Brighton and Baking

I went to a Jamie at Home party with a friend the other day.  Jamie Oliver - he has his fingers in so many pies!  We joked that it's like world domination....but we all seemed to agree that his recipes work.  Question though - is it really him who comes up with all these recipes, or does he have teams of people developing them for him???  Mmmh.

The next day, a few of us had a well deserved day off in Brighton.  We considered going for a dip in the sea but then decided that the call of pints of beer, wine....and a bit more wine was too much.  Even had a quick go on the slots on Brighton Pier (made a 12% profit in 10 minutes which were pleased about) before heading to the pub on the way home.  Brighton looked glorious in the mix of sun/storm weather.

The slots on Brighton Pier

Isobel wanted to eat this ice cream!

Dinner consisted of a bottle of water and a wispa gold on the train in a vague attempt to sober up!

I then set about a little bit more baking.  We have a glut of apples.  I've mushed some up for arthur, made some crumble filling and put it in the freezer and so I decided to make a pie.  I was inspired by Jamie O I think as it was what he was cooking at the Jamie at Home party (though  not in person).....

I ended up making a bit of a mix of various recipes (Delia and Jamie x2).  Ended up quite nice really - bit too saucy for some perhaps, but we love a bit of sauce! Basically this is what I did:

(a) preheat oven to 190 degree centigrade and grease and line a pie dish with shortcrust pastry and sprinkled with a little semolina then put back in fridge. I used a pack of shortcrust pastry from the supermarket - used 2/3 for the base and 1/3 for the top.

(b) peel, core and cut into wedges about 6 apples - I used more but some were quite small.  I basically kept going until the amount I had looked like it would fill the pie dish.  I used a mixture of cooking and eating apples.

(c) melt a knob of butter in a large frying pan and add a teaspoon of cinammon, one finally chopped piece of stem ginger (in syrup) and a drizzle of the syrup, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, some elderflower cordial (maybe 1 - 2 tablespoons) and half a grated nutmeg.

(d) add the apples and cook until they are just beginning to go a bit soft.

(e) put the apples into the pie dish, keeping back some of the juice and then cover the pie dish with a lid.  Crimp the edges together and (if you like) decorate with some little leaves (my mum always put leaves on the tops of pies).  Beat one egg in a cup and then brush over the top.  Cut some little holes in the lid to let the steam out and sprinkle with a little brown sugar and some cinammon.

(f) bake for 45 mins or so and then leave to cool for 10 - 15 minutes.  Serve.  Yummy