Blood Sausage Roasted Apples Pie

Le boudin noir: is a fully cooked dark-hued blood sausage, containing pork, pork blood and other ingredients and spices. Blood sausage is very rich and high in iron. The French classic boudin noir dish consists of serving the seared sausage with whole roasted apples. In North America, you can find blood sausage at Fabriques Delices. This one of a kind savory entree pie offers an incredible combination of flavors. A flaky crust layered with a sweet onion marmalade, granny smith apple sauce, potatoes, boudin noir and roasted Opal apples. Opal is the brand name for a cultivar of apple produced by crossing 'Golden Delicious' with 'Topaz. The pie can be enjoyed as is or seasoned with a gastrique sauce or a classic vinaigrette made with red vinegar, whole grain old style mustard, honey, shallots, parsley and olive oil. This recipe yields 8 to 10 servings.

Butter a 11 inch/28cm diameter fluted tart pan or use 2 medium size pans. In a food processor or mixer fitted with the paddle attachement or by hand, mix flour, salt and butter first until coarse meal. Add liquid and mix until combined. Roll out pastry into a 0.12 inch/3 mm thick sheet between a large silicone mat and parchment. Freeze dough for 20 min and refrigerate until ready to use. Flip chilled pastry onto the work surface, remove parchment. Readjust pastry sheet thickness with the rolling pin if necessary. Place tart pan onto the dough and cut a circle around it (2 inches/5cm wider than the pan) – Top pastry with parchment, flip and remove silicone mat. Lay the pastry over the greased fluted tart pan. Using your finger, press the pastry into the edges and up the side of the pan. Create a leap all around and trim the excess pastry. Prick and freeze tart shell until ready to bake. Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Blind bake for 20 min. Remove pie weights and bake for 10 minutes more; set aside.

Peel and slice onions thinly. In large pan, melt duck fat and add onions. Season with salt, pepper and sugar. Cook on low heat for about 40 min stirring every so often until onions turn brown. Let cool.

Wash, peel, core and cut apples in half. Place apples in a microwave-safe container, cover and microwave for 10 min and let cool.

Peel, core and cut each apple into 12 wedges. Heat up a large pan, add fat sugar and sear apples – season lightly with salt and pepper. It should take 5 min per side. Transfer seared apples onto a baking tray to cool off. Repeat until done.

Gastrique is caramelized sugar or honey deglazed with vinegar. A fond such as reduced chicken stock or brown sauce is added to the mixture. Gastrique is used as a sweet and sour flavoring for sauces. Cook honey for a few minutes to thicken. Add apple cider vinegar and ginger and cook down for a few minutes to kill the acidity. Add stock and reduce by half. Remove from the heat and whisk in butter. Season with salt and pepper and add shallots.

Remove casein from the blood sausages. Cut each sausage into 3 portions and each portion into 3 slices. Slice out cooked potatoes. Spread onion marmalade in the pre-baked tart shell and add the apple sauce. Overlap potatoes, sausages and seared apple wedges artfully.

Bake blood sausage apple pie at 400ºF/205ºC for about 50 minutes. Let cool 20 min prior to remove from pan. Place pie onto a large round tray or a wooden cutting board. Drizzle gastrique over the pie – enjoy!