Apple Pie "AJ"

I was so excited about the green chile harvest a few weeks ago, that I decided to make a green chile quiche, a dish that I "invented" (I only say that because I've never seen it on a menu).  So, in anticipation of making my quiche, I bought a pack of whole wheat pie crusts and brought them home.  Of course, the sight of pie crusts prompted the inevitable, and VERY excited question "Are you making a pie???????"  And me being the pushover foodie cook that I am replied "Well, there are 2 pie crusts in the pack... I guess I could make quiche and pie... and I do have a couple days off since it's the weekend..."  In short, there really wasn't any reason not to make pie...

But the quiche came first!  It was really good.  I got some mild green chiles that had been roasted at the store, so it was real easy to peel them and chop them up, although I didn't get to smell that wonderful fall fragrance of the green chilies roasting at home...  We decided to add some cooked and seasoned ground meat to the quiche to make it a little more heartier, added shredded jalapeno pepper jack for the cheese, and cooked it all together with the eggs and milk.  Avocado salsa from Food City was the perfect topper!!

If you want to try making quiche, don't forget to cook the pie crust for about 10 minutes before you fill it.  I don't know why, that's just the way the French lady that I worked with at the fraternity a gazillion years ago taught me.. although it was actually quiche lorraine that she showed me how to make (ham, bacon, swiss cheese, eggs, milk).

Enough about the quiche already, I thought this post was about apple pie!

APPLE PIE "AJ":

This recipe is from the all-time classic "Joy of Cooking".

Heat your oven to 450 degrees.

Get your pie crust together, you'll need 2: a top and a bottom crust.  I had to make a little bit of pie crust for the top because, as you know, I used the other pie crust for the quiche.  Here's the ingredients for one pie crust:

2 cups AP flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chilled butter
5 tablespoon water
(mix the flour and salt; cut in the butter; add enough water so the dough holds together into a ball)

Filling:

Peel, core and slice 6 cups of apples.
(to keep the apples from turning brown, put the sliced apples in water that has a little bit of lemon juice added to it, until you are ready to use them)

Combine the following and then add to the apples, mixing it in until the apples are coated:
1/2 to 3/4 cup white or brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 and 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Put the apples into the pie crust, then dot them with 1 and 1/2 tablespoon butter.  Brush the edge of the bottom crust with raw egg.

Roll out your top crust, and put it on top of the apples.  Trim the edges so it's a nice circle, and seal the top and bottom crusts by pinching them together.  Poke holes in the top crust, brush it with raw egg, and sprinkle sugar over the top to make it sparkle!!!  You can use the leftover pie dough to cut shapes like flowers and leaves to decorate the top of the pie, so pretty!!  Or you can cut the top crust into thin strips and make the basketweave design by laying half the strips across the top in one direction, then peeling back every other strip to weave in the cross strips.  Finally, use strips of dough to form an A and a J!!!!   hahahaha!!!

Cook the pie at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and cook 35 to 45 minutes more (45 minutes to one hour total cooking time).  You'll know when it's done, it will smell sooooo good!!!