Apple Mincemeat Filo Pie (Pastis Gascon)
Hidden inside this crispy, buttery filo pie is a delicately sweet apple and mincemeat filling with a boozy kick. This makes the perfect light dessert after a festive feast.
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Introduction
Pastis Gascon is a fundamentally rustic yet flouncy French apple pie that’s soft and mildly boozy on the inside (hello, brandy) and shatteringly crisp on the outside from the use of filo pastry. It’s the kind of low-fuss, relatively light dessert that is perfect for using up any leftover mincemeat once Christmas has passed.
Ingredients
| For the filling | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Bramley cooking apple, peeled, quartered and cored |
| 2 | Pink Lady apples, peeled, quartered and cored |
| juice of ½ | lemon |
| around 140g (4½ oz) | mincemeat (give or take is fine) |
| 1 tbsp | caster (superfine) or granulated sugar, plus extra for sprinkling |
| 3 tbsp | Armagnac (or brandy) |
| To assemble | |
| 6–7 filo (phyllo) | pastry sheets |
| 85g (3¼oz) | butter, melted |
| To serve | |
| icing (confectioners’) sugar | |
| crème fraîche |
Essential kit
You will need: 30cm (12in) round pie dish (I use a large Falcon enamel serving bowl).
Method
Preheat the oven to 170°C fan/190°C/375°F/gas 5. Place a baking tray in the oven to heat up.
Thinly slice the apple quarters crossways and place in a medium bowl. Squeeze over the lemon juice, then add the rest of the filling ingredients and toss together.
To assemble the pie, cover the filo sheets with a slightly damp dish towel while you work, so that they don’t dry out. Brush the pie dish with a thin layer of the melted butter, sprinkle with a teaspoon of sugar, then add a sheet of filo to the bottom of the tin, letting any excess overhang. Brush this filo layer with more butter and sprinkle with more sugar, then place a second sheet of filo over the top, rotating it slightly so that the excess hangs out at a different angle. Repeat with 2 more layers of filo.
Fill the pie dish with the apple mincemeat mixture, leaving any excess liquid behind in the bowl.
Lay a sheet of filo on your work surface, brush with the melted butter, sprinkle with a teaspoon of sugar and scrunch it up, then arrange it on top of half of the pie (if your sheets are really big, then you may choose to halve them). Repeat with another sheet of filo, placing this on the other half, creating a full pie ‘lid’ and tucking in any overhang, like a messy bedsheet. Drizzle any remaining melted butter over the top.
Place the pie on the preheated baking tray and bake until the pastry is cooked through and golden brown, around 45 minutes. (Check it halfway through the cooking time and turn the oven down to 160°C fan/180°C/350°F/gas 4 if the pastry looks as though it’s getting dark quite quickly.)
Allow the pie to cool for 15 minutes before serving warm, dusted lightly with icing sugar and with a spoonful of crème fraîche alongside.
Notes
Filo (phyllo) comes in all shapes and sizes, so take the quantity below as a rough guide.
If you’re in a hurry, you can forego lining the dish with filo, and simply pop the scrunched-up sheets on top to form a ‘lid’.
This can easily be doubled to fit a larger dish/serve more people.
This is best served with tangy French crème fraîche (or sour cream), but cold double (heavy) cream is also lovely.
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