Del Norte Eats: autumnal favorite

If you get Lovie’s apple pie variety, as you peel and slice the apples, taste each to get a sense of what’s to come in the pie.

Once peeled and cooked in its dough nest, the apples will look the same, but each bite will produce a different combination of flavors and textures.

Chef Devon Morgante, the owner of Vita Cucina, made a classic apple pie with a lattice top that adds a twist to the filling.

The result was apple slices covered in thick syrup-like caramel encapsulated with crunchy, flaky bits of crust. The syrup added sweetness, but not so much that it overcompensated for the tart fruit.

Morgante mixed the dough and let it chill to keep the butter chunks solid so that as the butter steams in the oven and the dough turns to crust, it would become flaky.

He rolled out the disk of dough and then put it in the pie pan, folding over the hanging edges and pinching the dough to form a rocky ridge around the rim.

Morgante melted butter in a saucepan and then added flour to make a roux. He stirred in white and brown sugar, then some water until the mixture was syrup.

This method preempts what would have happened while the pie baked in the oven.

“You don’t have to wait until it’s boiling to make sure it’s cooked,” Morgante said.

The apple slices could be tossed with lemon juice and cinnamon before the syrup is poured over and then placed in the crust ready in the pie pan. A lot of apples are necessary for pies as the heaping mound in the pie crust cooks down quite a bit in the oven.

Morgante made a lattice topping with strips of dough, but a variety of toppings could also be used with an apple pie, such as crumb or streusel.

He brushed the top with cream and sprinkled raw sugar on top — all the pie needed after that was an hour in the oven before it came out brown and crunchy with a gooey middle.

Apple pie

Crust Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
10 ounces unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
5 tablespoons cold water

Crust Method:
1. Combine the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to mix.
2. Add the butter and pulse until mixture resembles cornmeal.
3. Transfer to a large bowl and work in the water 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time.
4. Gather the dough and form into 2 disks about an inch thick. Wrap with plastic and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Filling Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup water
1 lemon, for juicing
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (optional)
8 apples, peeled, cored and sliced

Filling Method:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Melt butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a roux. Add white sugar, brown sugar and water; bring to a simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, roll out your pastry and place it in the bottom of your pan.
4. Toss the apples with the lemon juice and cinnamon (if using).
5. Fill pie shell with apples, mounded slightly. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
6. Cover with a latticework of crust.
7. Bake 15 minutes at 425 degrees, then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for 35-45 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and let cool.