Apple and orange-blossom salad with crisp grappa pastries

Originally I made little apple pasties using this dough, but it’s even nicer served as crunchy pastry on the side of this delicately fragrant apple salad.

• serves

  4

• prep

  25 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 2 apples (such as Pink Lady), peeled, cut into wedges
• 1 tsp orange blossom water (see Note)
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 55 g (¼ cup firmly packed) brown sugar
• 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest

Fried grappa pastries

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1½ tbsp grappa (see Note) or vodka
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 260 g (1¾ cups) plain flour
• 250 ml (1 cup) vegetable oil
• icing sugar, to dust

Chilling time 30 minutes

Instructions

To make pastries, whisk together olive oil, grappa and vinegar in a small bowl. Combine flour and 1 tsp salt in a large bowl, then make a well in the centre. Gradually add grappa mixture and enough of 80 ml warm water into the flour mixture, stirring, until mixture forms a dough. Knead on a lightly floured work surface for 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or so before rolling.

Meanwhile, mix apples with orange-blossom water, spices, sugar, lemon zest and a grind of pepper. Set aside to marinate for 15 minutes.

Roll pastry out to a 2 mm thickness and cut into 5 cm x 2 cm strips. Heat oil in a wok or small pan until a crumb dropped in sizzles immediately. If you have an oil thermometer, 175°C is about right. Fry pastries in batches, turning and moving them around so they cook evenly, for 1 minute or until golden. Drain well on paper towel, then dust with icing sugar before serving with apple salad.

Note

• Orange blossom water is available from specialist and Middle Eastern food shops.

• Grappa is a fragrant Italian pomace brandy, available from good bottle shops.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.