... as easy as pie.

Eat hot, warm or cold as a stolen slice straight from the fridge. This is comfort food that is easy on effort, so very simple, and fills little and big tummies equally happily. I added sharks to my pie crust; a pie without frivolous embellishment is somehow naked.

Sophie Grigson's Sausage and Apple Pie

Take a 450g packet of ready-made puff pastry (if you will. Make your own if you have the urge). Cut the block in half and roll one piece to generously line a shallow 9 inch pie plate.

Take a quantity of good sausage meat (a 450g packet of fat sausages cut from their skins is an excellent choice) and spread evenly across the pastry sheet. Season with pepper, nutmeg andfresh chopped sage (3 or 4 leaves). Peel, core and slice 2 large eating apples and arrange the slices evenly across the sausage meat. Season again with pepper and nutmeg.

Roll out the remaining pastry to form the lid. Beat an egg yolk with a tablespoon of cold water and brush the edges of the pie pastry with the egg wash and lay the lid on top. Press the edges together to seal, and trim the excess. Make a hole in the centre of the lid to let the steam out, and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Put a baking tray in the oven and preheat the oven to 220ºC.

Brush the pastry with the egg wash (after adding fish or otherwise-shaped motifs) just before popping in the oven on top of the baking tray so the base gets an instant blast of heat. After 15 minutes, reduce the heat to 180ºC and cook for another 30-40 minutes until the apple is tender.

I liked this. I LOVE potato dauphinoise and jansson's temptation but all that cream .. oh la la .. it is not good for my butt. I needed an alternative and this works well. It looks great too (i forgot to take the final photo) and tastes wonderful at room temperature, with ham.

Thinly slice 3 large baking potatoes (about 900g) - thin as you can, with a sharp knife or a mandolin grater. Put the slices in a bowl and season with salt, pepper and grated nutmeg.





Stir in 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped, then add 115g grated Gruyere cheese. Turn to coat as evenly as possible.

Layer the potatoes in to a generously buttered shallow gratin dish. Pour over approx 400ml chicken stock, just to cover the surface. Dot the top generously with butter and bake at 190ºC for an hour or so.

Hot, bubbly golden goodness (you'll have to imagine that part).