Apple & Rhubarb pie

I have been waiting for apple week in the Cookbook challenge for ages, I have been craving am apple pie like you wouldn't believe, cant actually remember the last time I ate one let alone made one.  I chose Bill Granger's Apple & Rhubarb pie recipe from Bill's Sydney Food as he is usually pretty good with his sweet recipes.    The pie recipe serves 6-8 and is supposed to be baked in a 23cm pie tin.  As I only had 2 smaller dishes I made 2 pies & froze one.  This was a brilliant move as the 1 smaller pie still kept us going for 2 days, so it would have been way too much to have the whole thing at once.   When I made the filling I was being bugged by little people & was a bit distracted, I forgot to add the sugar so added it after it was cooked, didnt seem to cause a problem though the filling was very sweet, dont know if that would have changed if the sugar had cooked down a bit?  Overall a delicious Winter pie that was definitely enjoyed by all!

Notes - The pastry was a little hard to work with though it tasted nice & short when cooked.  I did only need to bake mine for about 45 minutes & by then it was already a little too brown.  Strange as my oven usually cooks slower than a recipe so something to keep in mind.

Apple and Rhubarb Pie - Bills Sydney Food - Bill Granger

1kg Granny Smiths, peeled, cored and finely sliced
juice and zest of 1 lemon
50g butter, cut into small pieces
300g rhubarb, chopped
300g catser sugar
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 tspn ground cinnamon
1 qty shortcrust pastry (recipe below)
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons caster sugar for sprinkling

Toss the apples with the lemon juice and zest.  Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat.  Add the apples and cook for 5   minutes, or until softened slightly.  Add the rhubarb and the sugar and cook for 1 minute further.  Add the flour and cinnamon, stir gently to combine.  Allow to cool.

Place half the pastry on a lightly floured surface and roll out until 4mm thick.  Lightly press into a 23cm pie tin and refrigerate while the filling is cooling.  Spread the apples & rhubarb evenly in the pie shell.

preheat the oven to 200c.  Moisten edges of pastry base with egg yolk.  Roll out remaining pastry on a lightly floured surface until 4mm thick.  Cover pie with rolled pastry.  Trim, press edges of the pie firmly together and crimp the outer rim with your fingertips.  make incisions in the top of the pie with a sharp knife.  Brush with remaining egg yolk and sprinkle with caster sugar.  Bake the pie for 1 hour until the crust is golden brown.  Remove from the oven and cool for 20 minutes.  Serve with ice cream of cream as desired!  Serves 6-8.

Shortcrust pastry

4 cups plain flour
1/2 cup icing sugar
a pinch of salt
360g unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 cup cream

Place flour, sifted sugar and salt in a bowl.  Add butter and rub through the fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.  Add just enough cream for mixture to form a ball.  Divide pastry into two balls, wrap in plastic wrap & refrigerate for 30 minutes before using.