headed for a crumble!) but they look like they'd be just as delicious, and I'm glad to hear that confirmed. HOORAY PIE!!

[starlady]

TELL ME THE SECRET TO NOT GETTING FREAKED OUT ABOUT THE CRUST NOT COMING TOGETHER, PLEASE

[lovepeaceohana]

Er - sorry about that first premature comment - I don't know that there's a secret to not getting freaked out, because I definitely over-worry about my pie crusts, but I tend to err on the side of it not coming together enough. And I took Simply Recipes at its word and dumped it out when I could pick up a clump in my fingers and squish it and it stayed squished. I wound up with a (worrying amount of) floury crust-stuff that wouldn't quite stick to the rest of the dough but I just pushed it off to the side and worked with what I had.

[starlady]

Hmm. I have made good pie crusts before, I just can never remember what I did before at the time. I will try to bear this in mind next time.

Also, I definitely have to agree about freezing and grating the butter, it's much easier.