NICK M'S ENGLISH PIE W BLACKBERRIES,GUAVA,MANGO &APPLE...w a buttery pastry..

Whether the last [?] rains herald a cloudy, but beautiful sky , 

 or a marvelous view from ur uphill residence, under the bright [read v hot], mid day sun, 

its always a perfect time for dessert and we all love dessert [as muc a i love all else too]

 I love this pie , for one its got a 4 fruit filling [which actually came to be coz i was short of amount of the 2 main fruits] ,the combi of which is fantastic!
And with a view and a cafe, oh ur in paradise!!

 Plus i the flavors added are gorgeous!! And the green and blue enhances it all...

And main things is this is Nick M's recipe and i actually begun with it on his birthday [i didn know first ] and was so so excited with the happy coincidence!


For the filling i begin with Guavas , i love guavas ,both pink and white , though i prefer pink for the goiabada which we all love here!

And i linger on playing with the peels ...i managed to get them whole with my new serrated peeler ,

Oh and scooping the the guava centres too,

 
they will make a nice jelly later ,which sure enhances the pie and serves as a topping too, directly on the pie or with a little scoop of vanilla icecream or my quickk mago sorbet!

 And honestly isnt it so pretty too? perfect scoops...

Ahh and blackberries...

Arent they so so pretty....nature so stunning...

I love blackberries, they are so so pretty and so good to eat too:-)


Lets begin with the spices, u are going to love SriLankan cinnamon , i do and love it in a spice  bread / cake + its photographs so beautifully ,doesnt it?

And with a microplane spice grater , it grates like a dream , but a word of caution , it would grate ur finger with equal gusto so stick to the long sticks [u dont want to hear what happenned to me ..no no...]
And its small and dainty = super cute....

And u grate the cinnamon directly onto the fruits for some eye candy before u toss it with sugar and some lime...

 See, i told ya...

What i also love about the filling is , i get to cook the apple cores and peels, guava seed centre and some blackberries, all thrown in a pot with cinnamon , cooked a bit , liquidised [easy peasy if u have this cusinart blender] , strained and then thickenned slightly to a jammy consistency!!

 

And its all mixed in the pie...slurppp...slurrppp....i did save some and bake it along with the pie in a separate mold though!
I love the Juicy affair too...




Now that we are done with the filling , we can move to the crust ....

  or maybe u wanna catch dat lone blackberry segment on ur taste buds...

or keep it aside and move to the crust...

  anyway u'll love it...and do refrigerate the filling while ur at the crust [or in my case do all the dishes too]

Ahh and i have to tell u i added apple and Mango to the fillin too!!! And had to make the juicy filling with the cores and centres too.

 oh i have to tell u why Nick loves using baking powder in his pastry....

arent u all ears??? Well it makes an amazing crust even better.....It helps the dough baake through to a light ,tender texture and also eliminates pre baking a crust ...

i love using my new baking powder too.....

1 whole tsp of  alluminium free baking powder in this crust[no after taste even if u tip in more:-) ]

  Ok, dot go yet,hang in there,  i want to tell u more about this awesome flavored crust....

Oh there is lods of bourbon vanilla allright , lods of it from plump vanilla beans ...

  But there is something else, very very special, lavendor buds from Provence.....Ahh, the sweetest smelling combi....

Now u can zip it all in the processor ....or break in ur brand new mixing bowls...

or use a pastry blade as i do...i love it , its so so enjoyable , u have a direct interaction with the pastry :-)
as well see it come together.....+the little buds of lavendor and vanilla specs excite u all thru...

When ur Done.....

 Refrigerate it awhile or upto 2days [i did] , let it sit out awhile..to warm a bit... till ur ready to roll......

and baked...if u dont break off a piece to have the buttery pastry crumble and melt in ur mouth, i'll be very very suprised....
[psst psst...u can call it rustic later]

.

   And i love to think what Nick says about most of us thinking as fruit pies having a bottom and top crust , this rather thick [love] crust elimantes the risk for having the bottom crust soaked in the juices [ and i have an amazing recipe to eliminate that too-stay tuned]....

And these mini pies are one juicy affair too...we love ..we love...

This  crust stays crisp for 24 hours , and i did not cling wrap it as i usually do , so maybe it stay crisp a little longer then....

Rustic wins hands down here and u can grill it a bit the next day for breakfast too...

See what the baking powder does to the gorgeous crust ...or is it the butter...oh its jus a super recipe...

Nick says to cut a few cuts in , i coudn resist cuttin in some hearts and flowers for a pretty touch....

I refrigerated [saved some] a portion and its softenned a bit [a good thing if u have braces dat have jus been tightenned] and tastes jus as excellent!
The runny juices , thicken as the pie cools down...

And i sure cant get over the gorgeous juicy affair we cook up with all the fruity core's et all...

UPDATE- for blooger parcel swap [u'll love it ] hop here, registration still on for a few places left.