apple and rhubarb pie

Dinner with my partners parents tonight and seeing as how she was dishing up lasagna and homemade garlic bread I thought a nice warm pie would be just the thing to finish off the meal. I haven't made shortcrust pastry for awhile and my pie crust fell apart a little (I like to call it rustic) but looked amazing in the end and tasted just as good.

for the pastry you will need...
500g plain flour
250g cold butter
100g icing sugar
2 eggs
splash of milk
pinch of salt

sift the flour and icing sugar into a large mixing bowl, add butter and massage into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture is the consistency of breadcrumbs. make a well in the centre of the mixture and add eggs and milk, mix gradually into the mixture using a butter knife so as not to handle the pastry too much. knead until the pastry is a smooth ball and wrap in glad wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

while the pastry is is the fridge you can ready your filling

you will need...
6 large grannysmith apples
4 - 6 stalks of rhubarb
about a cup of sugar
cinnamon quill

remove the leaves from the rhubarb and cut into chunks, boil these first with some sugar and using about 2 cups of water only, until they have softened. peel the apples and cut into slivers, add to rhubarb with rest of sugar and cinnamon quill, stew until soft.

when pastry is ready separate into 2 balls, a larger ball for the base with a smaller one for the lid.
roll out base with a rolling pin and place in pie dish. i try to put some fork holes in the base of the pastry before i blind bake it for about 15 minutes. while this is baking, roll out your top layer. use a pastry brush to brush some apricot jam onto the base and pur the filling into the pie, put the layer on top of the pie and trim for looks, (dont cut it too small like it did or your pie will split!)
brush top layer with an egg white and milk wash and sprinkle with sugar, you can decorate it however you like with the left over pastry. sprinkle plenty of sugar over all and bake at 180 c for around an hour.

you can serve it with cream or icecream but my personal favourite is with custard