I saw this on BH&G last week, and baked it on Sunday. It really can be in the oven in 20 minutes and in the dessert bowl 25 minutes after that. It is from the June BH&G magazine.
If you don't have rhubarb then perhaps plums or berries would be good, or even all apple. I think the tart rhubarb is a good partner for the apple though.
It took 10 minutes for all the fruit juices to reduce, but the fruit wasn't overcooked. You really do pour the hot fruit into the pastry, which is more like a short dough.
I think you could use more than 2/3 of the pastry for the base, I felt there was too much pastry on top when it was cooked.
I can highly recommend this recipe, I served it with custard, but ice-cream and cream would be lovely too.
Oh my word, the Granny Smith green is a bit bright!!!
Rhubarb and Apple Pie serves 8-10
- 5 stalks of rhubarb
- 3 apples, peeled and sliced. I used Granny Smiths, a cooking apple
- 120g brown sugar
- 1/2 lemon, juice and zest
- 1/2 tspn cinnamon
- 130g unsalted butter, softened
- 125g caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 225g plain flour
- 30g cornflour
- 1 1/2 tspn baking powder
- 1/2 tsn cinnamon
- 1 tbspn brown sugar extra ( 4 tspn)
Preheat the oven to 170*C and grease and line just the base of a 22cm spring-form tin.
Trim and wash the rhubarb and slice diagonally into 2.5cm or inch pieces. Dispose of the rhubarb leaves carefully in the rubbish bin, not the compost, as they are poisonous when ingested. I sliced my apples first and so I dropped them into a bowl of water with a squeeze of lemon juice to keep them from browning. I drained them well before adding to the pan.
Heat a large pan over medium heat. Sprinkle half the brown sugar over the base, add the fruit and then sprinkle over the rest of the brown sugar, lemon juice, zest and cinnamon. DO NOT STIR for 2 minutes. You should see the juices of the fruit in the pan. Turn the fruit over gently and then simmer for 5 minutes ( mine took 10) until the juices are reduced.
While the fruit is cooking, make the dough. Whisk the butter and caster sugar together. It took me less than 1 minute with a fork as the butter really was at room temperature. Whisk in the egg.
Fold in the sifted dry ingredients: plain flour, cornflour, baking powder and cinnamon. Bring together with your hands to form a ball.
Take a little more than 2/3 of the dough and press into the base and slightly up the sides of the tin. It is best if it is fairly even, but since it is covered with fruit no-one will know if it is wonky. Pour in the fruit. Top with tiny balls of dough you've pinched, in two concentric circles around the circumference of the tin. Finish by sprinkling the topping with a tablespoon of extra brown sugar.
Bake for 25-30 minutes. I always turn the tin half way through.
Serve immediately piping hot, or a little later on, warm. Delicious any way.
