Quarantine Cuisine

Virtual Cooking Challenge

Welcome to our Coronavirus Cooking Challenge. Find a recipe from a print or digital PWPLS resource. Cook it, plate it, photograph it (including the source) & post it. Bon Appetit! #QuarantineCuisine

Quarantine Cuisine.   For this week's entry, Wendy from Bull Run writes:

“There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself in acts of bravery and heroism.”  Alexander Hamilton

In preparation for America’s birthday celebration, I found this delicious apple pie recipe from The Hamilton Cookbook by Laura Kumin on our Hoopla digital site.  The book details the life and timeline of Founding Father and immigrant Alexander Hamilton, the First Secretary of the Treasury.  It also covers the historical methods of cooking during the colonial period.  This book has so many fun recipes and nuggets of fascinating historical information for history enthusiasts and foodies alike.  It’s a new staple in my kitchen!!

With the Fourth of July just around the corner, I was inspired by this cookbook and the musical, Hamilton to bake something delicious!  I am “not throwing away my shot” to “be in the room where it happens” (the kitchen) to take on the challenge of baking a bit of history.  This recipe, unlike most apple pies, uses the spices mace and cloves instead of cinnamon.  It also utilizes every part of the apple, because during the Revolution, they were all “young, scrappy and hungry” so waste was not an option.  You’ll be “helpless” as the sweet scent of apple and spices “rise up” in the oven.  You won’t be willing to “wait for it!”  So, “raise a glass” of milk to enjoy with this taste of freedom for your Independence Day celebration!! 

Apple Pie from The Hamilton Cookbook by Laura Kumin found on Hoopla, adapted from “To Make an Apple Pye.” Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy

Serves 8-10 (One large, deep dish 9-inch pie).  “This pie should be served warm, in order to make its crust flaky. If serving after it cools, re-warm the pie at 325 degrees until the crust is warm to the touch. A mix of tart and sweet apples works nicely, e.g., Granny Smith, Yellow Delicious, and Honeycrisp.”

Ingredients:

1 recipe of puff pastry (included below)

6 large apples peeled, cored and sliced into ¼ thickness (use sweet and tart for more depth of flavor)  ***SAVE the core and peels***

1 lemon, grate the rind and squeeze the juice to yield 2 tsp.

¾ Cup granulated sugar

¼ tsp. Ground Mace

½ tsp Ground Cloves

2 Tbsp. Corn Starch

2/3 Tbsp Milk & 1-1 ½ Tbsp. Demerara Sugar for topping

1. Divide the pastry dough in half. Place half back in refrigerator.  Roll out the second half and place into a 9-inch-deep dish pie pan. Cover the pastry with plastic wrap and refrigerate while prepping the apples.

2. Slice apples and put into large bowl with lemon rind, lemon juice, mace, cloves, sugar and cornstarch.  Mix until combined.  Set aside.

3. Place apple peels and cores (remove the seeds) and 1 – 1 ¼ cups water into a small pot.  Boil this mixture until the water reduces to slightly more than ¼ cup.  Remove from heat.

4. Remove pie plate lined with pastry dough from the refrigerator. Add the sliced apple mixture, pour the slightly thickened liquid from the boiled peels and cores over the pie. 

5. Refrigerate the filled pie while preheating the oven to 425 degrees.

6. Once the oven is preheated, roll out the reserved half of the pastry.  Take the filled pie out of the refrigerator, place the rolled-out pastry on top and crimp the bottom and top edges together.

7. If desired, brush the top with milk and dust with sugar. Use a sharp knife to cut six vents in the top crust.

8. Place the pie on a baking sheet (to catch drips) and bake 15 minutes at 425 degrees.

10. Lower temperature to 375 degrees and continues baking for 50-60 minutes more, until the top is nicely browned, and the apple juices are bubbling.  If the top is getting too brown, place a sheet of aluminum foil on top until the pie is finished baking. 

11. Let the pie cool a bit before slicing. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Puff Pastry - adapted from “Puff Paste,” Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy.

Makes enough for 1 double-crust deep dish pie, or 1 open-faced pie, plus a bit extra.

Ingredients:

¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus more to flour the surface of your work area.

¼ tsp salt, preferable fine sea salt

24 Tbsp of salted butter (¾ pounds or 3 sticks) well-chilled

1.      Whisk salt into flour. Then cut 8 Tbsp of butter (1 stick) into small pieces and mix into the flour until crumbly.  Do NOT over mix.

2.      Add ½ cup or more of ice water by Tablespoons (1 at a time) just until the dough begins to hold together.

3.      Dumb dough onto pastry friendly surface and form into a ball. Cover the ball with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

4.      After dough has chilled, roll it into a rectangle on a lightly floured surface, add dots of slightly chilled butter on top and fold it into thirds.

5.      Repeat this process 9 or 10 times using up the remaining 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) of butter as dots on top of the dough in the process.

6.      The dough is now ready to be rolled out for the pie.  Freeze any remaining dough tightly wrapped in plastic wrap. 

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