Feeling slightly disillusioned after last night's election result. A post on my Facebook feed sums it up well, "Can I get a sticker saying, "yes I voted and I might as well not have"?"
It rained on and off all day and I spent the afternoon in the kitchen. Raspberry Jam Slice, Nigella's Italian Apple Pie and Nigel Slater's Mildly Spiced Beef. For the Apple Pie (which is really a cake) I used red and green apples, and melodramatically considered myself to be roasting the hopes of Labour and the Greens. Maudlin.
Italian Apple Pie
slightly adapted from Nigellissima
You will need:
- 100g soft butter
- 250g flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- pinch salt
- 150g sugar
- 2 eggs
- juice of half a lemon + zest
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup milk
- 3 apples
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Directions:
- Place all ingredients in the group before milk in the bowl of a food processor and blitz until mixture forms a smooth batter.
- With food processor running, pour milk slowly down funnel.
- Cut one apple in half, remove core, and roughly chop. Add chopped apple into batter and pulse to mix.
- Pour batter into lined springform tin.
- Cut remaining applies into thin wedges, and place on top of batter in a fan pattern.
- Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle on top.
- Bake for 45 minutes at 180 degrees celsius.
This is very very easy, and visually stunning. The batter is dense and moist, and the apples provide texture. I used Jazz apples and Granny Smiths. The Jazz worked the best, the Granny Smiths got a bit mushy, though that might have been because they were old. I have a bad habit of buying fruit and then not doing anything with it.
