It’s that time again – the Pieathalon.
Not just any old one, this is the 10th anniversary of the pie extravaganza – we nominate a vintage pie recipe, the fabulous Yinzerella of Dinner is Served 1972 chucks our names in her virtual hat and bestows upon us our pie challenge.
I submitted a chicken pie from Myrtle Allen’s Ballymaloe Cookery Book, seemed the right thing to do as I was spending some time teaching at the Ballymaloe Cookery School when Yinzerella reminded us it was pie time. I particularly liked Myrtle’s instructions for cooking old hens – hope whoever got this pie to bake found a suitably vintage hen! Looking forward to finding out how that went – it sounded like a damn fine pie to me.
Links to other pie reports at the bottom of this post.
I’ve had some funny pies sent my way in the past (Hawaiian banana pie anyone?) but this year was a good old fashioned apple pie. A Vincent Price recipe, from the excellent Supper with the Stars, a wonderful book by my chums Peter Fuller and Jenny Hammerton of Silver Screen Suppers. Now that Jenny isn’t living just round the corner from me anymore (a serious shock to the system), it was particularly exciting to have one the recipes from the book, felt like she was in the kitchen with me again!
This was an opportunity to use some sweet pastry that had been lingering in the freezer a while. The apple element is unusual in that the filling includes marmalade. To be honest, I’m not a fan, but there’s always some lurking about in the cupboard, usually from the previous Christmas. So this project has helped shift some of that. Thank you to whoever popped that under the tree last year…
I couldn’t find Vincent’s preferred Rhode Island Greening apples, what with me being in London rather than Rhode Island, so I went for Bramleys instead.
I christened my gorgeous new Mary Lincoln pie dish from Ardmore Pottery to bake the pie in – it’s perfect for an apple pie with its vibrant green glaze.
Annoyingly I turned my back for a moment too long (browsing the cook book actually) and ended up with a slightly darker crust than planned. That’s what icing sugar’s for right?
In keeping with previous years, I got my pie in the oven just under the wire but I’m glad I did it, it’s very tasty, even with the dreaded marmalade… I’d say go easy on the mace but apart from that, no complaints with this recipe! A dollop of homemade ice cream on the side was just right too.
Thanks Vincent, and Peter for reminding me what a lovely book Supper with the Stars is!
Here’s the recipe, in case you want to give it a whirl: