It’s the first hint of chill that tells the tale of a changing time and transitory seasons. Lost somewhere between Summer and Autumn, we celebrate the shifting tide with a readapted and veganized crostata recipe that my grandma used to make. This is an apple and gooseberry pie that used locally foraged and harvested fruits and herbs.
The earthy flavor of buckwheat connects us to the earth and the first harvest season of Lughnasadh, also known as Lammas. The native apples are hearty and crispy like the receding warmth of a late September afternoon, paving the way to the nearing morning chill. The gooseberries are golden and round like the sun, which is still burning brightly in the light blue hazy sky. Imbued with the season’s essence, this apple pie is our way to celebrate the arrival of this month of transitions. From sweet to tart, from summer to fall.
Prep Time: 45-50 min | Bake Time: 45 min | Serves: 8 | Difficulty Level: ♦ ♦ ♦ – Intermediate
the pastry
- 1 cup buckwheat flour
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup demerara sugar
- ½ cup cold butter, plant-based
- ¼ cup water at room temperature
- 2 tbsp apple sauce
- 2 tbsp fresh tarragon
the filling
- 1 ½ lb crispy native apples
- 6 oz gooseberries
- 1 tsp white wine, or apple cider, vinegar
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- A sprinkle of demerara sugar
For the crostata pastry
Gently rinse the fresh tarragon stems and place them on a dry tea towel to dry. Pluck the leaves, while discarding the stems, mince finely with a knife and set aside.
Place the flours, minced tarragon leaves, and demerara sugar in a large mixing bowl. Combine with a wooden spoon and cut in the cold butter. With the help of a potato masher or a wire pastry blender (you can also use a fork in case you aren’t equipped with either of those tools), combine the butter and the rest of the dry ingredients until a sandy mixture is obtained. The butter should be evenly distributed throughout. At this stage, add the water, one table spoon at a time, and start mixing with your hands to form a dough. When the pastry dough starts coming together, add the apple sauce. Keep combining the ingredients with your hands for a few more seconds, then tip the bowl onto a clean and dry kneading board. Knead the pastry just enough to obtain an amalgamated dough. Do not overwork – the more you knead the tougher the pastry will get.
Form a ball of pastry dough, wrap it tightly in clingwrap and chill for 20-30 minutes.
the fruit filling
Soak the gooseberries in cold water with a tsp of white wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar will work, too) to get the waxiness out of the skin of the berries. This step is optional but recommended if your berries seem a little waxy to the touch.
Meanwhile, rinse, halve, core, and slice the apple as thinly as you can. I like to slice my apples into a halfmoon shape for this recipe, because, once arranged on the pastry, they create a pretty blooming flower pattern.
the crostata
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Pull the pastry out of the refrigerator and dust the kneading board with a little flour. Unwrap the pastry and, with the help of a rolling pin, roll it out to form a circle about 12” in diameter and 1/8” in thickness. Gently transfer the pastry onto a preferably glass or ceramic oven-safe pie dish. Ensure that the pastry dough adheres nicely to the bottom and perimeter of the dish and run the blade of a sharp knife around the top of the dish’s perimeter to cut the excess pastry that hangs off the top. You can keep the extra pastry and use it to decorate the crostata, like I do. Fill the pastry case with baking beads (or dried beans if you don’t have the beads) and blind bake for 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove the half-baked pastry case from the oven and arrange the sliced apples in concentric circles from the outer edge of the dish moving inward. Rinse the gooseberries and lay them in the center of the pie. The apple slices will resemble the petals of a flower and the gooseberries the disc of a sunflower.
Decorate the crostata with the scraps of pastry if you wish, then cover the whole pie dish with foil and return it to the oven for 30 minutes. When the time is up, remove the foil, sprinkle some demerara sugar over the top of the fruit, brush the pastry with maple syrup, and return to the oven, this time without the foil cover, for an additional 6 to 8 minutes, or until the pastry is nice and golden and the sugar has caramelized over the fruit.
Remove from the oven and let set for a minimum of 30 minutes before slicing.
