Adventures in Dim Sum: Manhattan Chinatown

Currently, I am visiting Keerthi in New York, and it is joyous.

On Saturday we went to Dim Sum. We searched and searched through Chinatown until we came across a place that looked promising. That is to say, it looked both a) Cheap and b) Unlikely to give us salmonella/E.coli/trichinosis. The restaurant did, in fact, greatly resemble a diner that had seen better days, but we had great faith in it, based mainly on the fact that they were still serving dim sum when we wanted it in the late afternoon. And it was REALLY cheap. Here's the menu --



Unfortunately, by the time we remembered our cameras....



Quality greasy Saturday afternoon dim sum on the cheap.

Sun Hop Shing Tea House
21 Mott Street
New York, New York
212-267-2729
Subway Stop: Canal St.

Apple Pie

We made pie and it was glorious. The apples came from a tree in Keerthi's backyard, the kitchen + oven + previous pie-making prowess from yours truly. Not finding a recipe that sounded both edible and achievable, we researched, fiddled, and came up with the following.

Fantabulous Apple Pie
Pie Crust adapted from BetterBaking.com
4 cups all purpose flour
6 ounces (3/4 cup) butter or shortening
6 ounces (3/4 cup) unsalted butter
1 egg, optional
2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 3/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup ice water
+1 egg for brushing pie crust

Filling from 101 Cookbooks
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 1/2 pounds apples, peeled, cored, and each cut into 10 wedges
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

To make the crust:
Place flour in a large mixing bowl. Cut in shortening and butter until mixture is crumbly - a not so even mixture of little and larger lumps of flour covered fat. Stir together egg, sugar, and salt, and lemon juice. Make a well in center of flour and fat. Stir in egg mixture and drizzle in most of ice water. Using a fork or fingers, toss mixture together to moisten flour. Stir to make a soft mass and pat into a dough. Add remaining (or additional) ice water as required to make sure dough sticks together.

Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead very briefly into a smooth dough. Divide dough in 2 portions (for two double crusts) or 4-5 portions (for 4-5 single crusts) [we made one double crust pie and two single crust pies, and decided the double crusts looked and tasted a lot better] and wrap each section well by wrapping first in plastic wrap and then insert into a ziplock bag. Refrigerate the dough at least one hour or up to two days (or freeze).

To assemble the pie:
Put a large baking sheet on middle oven rack and preheat oven to 425F.
Whisk together flour, zest, cinnamon, allspice, salt, and 2/3 cup sugar in a large bowl. Gently toss with apples and lemon juice.

Roll out 1 piece of dough (keep remaining dough chilled) on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 13-inch round. Fit it into a 9-inch pie plate. Trim edge, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Refrigerate while you roll out dough for top crust.

Roll out remaining piece of dough on lightly floured surface into an 11-inch round.

Spoon filling into shell. Cover pie with pastry round. Press edges together, then crimp decoratively. [Basically, we just draped the second piece of crust over the top of the pie, cut off the overhang, and then kind of squished the edge of the dough to the edge of the pie tin. It seemed to work pretty well.] Lightly brush top of pie with beaten egg. With a small sharp knife, cut 3 vents in top crust.

Bake pie on hot baking sheet for 20 minutes [IMPORTANT AND ESSENTIAL! Remember, this pie is filled with apple-y goodness just waiting to bubble over and create a sticky gooey mess in your oven]. Reduce oven temperature to 375F and continue to bake until crust is golden and filling is bubbling, about 40 minutes more. Cool pie on a rack to warm or room temperature, 2 to 3 hours.