Monday, October 08, 2007

Weekend Cookbook Challenge 21 - Halloween!

OK, first off, take a look at this totally adorable and amazing logo that Michelle from Je Mange La Ville made up for her round of hosting Weekend Cookbook Challenge:



Ahhh! My eyes are blinded by the wonderfulness!

Michelle chose Halloween to be her theme this month, and I decided to do something with apples, as apples used to be what all kids hated to receive for a treat on Halloween.

I figured I'd end up making an apple dessert, but came across this savory apple dish that just called my name. I made it before we moved, for brunch to celebrate Scott's last day of work. My WCC submission is Pam's Ham and Apple Breakfast Pie.


Pam's Ham and Apple Breakfast Pie
adapted from Bruce Aidells's Complete Book of Pork: A Guide to Buying, Storing, and Cooking the World's Favorite Meat

Crust

1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 tb cold butter cut into pieces
3 tb cold water

Filling

oil to coat baking pan
5 granny smith apples peeled cored and thinly sliced
2 tb cornstarch
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
salt and pepper
200 g ham, chopped (I used deli ham)

Stir together the flour and salt. Cut in the butter, then add the water and stir until just combined. Knead the dough gently until combined. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 hours or overnight. Preheat the oven to350'. Lightly oil a 9 or 10" pie plate or baking dish. Toss together the filling ingredients. Pour the filling into the baking dish. Roll out the pastry and cover the dish. Make a few slits in the crust for steam. Bake for 50 minutes until the crust is golden. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.


I am not a fan of pies because I don't like crust. I didn't like this crust either. It was difficult to work with - you can see in the top picture it's basically just a bunch of scraps of dough - and not much in the taste department either. The filling is fantastic though and I was glad I tried this. It would be a super brunch dish to have on a cold day when you don't have to go outside. I will look for a better crust recipe, then try this again.

Get your Halloween themed post to Michelle by October 21 to take part in the scary fun. Michelle's email is mlb at jemangelaville dot com.

7 comments:

Lis said...

Ohhh is this the apple/ham recipe you were telling me about? It looks DELICIOUS! I am SO trying this!

xoxo

Deborah said...

I don't think I've ever had apple and ham together in one dish before, but this looks interesting. I wonder if something more like a pastry dough would work?

Sara said...

Lis - yes this is the one. It was so good, except for the crust.

Deborah - ham, is there anything it can't do? You are probably right - a pastry dough might be better. Scott wants to add cheese to the crust next time too.

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Um, I wonder about a cheddar biscuit crust. How sweet was this? Would it work with slightly less sugar say 1/3 cup brown instead of 1/2?
I've never been a big crust fan either and was so happy to see there was no bottom crust on this.
The book sounds interesting.

Sara said...

Tanna - I don't think I would have made this if there was a bottom crust. It wasn't sweet at all, but apples were really tart.

Anonymous said...

Sara:

This looks wonderful. I love adding fruit to savory dishes and this one looks like a winning combo.

I second (third?) the cheese in the crust next time. What a great Fall brunch dish! :)

Thanks so much for letting me host this month!

Anonymous said...

Oh and thanks for the image compliments!

I love photoshop! Any excuse to play around with random bits of clip art and fonts and I am there...;-)