PIE: Apples, Green Chiles, Cheddar Cheese, Walnuts, and more!

Howdy folks! The pie I made tonight is worthy of all of your kitchen tables! And a high percentage of this blog's readership has access to the real kinds of green chiles, the ones that don't come in a can, so I feel it is my duty to provide a recipe for their delectable use.

I do not have a picture to share, but this recipe came from the NY Times, so check out this link for a pic.

I made this pie and called it dinner, and chips and salsa made a great appetizer!

There are three parts: crust, filling, and topping.

1. CRUST (make at least two hours in advance of cooking the pie)
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese (I like sharp and aged!)
5 tablespoons ice water, more as needed

In a food processor (probably OK to do by hand, too - don't be intimidated!) combine flour and salt. Add butter a little bit at a time, until the mixture is crumbly. Put mixture in a bowl and mix with cheese. Add ice water one tablespoon at a time until the dough just holds its shape. Make it in a ball shape, wrap loosely in plastic wrap, and flatten into a disc. This needs to be chilled at least an hour in the fridge - I left mine for three days, and I imagine you could freeze it as well.

(NOTE: I found that a slightly larger recipe would have made a better size crust in my standard pie dish. I bet it would be OK to just add a bit more flour, butter, etc to this end. Or, you could double the recipe and freeze the leftover crust for other things. Cheese sticks, anyone?)

Roll out dough on a floured surface. Most people would use a rolling pin but I get by with a pint glass! Place the crust in the pie dish and chill until baking-time - at least an hour!


2. FILLING
4 or 5 apples, any kind you prefer (I like a mixture)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup green chiles (or more, if you like! I like!)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp allspice (didn't have it, used clove instead)
1/2 cup white sugar (I used slightly less, it made me feel better)
1/4 cup brown sugar (ditto)
1/4 cup cornstarch (I used flour)

Slice apples any way you like, with or without skins, and toss with lemon juice and chiles.
Separately, mix all the rest of the ingredients (the dry ones), and then combine everything.


3. TOPPING
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1/2 cup brown sugar (again, less is OK too)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (you guessed it, I used less!)

Mix the first three ingredients together. Toss with melted butter until clumpy.

4. PUT IT ALL TOGETHER

Grab the pie crust out of the fridge, spoon the filling into it (make sure to get all the goopy stuff out of the bowl and on top of the apples!), and then cover evenly with topping.

Preheat oven to 400. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn down to 375 for another 40 mins or so - until the telltale bubbles appear around the edges. Now, my topping and even apple slices turned blackish and got crispy, which worried me, so I eventually turned the heat down to 350, laid aluminum foil over the top, and generally fretted about it. However, the dish is sneakily savory, and the crispy brown parts fit the bill in the end, so don't worry too much. A little crispyness is good, like a nice roasted chicken.


Definitely eat this one hot. With ice cream, perhaps? Or with some carrot-y, fennel-ish salad? I don't know what to call it, but I had a second helping tonight and ended up unable to go to bed at bedtime...good thing, because I realized I had time to post this recipe!

hugs,
Ali