Inspired Pie: Apple and Hatch Green Chile Galettes

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For the food blogging community August was all about pie. Pie and love.

Food bloggers from around the world gathered together to support fellow food blogger Jennie Perillo when she lost her husband to a sudden heart attack. First, everyone made peanut butter pies in honor her husband Mikey. I spent an entire friday wiping tears from my eyes at my desk as I watched the #pieformikey Twitter feed. Then I watched this amazing video tribute for Jennie from White on Rice Couple and just outright bawled.

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After this amazing group of bloggers gathered around Jennie and her family in the biggest virtual embrace I’ve ever witness, they quickly turned to the practical side of things. Bloggers Without Borders created the Fund for Jennie and bloggers from this same amazing community are offering baked goods, special art, and more in an auction to benefit Jennie and her family. My friend and photography goddess Penny De Los Santos is generously offering a full day of photography in New York City as part of the auction and let me tell you, I’d give my eye teeth to be able to bid on that amazing adventure. As of today the auction has raised $30k for this blogging family in need and it’s not over yet. Simply amazing.

In the mean time, here in Austin we’ve been having our own celebration of community and love through pie. The Austin Food Blogger Alliance partnered with the Alamo Drafhouse to host a special showing of Waitress with proceeds benefiting SafePlace, an organization that supports abused women and children in their greatest hours of need. Along with the proceeds from the movie ticket sales Alamo’s Executive Chef John Bullington made 20 pecan pies with local blogger Michael Chu after he won our pie contest earlier in the month. Proceeds from sales of slices of pie also went to SafePlace. And finally, local pie makers donated a table full of pies that we sold after the movie to further benefit SafePlace. When all was said and done we raised $2k for this important local charity. As I stood in front of a packed house before the Waitress screening and shared the story of A Pie for Mikey I was struck by how honored I feel to be part of such a passionate, loving, and supportive blogging community both here in Austin and around the virtual world. In the end this is why we blog: to create connections, build community, and share our love for food.

I didn’t quite manage to get a peanut butter pie made in honor of Mikey, but this weekend I did create what I’m calling inspired pie because it was inspired by two of my fellow food bloggers. At the food blogger pie contest Addie Broyles from the Austin American Statesman made a cherry galette with one of the best crusts I’ve ever tasted. It was flaky and just salty enough to balance out the sweet cherry filling. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised to learn that the crust was made by Martha Stewart’s trusty pate brisee recipe. Addie said it was easy to make and work with which are great characteristics for any recipes to have, particularly a dessert recipe. Since I had Addie’s galette I’d been thinking about making one myself but hadn’t settled on what kind. Then just this last weekend Lisa Fain posted a recipe on Homesick Texan for Hatch Chile Apple Cobbler and I knew I had found my gallette.

My daughter turned 12 last weekend and my family was in town to celebrate. As I put together her birthday dinner the inspired galette was the first item on the menu. There was something particularly special about making pie for my family in a month when pie has meant so much to my extended blogging family. The touch of Hatch chile in the recipe tied the whole dish back to my roots in the Southwest. This particular pie meant more to me than any pie I’ve made before.

Recipe: Apple and Hatch Chile Galettes

Ingredients

• 1 recipe of Martha Stewart’s pate brisee
• 1 recipe of Homesick Texan’s Hach Chile Apple Cobbler filling
• 2 Tbsp. sugar in the raw

Directions

1. Make the pate brisee according to the recipe directions and refrigerate for at least an hour.
2. Make the cobbler filling according to the recipe directions and let cool.
3. Spray two cookie sheets with non-stick spray or line with parchment paper.
4. Divide the pate brisee dough into 8 equal portions. Roll each portion into a 7-8 inch circle.
5. Place a dough circle onto a corner of the cookie sheet. Fill with a heaping 1/2 c. of the cobbler filling, leaving about a 1 inch border of dough free of the filling.
6. Bring the free edges of the dough up around the filling. The crust will be uneven and the center of the filling won’t be covered by the dough. That’s okay, that’s sort of the point of the galette. It’s supposed to be rustic. It’s also a pass for you so the crust doesn’t have to look perfect. Everyone wins.
7. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Refrigerate the galettes for an hour.
8. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
9. Brush the crust of each galette lightly with water and sprinkle with the sugar.
10. Place the baking sheets into the oven and cook for 30 minutes, swapping the position of the sheets on the racks after 15 minutes.
11. After 30 minutes reduce the oven temperature to 375 and cook for another 15 minutes or until the edges of the galettes are nicely browned.
12. Let cool slightly and serve with something cool and creamy like vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.