Yesterday. Last day of freedom. After that, I have to go to school!
Since I had lots of time, I decided to do what I love most - cook! I made shepherd's pie and apple pie for dinner. I even made Creme Anglaise for the apple pie.
I had lots of steps to prepare before I could bake the pies. I had to make mashed potatoes and the filling for the shepherd's pie. I then had to make the filling for the apple pie and the shortcrust pastry. I had to let the apple filling cool and let the pastry rest in the fridge for about half an hour. The baking of the pies also took a lot of time. I made the mashed potatoes fluffy so that I have a very light topping for the shepherd's pie. Then, when I browned the topping in the oven, the potato topping will give a nice crunch.
I baked the apple pie first. I added a pinch of cinammon in the filling. My mum will surely not approve. She and my sister don't like cinammon. But that spice made the whole apartment smell good as it baked in the oven. I used butter in the pastry and it smells very buttery too. Then I baked the shepherd's pie. The browning potatoes also gave off a yummy aroma.
As the pie was baking, I made the Creme Anglaise. It's simply a custard that is runny and smooth that you eat with dessert pies and crumbles. It's supposed to be made with full fat milk or light cream but I didn't have that. I used a lower fat milk but it came together beautifully. I had smooth and silky custard sauce but when I added vanilla sugar ( I didn't have vanilla essence), it curdled a little! Aww...I'll have to remember to buy vanilla essence next time. But I did manage to sort of salvage the custard sauce. I strained the sauce and it sort of worked. I managed to remove some of the curdled parts.
When Pete came home later that evening, we both had a really good meal. It was cold outside and the warm pies was just the thing to warm him up. The custard sauce was good as well. It could have been better but it was good enough.
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| Apple pie! |
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| Close up of the leaves I made out of the remaining dough. No waste. |
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| The two pies cooling till serving time |
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| The inside of the shepherd's pie |
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| Want a slice of apple pie? |
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| Apple pie with custard sauce |
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