Sausage, leek and apple pie

On a whim, I decided to search for sausage pie on Flickr. I wanted to see how high up the list the photos of my sausage pie would be. I was kinda surprised at how many sausage pie photos appeared. My sausage pie photos appear fairly high in the list now. Score! Anyhoo, I saw a photo of a Sausage, apple and leek pie in the list and said to myself, I must have this pie!. Fortunately, the photographer linked to the recipe at Making Light. This morning, I attempted to make it myself. It is good.

So here’s the recipe as I’ve adapted it. In particular, I left out the saffron because that stuff is expensive. For the original, follow the link. Pictures follow.

Ingredients

• 2 large leeks
• 2 large Granny Smith apples
• ¼ pound celery root
• 1½ pounds bulk sausage (mixture of bulk breakfast sausage and leftover mild Italian bulk)
• 4 tablespoons fine gauge tapioca
• dry sherry
• 4 tablespoons butter
• all purpose flour
• salt
• top and bottom crusts for pie (however you like to make/buy these)

Prep work

• Peel and core apples
• Slice apples to even ¼ inch thickness
• Wash leeks (I actually found it easier to wash the leek after cutting lengthwise in next steps)
• Cut leeks lengthwise, then into ⅓ inch pieces
• Pare celery root
• Slice finely

Cooking

1. Preheat oven to 425 °
2. Brown sausage, breaking it apart into small pieces
3. Set aside
4. Put leek and celery root in just enough water to cover the vegetables
5. Bring to a boil and cook just until vegetables are wilted
6. Drain, reserving broth
7. Toss 3 tablespoons of tapioca with vegetables
8. Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a saucepan
9. Add 4 tablespoons flour
10. Stir until thick/done (i.e., make a roux)
11. Add in vegetable broth, a splash of sherry, and salt to taste
12. Give it a quick stir
13. Add in vegetables
14. Set aside to cool a bit

Assembling the pie

1. Lay bottom crust in pie plate
2. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons tapioca on bottom crust
3. Dredge apples in flour
4. Layer apples in compact circles, two levels for my deep pie
5. Layer half the leek mixture on top
6. Put in the sausage next
7. Put remaining leek mixture on top
8. Add top crust
9. Vent the crust

Baking

1. Bake at 425° for 15 minutes
2. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or it appears done
3. Let cool to solidify a bit