Guido's Cucina

Guido's Cucina

Torta Di Mele

This pie may be known in America as Apple Pie, but I call it Torta Di Mele.

Ingredienti


  • 5 large or 6 medium-sized different fresh apples
    -- I prefer 1 Honeycrisp, 1 Granny Smith, and other organic varieties
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup raw sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp apple pie spice
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp kosher salt
  • lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup bleached flour
    -- if you want gluten-free pie, subtitute 1/4 cup rice flour
  • 1/4 cup corn starch
  • 1 egg white
  • Pie crust (I make my own using this recipe)
    -- for gluten-free pie, use Bisquick Gluten-Free baking mix

    • Istruzioni per prepararsi

    Preheat oven to 450°F

    Prepare sugar/spice mixture: In a small mixing bowl, add the sugar, raw sugar, cinnamon, apple pie spice, nutmeg, and salt. Mix together. Set aside.

    Prepare the thickeners: In a cup, mix the flour and corn starch together. Set aside.

    Peel and core apples. Chop into 1cm pieces. As you put the apples in a bowl, sprinkle some lemon juice on them and mix. Lemon juice prevents the apples from turning brown (oxidizing.)

    Place a large skillet on the stove at medium heat. Add the butter. When butter is melted, add the apples.

    Slowly cook the apples, turning occasionally, for about 10 minutes or until the apple pieces just begin to get soft, but retain their shape.

    When steamy/bubbly, remove the skillet from the stove. Let stand 10 minutes.

    While the apples are cooling, coat a glass pie baking dish with baking spray. Place the base pie shell in the dish. Spread it out carefully.

    Using a slotted spoon, move the apples into a large mixing bowl. Discard any liquid remaining in the skillet.

    Add the sugar/spice mixture and mix well.

     

    Add the thickeners, mix well.

    Continue to let the apple mixture cool for about another 10 minutes. The dry ingredients will extract lots of liquid from the apples during the cooling process.

    Using a slotted spoon, move the apples to a clean bowl and discard the left-over liquid. If all that liquid went into the pie, you would have apple pie soup.

    Pour the apple filling into the pie shell. Smooth it out.

    Cut remaining pie shell into 2cm-wide strips. Lightly coat with egg white.

     

    Place the strips across the pie, leaving about 1cm between each strip. Place the remaining strips across the pie in a lattice arrangement. During baking, the apples will continue to release water. The lattice pie crust allows the steam from the liquid in the pie to release during baking and not get trapped within the shell. That's why simply poking holes on the top of an apple pie doesn't work--small holes are not enough to vent all the steam and the bottom crust would get soggy.

    Mix 1 tsp sugar with 1/2 tsp cinnamon and sprinkle on top of the lattice pie strips.

    Place pie in oven and immediately reduce heat to 350°F. Bake for 60 minutes and until pie is bubbly.

    Cool on wire rack. Best served at room temperature with vanilla ice cream.
    Note how well the apple filling stays together and is not runny:

    Mangi e goda

    Buon appetito!

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