Over the weekend, I baked a couple of Dan Lepard’s irresistible treats, including this most recent recipe from his Guardian column.
It’s made with baby potatoes, a mix of green and black olives, and bakers’ flour – and baked in a large parchment-lined roasting tray. The perfect accompaniment to an all vegetarian dinner party!
. . . . .
It’s not apple season here at the moment, and most of the available fruit is coming out of cold storage. It’s not the best for eating raw, but wonderful for cooking.
We turned five large Pink Lady apples into Dan’s upper-crust apple pie – the fruit was tossed in a hot butter caramel, then topped with a delicious pastry laced with Calvados. Small Man, our apple pie aficianado, declared it to be most fine…
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
I love the knobbly top of your apple pie, especially with the fragrance of apples from my huge vat of apple liquid en route pectin boiling away. Thanks for the great apple pectin primer
You’re very welcome, Oz, thanks for trying out the recipe! :)
Hehe ok so I told Mr NQN no more apple cake after the thousand layer cake debacle but this one, I really like the look of and it doesn’t involve hours slicing and placing paper thin apple pieces! Oh and that bread Celia? Marvellous looking indeed!
Lorraine, the best thing is the pastry – it’s got 50ml of Calvados in it! :)
I was wondering about the ‘upper crust apples’- are they from a royal pedigree or something? Hehe.. Love the look of that apple pie tho! The thick apple chunks look deliciously juicy…
I love the way the dough drapes organically over the fruit. This must be the weekend for apple pie posts, I put mine up yesterday!
Honey, Chef, next time I’m going to quarter the apples rather than just halve them – they were a bit big in the pie. It did give it a lovely hilly look though! :)
Now that is a proper apple pie! I’ll have to try the caramel.
So you knead the dough for the focaccia with the potatoes and olives in it?
Maz
Maz, yes, roast the potatoes first, then cut them up and knead them into the dough with the olives.
That apple pie goes perfectly with that gorgeous pie dish. Glad the official taste tester approved.
Nice ‘country style’ apple pie, and the bread looks amazing.
How completely delicious!! I want some now.
You were quick off the mark with that bread, Celia! They both look delicious.
Brydie, thank you for noticing – I’m in love with my Emile Henry pie dish! :)
Anna, Deb, thank you! :)
Suelle, thanks, it was too good to wait any longer for. :)
That apple pie looks heavenly. Yum!
:-D Mandy
That focaccia looks like a delicious meal in itself. Love the look of that pie – and the calvados in the pastry!
I should never come here hungry. That pie and the bread have my mouth watering.
I was thinking I would slice the apples up a bit, just to give the caramel more space to cling to- only a top crust makes this so very doable – and the bread- that would be dinner with a thin soup and green salad!
Thanks, Celia- I come here before I do my weekly shopping to see which ingredients I need!
Looks like damm fine pie – there will be apple pies this week, I’ve just picked two of our three grafts, and am thinking, freeze some, sauce some, pie some….. If you say this is a good one I’ll give it a go :)
Oh wow… this looks so warm and welcome! I will have to put this on the table tomorrow :)
Mandy, Tes, thank you!
Sarah, thanks, the Calvados in the brandy made it an absolute winner for me. I’ll be using that pastry recipe in other dishes, I’m sure.
Heidi, thank you! :) There was a debate in the kitchen about whether we should cut the apples smaller. In the end we followed Dan’s instructions, but I think in future we’ll cut them into quarters. The Pink Ladies were huge!
Ooh, Jo, I envy you your apple tree with its three varieties! I’m still not convinced our little dwarf trees are going to produce much in our temperate clime. This pie is pretty easy, and good fun! :)