apple pie

I'm thrilled that a few people have responded to my cookbook question below. I think the cookbooks you cook from say a lot about the kind of person you are. I agree with a lot of your favorites. If only my whole cookbook collection would have been able to make the cross country move...oh well. Lauren mentioned Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. Excellent book. In fact, I read this book cover to cover several times and cooked religiously from it while preparing for my Next Food Network Star adventure. You can't beat the basics of cooking.
One of his more recent publications is Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express. The recipe format is very loose yet straightforward. This book consists of 404 seasonal recipes that can be prepared in 20 minutes or less. The best part is that they are all written in paragraph form, just like your mom is teaching you over your shoulder. The measurements are flexible making this style of cooking really free and easy. As much as I like this "from the gut cooking," I still find comfort in classic recipe format with yield, ingredients, and directions.

In an effort to compliment this book that I have enjoyed cooking from so much, here is my rendition of apple pie...Bittman style.Easy Apple Pie Yield: 1 pie

Peel and slice 5-6 medium Granny Smith Apples. In a large bowl, toss chopped apples with about 1 cup of white sugar and a little bit of brown sugar. Add a teaspoon or two of cinnamon & nutmeg. To thicken the apple filling, add 1/2 cup flour. Set aside while you prepare your favorite pastry crust. (grandma's is usually best) After fitting bottom crust in pie pan, turn in apple mixture and dot with butter. Create a lattice on top or put additional pastry on top of filling and crimp edges of crust together. Using either an egg wash or water, dampen top of pie crust and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 15 minutes at 450 then reduce heat to 350 for another 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly.