Comfort Food #1: Mum's Homemade Apple 'Nostalgia' Pie and Custard

What better way to kick off the first feature in the Comfort Food series for Nostalgia Pie than a post for... Apple pie? And not just any old apple pie but the first apple pie I ever watched my mum bake many years ago.

I still remember the first time I watched my Mum bake an apple pie (from scratch) and serve it with custard (not from scratch!) I was about four years old and I was sat on the kitchen work top, watching her get to work making the pastry dough; rolling it out; covering a pie dish with it before filling it with sliced fresh apples and trimming the edges. Oh and my favourite bit: sealing the edges with a fork so that it had that lined effect that pastry chefs deem 'old fashioned' but to me is the sign of a good homemade pie.

I can still taste how good it was and how the sharp, tangy apples contrasted deliciously with the sweet, creamy custard. It's still one of my favourite puddings to this day but then who isn't partial to a bit of apple pie and custard? And if it's made with puff pastry - even though Mum loves her shortcrust - then that's even better! Oh and it has got to be custard. Flavoured creams and ice-cream are all very well but nothing beats lashings of hot custard. My dad pours himself enough custard to fill the bathtub! So yes, I suppose it's safe to say that apple pie and custard is definitely a family favourite.

The apple pie that my mum baked all those years ago was based on a recipe that she found in a cook book called Good Housekeeping's Hot and Cold Puddings. It was for a fruit pie that only seems to have a pastry lid, although Mum chose to include a pastry case. But if you are more adventurous than Mum, you might like to have a go at making the custard from scratch and not just open a tin of Bird's custard powder (even if that does take me back to my childhood!)

Apple Pie With Custard

APPLE PIE

Ingredients

For the shortcrust pastry:

8oz plain flour

1/2 tsp. salt

4oz margarine or butter

Cold water to mix

For the filling:

1-2lbs of apples, peeled, cored and sliced

3-4oz sugar,

cold water

Method

Pastry

1. Sieve the flour and salt.

2. Rub in the fat until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs and no lumps of fat remain.

3. Mix carefully with cold water using a knife until a dough is formed.

4. Use your fingers for the final mixing.

5. Chill until ready to use. Then roll out and use as required.

Filling

1. Preheat the oven to 250C/450F/Gasmark 8.

2. Put prepared apples into the pie dish with sugar.

3. Add enough water to cover the bottom of the dish.

4. Roll out pastry larger than size of dish.

5. Cut a strip of pastry long enough to go around the rim of the dish.

6. Dampen rim with cold water and put on the pastry edge.

7. Press the edges together and trim them.

8. Decorate the edge of the pie and make a slit in the centre to allow steam to escape.

9. Bake for 15-20minutes to cook the pastry.

10. Then move the piedown in the oven OR lower the temperature slightly and bake for another 15 minutes until the apples are cooked.

Custard

Ingredients

1/2 pint milk

2 eggs

1oz caster sugar

1 tsp. vanilla essence/extract

Method

1. Heat the milk but do not boil.

2. Pour on to the well beaten egg, stirring.

3. Return to the pan and cook over hot water until the sauce coats the back of the spoon thinly.

4. Add the sugar and vanilla.

5. Strain and cool, stirring occasionally or serve hot.

Do you like pie and custard? What's your favourite pie? Do you remember baking with your family as a young child?

Photos: Pixabay

Word Cloud: Angel Noire