Ingredients

• 300g plain flour
• pinch salt
• 3 tbsp caster sugar
• 300g unsalted butter, frozen and grated
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp iced water

Apple Filling

• 2 kg Granny Smith apples, peeled, de cored, quartered and sliced
• 4 tbps corn flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 vanilla pod, roughly chopped
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 100g caster sugar

To Assemble

• 1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp of water
• 2 tbsp caster sugar

Method

1. Pastry: Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and stir in the salt and sugar. Toss the grated butter into the flour with clean hands. Cut the butter into the flour with a fork, so that it is well distributed. Make a well in the centre of the flour. Whisk the egg and water together and pour it into the well in the flour. Add to the dry ingredients and using a fork or metal spoon stir in the egg mixture until you have a crumb like dough. With floured fingers, draw the mixture together to make a rough dough in the bowl. Turn out the pastry onto a lightly floured work top and knead two or three times so that it is smooth (don't over work the dough). Flatten the pastry out into two flat disk. Wrap the pastry in cling film and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes.
2. Filling: Place the sugar into a food processor. Split the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape the seeds over the sugar. Blend until well combined. Toss the vanilla sugar and all the remaining filling ingredients together so that the apple slices are well coated. If you don't have a food processor flavour the sugar with a vanilla pod in it for a couple of days (reserve the vanilla pod for future use).
3. To Assemble: Preheat an oven to 180°C. Place one of the pastry disk between two sheets of lightly floured parchment paper. Roll the pastry into a 13 inch disk. Remove the top sheet of parchment paper and invert the pastry out into a 9 inch pie dish. Remove the parchment pastry from the pastry. Lay the filling ingredients out in the dish. Roll out the second disk between parchment paper into a 13 inch disk. Remove the top sheet of parchment paper and invert it over the filling, and remove the second sheet of parchment. Seal around the edges of the pie, trim the excess pastry and crimp the edges. Make 2 small holes in the centre of the pie and make 2 leaves with any pastry scraps and place them gently over the holes. Lightly brush the pie with the beaten egg and sprinkle over two tablespoons of caster sugar.
4. To Cook: Place the pie on the centre shelf of the preheated oven and bake the pie fro 45 minutes. The pie should be golden brown when ready. Remove the pie from the oven and allow it to cool for 15 minutes
5. To Serve: Serve slices of the pie warm with thick cream or vanilla ice-cream. The pie can be prepared a day in advance and stored in the refrigerator. Bring the pie to room temperature before serving or reheat it in a moderate oven for 10-15 minutes.