Mom’s Apple Pie

My mother is hosting Thanksgiving dinner, but I’m providing the rolls, stuffing balls, and apple pie. I thought I would share our apple pie recipe. This is a crumb topped apple pie, and quite delicious. Recipe taken from Farm Journal’s Complete Pie Cookbook edited by Nell B. Nichols, copyright 1965. I always make two pies, so I make double the pie crust, but it’s only for two bottom crusts, since the crumb topping is the top crust. This year I confess that since I’m sick, I’m using Trader Joe’s frozen pie crusts.

Old-Fashioned Apple Pie, with the Crumb Apple Pie variation:

Pastry for 1 crust pie (see below)
3/4 – 1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 to 1 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
6 to 7 cups sliced peeled apples (2 to 2 1/2 lbs)
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine

NOTE: Amount of sugar you will need varies with tartness of apples.

Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix lightly through apples (sliced 1/4″ thick). Heap in pastry-lined 9″ pie pan. Dot with butter (don’t forget this step!). Normally, adjust top crust and flute edges; cut vents. Bake in hot oven (425 degrees F) 50 to 60 minutes, or until crust is browned and apples are tender.

Variations:
Our family likes to make the:

Crumb Apple Pie

Use 3/4 cups sugar. Omit top pastry crust; instead, sprinkle filling with crumbs made by mixing:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup flour
(Mix together until pea sized crumb mixture. Don’t overmix or it becomes a dough-like substance. Ask me how I know.)

Bake in hot oven (400 degrees F) 45 to 55 minutes or until crust is browned and apples are tender. Serve warm with ice cream or pass a pitcher of cream for pouring over pie.

Dutch-Style Apple Pie: Cut large vents in top crust and omit butter. Five minutes before baking time is up, remove pie from oven and pour 1/2 cup heavt cream into pie through vents. Return to oven and complete baking.

Cinnamon Apple Pie:
Omit cinnamon and nutmeg and add 3 Tblsp. red cinnamon candies (red hots) to sugar. use a lattic pastry top if desired.

Speedy Apple Pie: Substitute 2 (1 lb, 4 oz) cans sliced apples for the fresh apples.

Green Apple Pie: Add 1/2 cup more sugar. Omit spices completely, or reduce amounts. If apples are very juicy, add 2 Tbsp. more flour.

Flaky Pastry for 1-Crust Pie

(Traditional Method — Makes enough for 1 8″ or 9″ pie shell or top crust for 1 1/2 quart casserole.)

1 cup sifted flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp. vegetable shortening or 1/3 cup lard
2 to 2 1/2 Tbsp. cold water

2-Crust Pie (or two pies bottom crusts)

(Traditional Method — Makes crust for 1 (8″ or 9″) 2-crust pie, 2 pie shells, 8 or 9 (4″) tart shells, 1 pie with latticed top or topping for 2 deep-dish pies)

2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup vegetable shortening or 2/3 cup lard
4 to 5 Tbsp. cold water

Combine flour and salt in mixing bowl. Cut in shortening with pastry blender or with two knives until mixture is the consistency of coarse cornmeal or tiny peas.

Sprinkle on cold water, 1 Tbsp. at a time, tossing mixture lightly and stirring with fork. Add water each time to the driest part of the mixture. The dough should be just moist enough to hold together when pressed gently with a fork. It should not be sticky.

Shape dough in smooth ball with hands, and roll. Or if you are not ready to make the pie, wrap it in waxed paper and refrigerate 30 minutes or until ready to fill and bake pie.

To Make the Pie Shell:

On lightly floured surface roll Pastry for 1 crust. Roll it lightly from the center out in all directions to 1/8″ thickness, making a 10″ to 11″ circle. Fold rolled dough in half and ease it loosely into pie pan, with fold in center. Gently press out air pockets with finger tips and make certain there are no openings for juices to escape.

Fold under edge of crust and press into an upright rim. Crimp edge as desired. Refrigerate until ready to fill.

And the Winner Is…

Thanks for visiting and leaving such wonderful comments for my Cookbook Give Away!

The winner is Christine, number 17 commenter, who left her favorite fall recipe: Pork Stew with Apricots at Epicurious.com!

I wish I had more to give away! I plan on compiling all the wonderful ideas for the upcoming feast of Hallowe’en, All Saints, and All Souls. This is one of my favorite times of the Liturgical Year!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cookbook Giveaway

I’m slowly moving my food posts from my blogspirit blog to this blog. And since I posted an outside link for Catholic Cuisine, I thought I’d celebrate the (re)launching of my food blog by giving away a cookbook. (Although I’m not promising lots of posts here, as I do a lot of posting at Catholic Cuisine for food ideas.)

I found an extra copy of The Festive Food of Ireland by Darina Allen, the copyright is 1992. My other copy I bought in Ireland when I visited around on my 30th birthday. The book is delightful with a flavor of true Irish recipes, traditions, and luscious photographs and illustrations. The festive days covered are:

St. Bridget’s Day
St. Patrick’s Day
Easter
May Day
The Stations
Hay Making
Lughnasa
Threshing
Michaelmas
Hallowe’en
St. Martin’s Eve
Christmas
St. Stephen’s Day
The Twelfth Day of Christmas

It’s a slim but packed cookbook, delightful if you enjoy reading cookbooks, especially about Irish cooking. I wanted to send this book out before Hallowe’en and St. Martin’s Day as the Irish traditions are many for these days.

Leave a comment and share what foods (besides Halloween candy) you like to eat or make (or plan to) for Hallowe’en, All Saints All Souls, and/or Martinmas (November 11).

We’ll have a drawing of the winner on Saturday evening, October 18 (the feast of St. Luke) and announce the winner Sunday morning.

Thanks for stopping by!

Food for St. James the Great, Apostle

Update: I added a photo of our St. James Torte — I used both the stencils for the decoration. The torte was dense and tasty…definitely a recipe to repeat. The chicken was delicious, nice and juicy.

I’ve been looking forward to July 25, feast of St. James. See today’s entry in Family in Feast and Feria for more information on this feast day.

For food, I’m going to use some Spanish recipes. In spirit I want to be in the Cathedral at Santiago de Compostela. For ideas of famous foods from that region, see Gastronomy of Santiago. The empanadas sound wonderful, but I don’t have time to attempt wheat, egg and dairy free empanadas, but it might be something I try in the future.

So for the main meal I’m going to adapt a Tapas recipe. I love all of Penelope Casas’ books, and her Tapas: The Little Dishes of Spain is what I’m using for inspiration. But I confess, I’m planning my meal by what I have in the house. Our garden is slowly ripening and I also have chicken. I’m going to make

Chicken in Beer (Pollo en Cerveza)

“This chicken has a subtle lemony flavor, and although I have chosen to use the wing portion for easy handling, you might also use small drumsticks or any other part of the chicken (skin on), cut in small pieces.”

Serves 6 as appetizer, but for main meal probably 2 or 3
Start preparation several hours in advance

12 chicken wings (or thighs or drumsticks with skin)
12 ounce bottle beer (minus 1 Tablespoon for sauce)
salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 tsp. thyme
1 bay leaf

Sauce:
1/4 tsp. thyme
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. beer
Salt
Freshly ground pepper

Chop the wings into three parts, discarding the tip portion. As I’m making this the main meal, I’m using whole thighs. In shallow bowl or zipper top bag, mix together the marinade: beer (except reserve 1 Tbsp.), pepper, salt, thyme and bay leaf. Arange the chicken in marinade and soak for several hours, turning occasionally.

When ready to cook, combine Sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Remove chicken from marinade and pat dry with a paper towel. At this point you can either grill or broil the chicken. If broiling, arrange on a broiler pan, brush on the sauce and add salt and pepper to taste. Broil or grill for about 5 minutes (longer if other kinds of parts), flip and baste and salt and pepper. Continue cooking until golden but still juicy. Use a meat thermometer to make sure they are cooked thoroughly.

For dessert, I’m going to attempt to make the famous Tarta de Santiago. This will not be allergy free, but I’m up for the challenge, and to give a nice treat on this wonderful feast day for my dh. There are oodles of recipes on the internet for this cake. There are two different version — one has a crust and filling, the other is more like a flat cake.

Some examples: Food Network,
Reading Room (nice picture), Travel and Living and Spain Recipes (another good picture).

The recipe I’m using is from my favorite Spanish cookbook, My Kitchen in Spain by Janet Mendel . I’ve mentioned in another post, Memories of Little Grandma. I happen to have a bag of ground almond meal (thanks to Trader Joe’s), so the tart shoudn’t be too time-consuming. Almonds don’t grow in this area of Spain, so it is a puzzlement that this cake is made with them. Mendel speculates that it originally might have been made from chestnuts.

The torte is usually decorated with a pattern of the Cross of St. James or the cockle shell, both symbols of St. James. I prepared some patterns of the Cross of St. James and the cockle shell of St. James. Print and cut out the images. Place the image in the middle of the torte and sprinkle confectioner’s sugar over the rest of the cake. Remove the pattern carefully and you’ll have the cross or shell in the middle of the cake.

If you don’t have time to make this torte from scratch, any cake will do. Purchase a pound cake even, and put the design on the cake. If you need to resize the pattern, use image program, such as Paint Shop Pro. After opening the image in the program, go to print and choose the size you want it to be on the page. It’s that easy — and I just discovered that after all these years of frustration!

Almond Torte from Santiago de la Compostela
Torta de Almendras de Santiago

Ingredients:
1 pound ground almonds
2/3 cup butter
2 3/4 cup granulated sugar
7 eggs
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp. grated lemon zest
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Confectioner’s sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Greas a 10-inch springform pan.

Spread the almonds in a baking pan and toast them in the oven, stirring often. Remove from oven when light colored, about 3 to 5 minutes. Give time to cool.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat, one at a time. Gradually stir in the flour, the almond meal and lemon zest.

Pour mixture into the greased pan and bake about 45 minutes, or until a cake tester in the center comes out clean and the center when lightly pressed bounces back.

Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool on a wire rack. Poke the surface of the torte with a skewer and drizzle with lemon juice over the top. Add the pattern of the cross and dust the surface with confectioner’s sugar.

Catholic Culture has a few more suggestions for recipes for St. James. I am going to go French a bit and serve some green beans, inspired by this recipe. The cookbooks Cooking with the Saints by Ernst Schuegraf and A Continual Feast by Evelyn Vitz also have some unique recipes for the feast of St. James.

Fruits and Herbs for the Feast of the Assumption

As if I didn’t post enough tomato recipes I’m adding another one.

This one is special, because it’s named after the Solemnity of the Assumption, August 15. There aren’t many specific traditional foods for this feast. It was originally a day for blessing of flowers, fruits and herbs, so any kind of combinations of foods that include that would be appropriate for this feast. Tomatoes are technically a fruit, and this recipe calls for lots of herbs.

This recipe is by Brother Victor-Antoine d’Avila-Latourrette from his Twelve Months of Monastery Salads. I love this cookbook, particularly in the summer.

Assumpta Salad
“This enticing salad is always served as an appetizer. It is one of our favorites for the feast of Our Lady, and we especially like it on the Feast of the Assumption on August 15, when garden tomatoes are at their best.”

Salad
8 medium-size ripe tomatoes, sliced
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 cup pitted black olives, drained
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 cup cubed feta cheese (I omit)

Vinaigrette
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
5 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Whisk the vinaigrette ingredients together until thickened. Let stand for about 1 hour before using to steep the garlic.

For the salad, arrange tomato slices on 6 to 8 salad plates. Sprinkle the onion and olives among them. Sprinkle the herbs evenly, then add the cheese cubes in the middle of each dish.

Whisk vinaigrette just before serving and drizzle evenly over each plate. Serve immediately.

My Favorite Cookbook

If anyone asks, I’d immediately say my favorite cookbook is Cooking for Christ by Florence Berger. It was originally published in 1949, and the recipes embrace the Liturgical Year in the Home. Although only a few recipes are part of my yearly repertoire, I read this book again and again. My mother used the book with our family, and I used it as the basis for my senior thesis.

What I love about this book the most is the conversation and presentation of the spirit of the Liturgical Year in the kitchen. The book has been reprinted, with some alterations by National Catholic Rural Life Conference, the original publisher. It has undergone a few omissions and changes, which really change the original spirit of the book.I thought I’d include the Preface and Introduction here. They are long, but I couldn’t explain more eloquently what I strive for in my own kitchen:

============================

PREFACE

This book is an extension of the Missal, Breviary and Ritual because the Christian home is an extension of the Mass, choir and sacramentals.

It is superfluous to point out, since it is so frightfully evident, that the Christian home rapidly is losing both its Christianity and homeliness. The baptismal robe was worn for a week after Easter and Pentecost to let the world know that a “new offspring of God’s family” was peopling the busy streets of Rome or the cottage on the land. The Middle Ages, though far from the Christian ideal in many ways, developed a tradition of an integrated Christian life. We need not shed tears over the past; neither should we exalt the present as the zenith of perfection or condemn it as the nadir of depravity.

Both Christianity and civilization are based upon the family. It is the most efficient unit of material production; it is the font of loyalties, religious and social. It is a kingdom, a nursery, a school, a cooperative, a sanctuary.

This book is based upon these verities and it seeks to foster them. Liturgical seasons or feast days were intended not merely for church and cloister. To be fully effective and enjoyable, they have to wrap kitchen and commons in their colorful mantle. The motto of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference is “Christ to the Country and the Country to Christ.” We paraphrase it here by saying “Christ to the Kitchen and the Kitchen to Christ.” This is reverent as well as simple.

Long after Gustavus Vasa had uprooted Catholic dogma in Sweden, the tradition of St. Lucy’s cakes remained. Christmas was outlawed in merry England and a penalty imposed upon the ones who still enjoyed “the popish pudding,” but the kitchen was the great preserver of traditions.

The focal point of the NCRLC teaching is a word, a symbol and a reality: THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. We have shouted from the housetops, “The natural habitat of the Christian family is the rural home.” A farmhouse or a suburban home with space, light, air and property is the ideal. That may be physically impossible for some people, but even a utility apartment can carry out the liturgy of the Church through its makeshift kitchen.

The NCRLC is happy and privileged to contribute this little share to the reconstruction of the Christian home.

L. G. Ligutti.

==============================

INTRODUCTION

Eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with gladness because thy works please God. (Ecclesiates IX:7)

Of all the rooms in a house, the friendly, comforting kitchen is mother to us all. It is the source of our food, our learning and our virtue. Here the first pale green streaks of dawn find a woman grinding coffee; the aroma wakes the family with a kindly call. Here the baby spills his milk with impunity. All during the day little helpers find new adventure here in tasks which teach and amuse–even though it means sifting flour on the cat. Here the older children run, as soon as school is out, to raid the apple bin or cookie jar. Even the high school gang prefer to kick off their shoes in the kitchen rather than any other room of the house. At night there are lessons to do here, while debates and philosophizings split the ceiling. When the rest of the rooms are asleep at last, the light in the kitchen comforts a newborn baby or a visiting neighbor. Thus the kitchen remains first and last in our affections and memories.

There is, I believe, a reason for this, and it lies in the woman who is mistress of that kitchen. Cook, you may call her. I prefer to call her “Christian in Action.” She herself is Christ-centered because she brings Christ home to her kitchen and, in corollary, her kitchen reflects the Christ within her.

To some it may seem sacrilegious to connect cookery and Christ, but that is exactly what this book means to do. If I am to carry Christ home with me from the altar, I am afraid He will have to come to the kitchen because much of my time is spent there. I shall welcome Him on Easter and He shall eat new lamb with us. I shall give homage to Him on Epiphany and shall cook a royal feast for Him and my family. I shall mourn with Him on Holy Thursday and we shall taste the bitter herbs of the Passover and break unleavened bread. Then the cooking which we do will add special significance to the Church Year and Christ will sanctify our daily bread. That is what is meant by the liturgical year in the kitchen.

If I am to create, and I believe God made me to do just that, why can’t I create feast day specials from eggs and milk and butter? These are materials which I know. I once tried to paint a picture, but the colors ran and the perspective was poor. I tried to write music, but even the dog howled to hear it. I tried to weave a piece of cloth, but the warp broke and the woof tangled. So I have resolved to stick to my cooking and beat my way into heaven.

The idea of serving certain foods on certain feast days is a very, very old one. You can go all the way back to Exodus and see how specific God was in giving instructions to the Jewish cooks who were to prepare the Passover meal. Christ and His family were careful to follow the letter of the law as they celebrated the Jewish festivals.

As the celebration of Christian feast days spread throughout Europe and the East, each group of people created their finest foods and used them over and over; in this way a tradition of feast day cookery grew up. The custom was so widespread during the Middle Ages that the Church had to call a halt to the many days of fine eating. After all, the people were not getting their work done and, I suppose, gout was on the increase.

With the Protestant revolt the saints’ days were scattered. Instead of six or seven days in honor of Christ’s mother, we, of very recent date, have drummed up a so-called Mother’s Day. Instead of the holy thrill of the white garment of baptism given at Easter, we have silly little Easter bonnets to cover our silly little heads.

If we are Christians why must we de-Christianize everything? When we encourage secularism it is not a case of being neither fish nor fowl, but we soon become all foul and no fish. Remember the fish was the first sign of the Christian.

A cry has gone forth to revitalize our Christianity. Analysts have pointed to the lethargy which has crept upon the Christian spirit like a slow paralysis. Liturgists have called us back to a vision of early Christian worship and have begged for more active lay participation in the Lord’s service. Theologians have rewritten our New Testament in modern English. Commentators have led us through Old Testament pathways so we may come to know the ancient prophets. Now perhaps mothers and daughters can lead their families back to Christ-centered living and cooking. Foods can be symbols which lead the mind to spiritual thinking. After Christ had preached to the multitude, He fed them. If our family is to hear the gospel, I shall first feed them on symbols and then on more substantial meat. The one will help the digestion of the other.

Yet this book is not a part of a backward looking movement. We do not revive past Catholic customs merely because they are antique. We use them because they are filled with the Christian spirit which our modern days have sidetracked. We have tested the recipes, which we ask you to try, in a modern kitchen fully equipped with modern gadgets. We have changed the old procedure of measuring ingredients by weight and used our present quantitative system of cups and spoons. We have sweetened or enriched several of the recipes to suit our American sweet tooth. But, above all, the acid test came when we asked a very real, growing, matter-of-fact family to eat our feast day specials. If the feast was to be a day of joy, we should not mar it, but magnify it. This tells you how our book was built, how the idea was sown and watered; only God can give the increase.

FLORENCE S. BERGER,
Hill Country House,
Exaltation of the Holy Cross,
September 14, 1949.