Taking the apple out of Christmas pie (well sort of)

So today on work amidst the millions of orders coming in and when everything was seemingly going wrong with my brains, Rachel our sauté chef and resident Tobagonian in the kitchen found time to make an apple pecan pie and she was aided by the 'parrot' of our kitchen Gregory. Now seeing that this was a joint venture by two of our more senior chefs I presumed I was going to taste a piece of heaven on earth...*blehhhhhh* I was wrong!

Just to point out two major things you guys did wrong....well three. Firstly: where was your ice cold water? You can’t make pastry without it. Second: did I just see u bake the bottom crust first then add the filling and bake it over again?? Reallyyyyy???

*Sigh*

Third: for my readers, unless you want a sweeter than normal concoction, I suggest u don’t make the filling on the stove prior to baking...it never tastes good. So there you have it my brief tips on the perfect pie.

Now on to my newest creation thanks to the help of my double puppy team of advisors; one proving to be more helpful that the other *ahem ahem* but we still cool. I came up with an alternative to the foreign apple and pecans method of ingredients. I opted to go with pineapple and cashews and well to make it 'extra trini' throw in a dash of sorrel liqueur or sorrel syrup. So here you go readers! Tonight's, well morning's recipe:

Pineapple Sorrel Cashew pie

CRUST (recipe makes one double crust):

2 1/2 cups white flour

3 tbsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup cold butter, broken into small pieces

5 tbsp. cold vegetable shortening

8 tbsp. ice water

• Measure the flour, sugar and salt together. Stir to combine.
• Add the chilled butter pieces and shortening to the bowl. Cut them in with a pastry cutter or knife. Don't over mix them.
• Add the ice water. Mix until the dough holds together (add a bit more water, if necessary).
• Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, knead it together, then divide in half.
• Flatten each half into a disk, wrap in saran wrap and chill for at least half an hour.
• Roll out one of the disks on a lightly floured surface until you have a circle that's about 12 inches in diameter.
• Put the circle in a 9" pie plate, trimming any extra dough from the edges with a sharp knife. Return it to the refrigerator until you are ready to make the pie.
• Add filling (see below)
• Roll out the second ball of dough and cover top. Use a fork or your fingers to pinch the edges together. Cut a couple slits in the top.

FILLING

1/4 cup sugar.

1/4 cup all-purpose flour.

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg.

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon .

Pinch of salt .

1 cup of pineapples (slice or dice medium size

1/3 cup of cashews

1/2 cup of sorrel juice

• Heat oven to 425 degrees.
• Peel clean pineapple of all blemishes (the black eyes) Try to keep the size of the slices even.
• Mix, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt in large bowl.
• Stir in pineapples and cashews
• Add sorrel and sugar to a sauce pan and bring to a boil getting it thick .
• Mix with fruit mixture
• Pour into pastry-lined pie plate.
• Cover with top crust and seal the edges. Cut slits in the top.
• OPTIONAL: Cover edge with 3-inch strip of aluminium foil to prevent too much browning.
• Remove foil during last 15 minutes of baking.
• Bake 40 t0 45 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.