Charlotte Pike

Food & Drink Expert

Recipes

Apple Pie

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Apple pie

Copyright Charlotte Pike

Ingredients

 For the pastry

 300g/2 ½ cups plain flour

150g/2/3 cup butter, cubed and chilled

4 tsp caster sugar

2 egg yolks

8 tsp ice cold water

For the apple filing

650g eating apples, peeled, cored and cut into slices

70g/generous 1/3 cup caster sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

4 tsp water

1 egg, beaten

3 tbsp caster sugar for sprinkling

Method

Place the apple slices into a saucepan with the sugar, cinnamon and water and cook for 10 minutes. The apples should have softened a little during this time.Set aside to cool.

If you are making pastry, start with this first. If not, skip to the asterisks ***

Place the flour and butter into a bowl. Rub together lightly using your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs

Add the sugar and egg yolk and stir into the butter and flour

Finally, add the cold water, a little at a time. Take a table knife and use this to stir the mixture to mix the water in.

Once the water has been added, bring the pastry together to form a ball. Wrap in cling film and chilli in the fridge for 20 minutes

Whilst the pastry is chilling, preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6. Grease a 24cm pie dish, or a 20cm/ 8” round spring form tin well and set aside

When the pastry is chilled, take two large sheets of clingfilm, place half the ball of pastry between the two sheets and roll out to be thin enough to fit the tin – ¼-½ cm thickness is generally about right.

***Fit the pastry to the tin and press into the edges and round the sides. If you are using the springform tin, build the pastry up to 5 cm up the sides of the tin and cut around the edges neatly. If you have any thin patches, just press any excess pastry over them to cover them up. If you are using the pie dish, leave 1-2cm excess pastry around the rim.

Fill the pastry case with the apple mixture.

Roll out the second half of the pastry as you did the first half. Place the pastry on top of the pie and cut around the edge of the dish using a knife.

Dampen down the edges of both pieces of pastry with water. To do this, take a little cold water in a glass. Dip your finger in the water and then dab it onto the edges of the pastry to moisten. Then, take a fork, and press down around the rim of the pie to seal the pastry.

Brush the pie with the beaten egg to glaze, and sprinkle with the caster sugar. Make a couple of cuts in the centre of the pie using a sharp knife

Bake the pie for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

Serve with cream, custard or ice cream

Toasted Fig Leaf Ice Cream

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Toasted Fig Leaf Ice Cream

This is a delicious and delicately flavoured ice cream, which is made by making a light custard and churning in an ice cream maker.

Serves 8-10

Ingredients 

10 young fig leaves, freshly picked, washed and dried

500ml whole milk

500ml double cream

200g caster sugar

1 tbsp best quality honey

5 egg yolks

Method

Start by toasting the fig leaves. This can be done under a grill or using the flame on a gas hob. Toast the fig leaves carefully and briefly until they wrinkle and smell toasted. They will brown a little, but remove from the heat before they burn or turn too dark in colour. Set the leaves aside.

Take a large saucepan and add the milk, cream, sugar and honey. Warm gently over a moderate heat until the sugar dissolves. Crush the leaves into the mixture in the pan and leave to cool. When cool, put the mixture into the fridge and leave for at least an hour for the leaf flavour to infuse. This can be left for 24 hours if you have the time.

Next, carefully strain the mixture to remove all pieces of leaf from the liquid. Put the mixture into a pan and add the egg yolks. Gently warm, whisking carefully and frequently until the mixture thickens slightly. Sieve again, to remove any bits of egg or leaf that have been missed and leave to cool a little in a bowl.

When the mixture has cooled, put it into an ice cream maker and churn for 1-2 hours, depending on the machine. When it is cool, thickened and quite smooth, transfer to a plastic box and freeze for at least another hour before serving.

As always with homemade ice cream, it does need to come out of the freezer around 20 minutes before you want to scoop it, as it is much firmer than many commercial ice creams. It will keep for up to a month in a sealed box in the freezer.

Niçoise salad

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This is such a delicious classic salad that is so satisfying and refreshing in hot weather. It’s pretty straightforward to make, and I usually have most ingredients available. Sometimes, I add thinly sliced red peppers or red onion, which are a nice addition, and sometimes, I omit the potatoes, as you can see from the photograph.

 

Niçoise salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

6 small waxy potatoes, boiled and cooled

2 hard boiled eggs, cooled

1 can best quality tuna, drained

50g green beans, cooked and cooled

2 large tomatoes, chopped or 8 cherry tomatoes, halved

12 pitted black olives

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tsp red wine vinegar

Salt and pepper

Method

You can cook the potatoes, egg and beans at the same time in one pan. Place the potatoes in a large saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil. Once the potatoes come to the boil, set the timer for 8 minutes. After 8 minutes, add the egg, and set the timer for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes, add the beans and set the timer for 4 minutes. After 4 minutes, drain the lot well and let everything cool before using.

Cut the boiled potatoes in to quarters and place in a large bowl. Peel the eggs and cut into quarters lengthways and add to the bowl, with the drained tuna, cooked green beans, olives and tomatoes.

To make a dressing, take a separate bowl, whisk the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper together, and drizzle over the salad. Stir gently to combine all ingredients evenly and serve immediately.