Dutch Crumb Apple Pie--Polish Szarlotka

In late fall, my mother would visit our neighbors, the Geraks, and bring home a half bushel of apples from the apple trees in their backyard. I remember them as small, tart, and it took a lot of peeling and cutting to get enough to make a pie, but what wonderful pies they were. In Poland they serve a version of apple pie called Szarlotka. I found a recipe at the Polish Housewife website.

The first two of many Dutch Crumb Apple Pies of the season!

I specialize in making a Dutch Crumb Apple Pie. I have been working on this recipe for years and think this version makes the absolute best pie. The original recipe comes from a website called Serious Eats. Here is the link to the original version: Serious Eats. The recipe is unusual in that it calls for covering peeled and sliced apples with boiling water for 10 minutes before assembling the pie. You would think that this would destroy the apples, but it has the opposite effect. Enjoy!

Adam's Dutch Crumb Apple Pie

Crumb Topping:

2 tablespoons old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup sifted flour

1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cold butter, cut into 8 pieces

Pie Crust:

9-inch pastry shell, unbaked
2 Pepperidge Farm shortbread cookies, processed until fine crumbs in food processor*
1 egg white, beaten
Butter-Flavor baking spray

Apple Filling:

6 cups peeled, sliced Golden Delicious apples
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon Apple Pie spice

3 tablespoons cornstarch

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Insert large cookie sheet covered with tinfoil

Crumb Topping:

Briefly chop oatmeal in food processor. In a small bowl stir together oatmeal, flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and salt. Pour into food processor. Add butter and blend in food processor until crumbly. Pour into small bowl, breaking up larger chunks, then refrigerate until ready to use.

Pie Crust:

Spray 9" pie pan with butter-flavored baking spray. Sprinkle shortbread cookie crumbs on parchment paper. Place pie crust on cookie crumbs, then gently roll out pie crust so that crumbs adhere to dough. Place pie crust, crumb side down in pie plate, crimp edges, then lightly brush entire crust with egg white. Chill in refrigerator until ready to use.

Apple Filling:

Cover peeled and sliced apples with boiling water and soak for 10 minutes. Drain apples for about 10 minutes and dry on paper towels. Put apples in large bowl and gently stir in lemon juice.

Sift together sugar, cinnamon, apple pie spice and cornstarch. Sprinkle over apples and stir gently until all of the apple slices are coated. 

Pack apple mixture into chilled crust. Sprinkle crumb topping over apples. 

Put pie in oven on cookie sheet and reduce temperature to 375 degrees. Bake until apples are tender, about 50-55 minutes. A good sign is when you can see the apple filling start to bubble.

If crumb topping appears to be browning too hard, lightly cover with tin foil for last 10 minutes.

*Adam's pie crust hint! The cookie crumbs and the butter spray take a pre-made refrigerated pie crust to another level. The crumbs cut the saltiness of the pie crust and the butter-flavored spray makes the crust flakier and easier to remove from the pie plate.

(Recipe revised 03/28/2020)

Making Spanish Chickpea (Garbanzo Bean) Soup

Spanish Chickpea or Garbanzo Bean Soup

We grew up eating all kinds of homemade soups, from chicken noodle to ham and bean to sauerkraut to mushroom to Dad's potato soup. When I went to Poland in the 1970s, soup was often served at lunch time at the Jagiellonian University. The best was a cauliflower soup with fresh dill. I still make different types of soup and enjoy sampling soups from different cultures when I get the chance. 

Chickpeas make a creamy, delicious soup.

When I worked at Lorenzo Walker Technical College in Naples, Florida, the administrators served their favorites at a faculty luncheon. I was particularly taken with a garbanzo bean-based soup. The recipe was very convoluted and there were lots of handwritten notes all over the recipe page, which made it very confusing. I looked the recipe up on the Internet and found many references to a Spanish Garbanzo Bean Soup that were similar. It appears that this particular soup is a national dish, but cooks have a wide latitude for making it their own. Which I did. The result was a fantastic soup which is supposed to sit overnight for the flavors to meld, but I can never do that, because it is so good right out of pot as soon as it finishes simmering. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Let me know what you think!

Sauteing the onions, green peppers, chorizo, and smoked ham. Note: I had a leftover hambone that I threw into the pot. It's optional.

Jackie Spencers Spanish Chickpea Soup (from Denise Dusick at Lorenzo Walker)*

1 medium onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 medium bell pepper, chopped (optional)
2 ounces Vigo olive oil
1 chorizo (Spanish sausage), skin removed and crumbled
1/2 pound smoked ham, diced
1/4 teaspoon Vigo paprika
1 29 ounce can garbanzo beans
2 medium potatoes, 1/2 inch diced
Vigo flavoring and coloring for yellow rice

In a large saucepan, fry onion, garlic, and bell pepper in olive oil. Fry until onions are tender, but not browned. Add chorizo, smoked ham and paprika and fry gently. Add entire contents of garbanzo beans can including liquid and also one and one-half cans of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 45 minutes. Add potatoes and Vigo Flavoring and coloring, ½ teaspoon at a time to obtain desired golden color and taste. Lower heat, and cook 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. I recommend doing this the day before serving and reheating and simmering the soup at a very low heat for 45 minutes.

Chopped bacon or salt pork that has been fried can be substituted for the olive oil.

*modified by Adam Janowski.

Note: I couldn’t find the Vigo flavoring and coloring for yellow rice by itself, so I had to strain a packet of Vigo Yellow Rice Mix to get the seasonings from the packet. It worked. And I didn’t need all the seasoning so I can use the rice mix for another dinner.