Pie Challenge - #1

So the challenge has begun, and the first pie has been made, and eaten. It was delicious, too!

I decided to start the challenge off with something that could actually pose a bit of a, well, challenge. I took my inspiration from Erin's entry, the Farmer's Market.

Now, you might be thinking, "Oh, yeah, that's really hard (insert sarcasm)."

But to be completely honest, I don't know too many farmer's markets in Northern Virginia that carry much other and lettuces and strawberries at the end of May.

But I packed up and headed to the Fairfax market in hopes of finding something I could turn into a pie.

And I struck gold. No, I didn't buy peaches from the obnoxious stand at the end that sells peaces in March (ok, the market isn't open in March, but I don't trust their early peaches - yes, maybe they have a greenhouse, but I doubt it). My gold was found in the form of apples.

Apples overwinter pretty well, if kept in a cool place, and the stand that I like that travels here from the Gettysburg area had a few bushels of them. I bought 2 big ones and 2 quarts of strawberries.

Putting this all together into a pie that would taste good was where the challenge took on it's second challenge. I have no recipe for an apple strawberry pie and I didn't want to just throw strawberries into an apple pie. That would be boring, and that's not what I do (remember the jalapeno jelly pie? huh? huh?). Well, I could do that, but not for the challenge, at least.

So I tried something. I sauteed the apples in some butter and apple brandy then added the strawberries before popping the whole she-bang into a partially pre-baked pie crust that I whipped up. I added some more crust shapes to the top and tossed her back into the oven for about 30 minutes.

It came out beautifully and tasted wonderful. Different from plain strawberry or plain apple. It was mmm...mmm...good! And it didn't last long.



What a wonderful Memorial Day treat!