It tasted pretty good but aesthetically, there are a few kinks I need to work out for next time.
The original recipe is pretty basic: pork and apples layered with brown sugar and allspice in a pie. This sounded good but it called for a whole cup of brown sugar! I used less sugar and subbed rosemary for allspice (partly because I love rosemary with pork and apples, and partly because I don't have any allspice).
So here's what I made
1 1/2 cups cooked, sliced ham (the pre-cooked pre-sliced kind available from the grocery store)
2 apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp dried rosemary
Toss apples in brown sugar then layer ham, apples and rosemary into a two crust pie. Bake at 400 F for 30-40 minutes.
Before you rush off and follow these directions, I did mention the recipe didn't turn out quite the way I hoped. There was a lot of liquid at the bottom of the pie after it cooked. It tasted fine and the bottom crust wasn't soggy but this poor little pie is not going to make for very good leftovers.
In his episode on apple pie ("Good Eats: Apple of My Pie" or in his book Good Eats 3), Alton Brown talks about the juice issue I had here with my apples. His solution is to let the cut apple rest in a colander for a few hours to let the juice drain out. He catches the juice in a bowl which he then thickens into a sauce for the pie filling. Although I was really attracted to the minimal prep time and simplicity of this recipe, my plan is to follow Alton's advice next time, using three apples instead of two. I'm debating on adding onions caramelized in the apple drippings to the pie. It would make the dish a little more savory but would make the recipe even more complex and I was originally attracted to its simplicity. Look out for a future update to see how it turns out, or even better, try it out yourself and let me know what you come up with!
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| Benny tried to catch mom off guard to steal some pie! |
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