Apple cheddar pie

I went apple picking a couple of weeks ago. I bought cheddar at the farm store.

'Nuff said.



INGREDIENTS:
- a double pie crust (recipe coming soon)
- 3 lbs of apples
- 1 cup of brown sugar
- 2 tbsp of corn starch
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
- a pinch of ground cloves
- a pinch of salt
- 4 oz sharp cheddar
- not pictured: 1 egg, whisked with a tbsp of water
- optionnal: a pinch of granulated sugar


RECIPE:
- preheat your oven at 425F
- peel, core and slice the apples thinly (I used a mandolin for perfect uniform slices)

Note: if you want, you can sprinkle a little lemon juice on the apples here to keep them from browning too much
- add the sliced apples, sugar, starch and spices to a large bowl and mix until the apple slices are well coated with the spice mixture

- roll out the first crust, place in a buttered pie dish and grate the cheddar

- pour the apple filling into the dish, sprinkle a healthy dose of grated cheddar on top and cover with the second rolled crust

- trim the excess dough (leave about 1 inch of dough around the dish), press the top and bottom dough together so they seal, tuck the dough under and crimp away!

- with a sharp knife, make a few slits on top the the pie crust to allow steam to escape during baking, brush over with a little egg wash and sprinkle with granulated sugar

- bake at 425F for 25 minutes, then lower the heat to 350F and bake for an additional 30 minutes
- ta-da!!!

Steamed eggplant pasta salad

At last!! A new recipe!! My apologies to all of you for being such a slacker on the blog for the past month. September has been crazy busy. I've had visitors at home for weeks at a time, and had absolutely zero time to edit any posts.

But this is over now, and I have TONS of recipes in my head for you!

Here is the first recipe of the fall: my steamed eggplant and pasta salad.


INGREDIENTS (4 people):
- 2 cups of dry short pasta (I used orecchiette)
- 2 medium eggplants
- a large handful of cherry tomatoes
- 1/4 cup black olives, pitted
- basil leaves, to taste
- juice of 1 lemon
- 10-15 baby mozzarella balls, in oil
- a pinch of salt


RECIPE:
- rinse and dice the eggplants in bite-sized pieces and salt them lightly while you wait for a huge pot of water to boil
- when the water boils hard, start steaming the eggplants for 10-15 minutes, then pour the pasta in the boiling water underneath the basket and cook until the pasta is al dente and the eggplant is tender

Note: I used my new pasta cooker-steamer combo, but you can absolutely do this in different pots!
- when the pasta is al dente, strain and rinse quickly with cold water, sprinkle a little olive oil and toss around so the pasta does not stick together

- reserve the cooked eggplant on the side until just warm, then add to the cold pasta and toss all the remaining ingredients together, sprinkle with a little lemon juice and shredded basil leaves

- enjoy your super healthy eggplant-pasta salad!