Apple matrix

I was a little worried that all the free apples I've been getting from co-workers and from Tiffany and her dad's "hobby" orchard would endanger my marriage. Chris has been beyond patient with the pounds and pounds of apples that I've turned into quarts and quarts of apple sauce, butter, and pie filling. However, since he brought home a good-sized bags of apples courtesy of his chair earlier this week, I'm a little less worried about it. Regardless, we still have to figure out how to eat them, and I've already got more applesauce saved up for the transition to solid foods than any baby could possibly eat, and I think my freezer is holding more apple butter than I've eaten in my entire life put together.

If you have free apples coming out your ears like we do (LOVING living in northern Wisconsin... never in my life have I gotten so many free apples, tomatoes, and strawberries, which also happen to be my all-time most favorite produces), then you'll join me in thanks to Mark Bittman for an apple matrix. For lunch today I made the apple and brussels sprouts. Pretty easy, although I missed the delicious golden crust that sauteed brussels sprouts get. Next time I think I'll put those in first, cook for a bit with the lid off, then throw the apples and the rest in. I also tossed in some fresh cranberries for good measure, which I think was really worth it.

Next time: Apples and poppyseeds... :)

Crock pot apple butter

• 5 1/2 lbs apples, peeled, cored, and finely chopped (or, leave the peel on if you're going to be using a blender at the end, not a whisk, to smooth it out. I used a food processor grater to finely chop them)
• 2-4 cups sugar
• 2 -3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Combine apples, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and salt in the slow cooker. Mix.
2. Place in crock pot, cover and cook on high for 1 hour. Stir every so often to mix in the sugar and spices.
3. Decrease heat to low; cover and cook on low for 9-11 hours or until thickened and dark brown. Stir occasionally.
4. Uncover and cook on low for 1 hour longer.
5. Whisk until smooth, or use an immersion blender if you left the peels on.
6. Spoon into freezer containers, leaving 1/2-inch head space.
7. Cover and freeze.

RESULTS:

This is from http://www.food.com/recipe/crock-pot-apple-butter-93886. I changed the original recipe a lot based on the comments, and I agree with them that the taste of the apples should determine how much sugar you use. I used milder apples, and I probably put in about 3 cups of sugar. I might add more before I put it into jars, I haven't decided yet. (I'm making a second batch with some other apples, and I'm going to combine the two and see what I think then.) Some people processed their jars in a boiling water canner, but I'm not willing to do that without an expert telling me exactly how long it should be processed.  The big oops that I did was to add some allspice, thinking that would be awesome. It's not bad, but I wish I hadn't added it. You can always add more spices after it's finished it you want.

Banana Ice Cream

This is amazing. Basically, you just freeze banana slices for a couple hours and then grind them up, and you get banana ice cream. I tried it with the blender first, which didn't work because there wasn't any liquid to keep the solids moving down to the blade, and then I tried my mini-food processor, which worked but the bananas made their way up under the blade into the shaft, and I'd be worried about it sticking up the motor. Next time, I'll try either the full sized food processor or maybe even my immersion blender. Let me know if you try it with the immersion blender before I get to it!

Roasted apples with yogurt and balsamic glaze

You may have noticed that I added a label called "food-heroin." You'll understand after you try this recipe. You can't stop after having one taste. I think it's so neat that something as tart and sour as balsamic vinegar turns into something sweeter then maple syrup, all just from heat.

From www.molliekatzen.com:

Roasting apples, which is basically a high-temperature baking process with no added liquid, gives them a wonderful, deepened flavor and a great chewy texture. You can serve Roasted Apples as a snack or a dessert, with or without a platter of cheeses. You can also gussy them up with some Balsamic Drizzle (recipe follows).

This is more a method than it is an exact recipe. Roast any amount of apples, and use any kind except red delicious, which are OK for eating but don't cook well. I like to use tart varieties, because they become sweeter during the roasting process. The inner moisture evaporates and natural sugars caramelize and intensify.

NOTE: You can make the Balsamic Drizzle several days ahead or while the apples roast. You can also skip it, as the apples are delicious plain as well.

Nonstick spray
Apples (any number, and any type but red delicious)

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
2. Spray a ceramic baking dish with nonstick spray.
3. Core the apples, and cut them into fairly large chunks, leaving the peel on. (If the fruit is peeled, it tends to fall apart.)
4. Place the chunks either peel side-down or on their sides in the baking dish. Spacing is unimportant, since the fruit shrinks as it roasts. Just make sure the pieces are in a single layer. Put the dish into the preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until the apples are done just the way you like them. This is a very subjective process .
5. When the fruit feels tender to the touch (or a fork slides easily into the flesh) remove the dish from the oven, and transfer the apples to a plate or a platter with a rim.

DEGLAZING

At this point, you can deglaze the pan with a little apple juice (about 1/4 cup). To deglaze, just add the juice to the dish after the fruit has been removed, and scrape and swish it around with a wooden spoon to catch all the glazed fruit tidbits that have stuck during the roasting process. When you've scraped up all the bits and stirred it well in the pan, transfer to a small bowl (straining optional) or pour it directly over the roasted fruit.

BALSAMIC DRIZZLE

Adapted from Mollie Katzen's Vegetable Heaven
Preparation time: 30 minutes (1 minute of work)
Yield: 1/3 cup (easily multiplied)

• Balsamic vinegar, that musty, dark, aged-in-wood variety many of us have fallen in love with, makes a wonderful syrup when cooked down to about one-third its original volume. You can drizzle this amazing stuff over more foods than you'd ever imagine„everything from roasted vegetables and bean soups to potato dishes and homemade pizzettas. It's even great on pancakes, fruit, and frozen desserts, especially fruit sorbets. This might just be the most versatile one-ingredient sauce ever.
• You don't need to use an expensive brand of vinegar for this recipe. In fact, the ordinary, more moderately priced supermarket varieties work the best.
• Store Balsamic Drizzle in a covered container at room temperature. Theoretically it will keep forever, but undoubtedly you will use it up sooner than that. If it does sit around, though, it tends to harden, and that is easily fixed. Simply zap it for about 15 seconds in a microwave oven, and it will soften up again.

1 cup balsamic vinegar

1. Place the vinegar in a shallow saucepan and heat to boiling. (You might want to open your kitchen windows„this gives off strong fumes!)
2. Turn the heat way down, and simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes, or until the vinegar is reduced in volume by about two-thirds.
3. Transfer to a bowl, cover tightly, and store indefinitely at room temperature.

I then added a dollop of plain greek yogurt. Also, I put about a tablespoon of honey in the balsamic vinegar while it was reducing, but that's not necessary at all.

A couple of cautions:

1) do this with the windows WIDE OPEN and the fans on.

2) there's the sweet spot of the balsamic glaze being "just so" and burnt to heck. Watch it very carefully at the end. It's finished when it leaves a dark brown, almost black, thick coat on the spoon.

Enjoy!!

Cranberry sauce, a la me

Report on Thanksgiving #1:

I was going back and forth between a few different cranberry sauce recipes. The problem was there was a relish, which seemed pretty good because it had interesting additions like oranges and ginger, but it wasn't a real sauce (just chopped up ingredients), which I didn't want. And then there's the traditional sauce, which is just water, sugar, and cranberries. Didn't want that either.

Finally I said, the heck with it, and combined the two. Smelled amazing as it cooked, and it tastes not too shabby, either. I was tempted to have some for breakfast, but thought I should save it for the turkey.

2 cups fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked over
2/3 c sugar (or more if you want it to be less runny)
zest from one orange
1 orange segmented
a bit of grated fresh ginger (whatever looks good)
1 cup water

Put all of the above in a saucepan over medium low heat. Cover and cooks, stirring occasionally, until berries are broken, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, cool, and refrigerate. Will keep, covered, for a week.

You can also add just a teensy splash of bourbon, which I did. :)

Raspberry Brown Sugar Gratin

In honor of Dave and Kathy's visit, and of the nearly six pounds of berries I picked, I made this gratin. Except, I didn't use raspberries, I used blueberries. And I didn't use creme fraiche, I used thickened yogurt. And I didn't even use half of the sugar, nor did I put it through a sieve because that didn't work. So of the three ingredients, I used none of them correctly. It was still tasty, though.

From Smitten Kitchen:

There are a lot of ways you can play around with this — flavoring the sour cream with lemon, vanilla, cinnamon or almond; using a mix of berries, etc. — but it is flawless the way it is. Want to fancy it up for fancy people? Make it in individual ramekins or tiny gratin dishes.

[Updated to add] Ooh, I just had an idea — Swap thick, full-fat Greek-style yogurt swapped for sour cream and serve it at a brunch to what I have to imagine would be a round of applause. Or at least I’d applaud.

1 pint (2 cups) fresh raspberries (or your choice of berry)
1 pint (2 cups) sour cream (or crème fraîche)
1 cup dark brown sugar

Preheat broiler. Gently fold raspberries and sour cream together in a shallow 1-quart dish. Press the brown sugar through a sieve or mesh colander so that it sprinkles evenly over the dish. (I tried using a sifter; don’t bother, it doesn’t work.) Run the dish under the broiler until the sugar just starts to caramelize. Eat at once.

Keeping: The leftovers might look like something died in your fridge but I can assure you, are equally delicious.

Baked Seasonal Fruit

This is from that same Washington Post article as La Farinata.

Summary:

Use whatever fruit at the farmers market is at its peak. In the summer, D.C. cook Deborah Thawley likes to use peaches, nectarines, plums or figs. In the fall she uses pears and apples, often adding blueberries or blackberries in the last 10 minutes of oven time. And she sometimes adds thin slices of lemon or orange peel, dried fruit, for another flavor.

Two tablespoons of whiskey can be used instead of the sugar and lime or lemon juice.

This dish is best served right after it is made.

4 servings

Ingredients:

* • Juice of 1 lime or lemon (2 to 3 teaspoons)
* • 2 medium apples, cut in half and cored
* • 2 medium pears, firm and well-flavored
* • 1 tablespoon sugar, preferably vanilla sugar (see NOTE)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Sprinkle the juice in the bottom of a medium gratin or baking dish.

Place the pears and apples cut side down in the gratin or baking dish. Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the top of the fruit. Roast for about 45 minutes, until the skin of the fruit is well browned and slightly puffed. Serve warm.

NOTE: To make sugar with a vanilla perfume, submerge a vanilla bean in a tightly closed container of sugar for at least a week before using.

Results:

I like the versatility of this recipe, how you can use whatever fruit you like and whatever is in season. Having said that, I think some fruits are going to be better than others. I used an apple that wasn't great for cooking, so it got really mushy, like apple sauce. I also thew some cranberries in toward the end. Cranberries are really tart without sugar. The whole thing tasted a bit like a sweet-tart. I made it for breakfast and it certainly woke us up! But, maybe not the best combo.

Grilled Pineapple with Rosemary

I got Suz the "hot" new cookbook called the Flavor Bible. I, er, bought her the present a week before I wrapped it so I could, ah, do some "quality testing." It was pretty cool, it lists just about every edible ingredient and then the flavors that go best with those ingredients. I looked up pineapple and lo and behold, there was all this talk of rosemary. I thought it was just hooey, but I tried it and it was great. All I did was cut up the fresh pineapple, chop up some fresh rosemary and sprinkle it on top, then broil (or grill) until get browned in spots. Couldn't be easier, but it seems impressive, so you get lots of points with guests. You can't really taste the rosemary, it's not very strong, but it really mellows the sweetness of the pineapple.

Morrocan-Style Preserved Lemons

From my Gourmet Cookbook

Makes: about 48 pieces
Active time:15 min
Start to finish:5 days

Preserved lemons are perhaps most at home in Moroccan dishes, but we love their complex, bright flavor and aroma in all kinds of soups, stews, and salads. We’ve adapted Mediterranean-food authority Paul Wolfert’s quick method and made it even faster by blanching the lemons first. Save the pulp for bloody Marys or anything else enlivened by a little lemon juice and salt. If you manage to find Meyer lemons, this is a great way to capture their unforgettable taste and perfume.

10 to 12 lemons (2 1/2 to 3 lb)
2/3 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Equipment: a (4- to) 6-cup jar with a tight-fitting lid

Blanch 6 lemons in boiling water 5 minutes, then drain. Cut each lemon into 8 wedges and discard seeds. Toss with kosher salt in a bowl, then firmly pack with salt into jar.
Squeeze lemon juice from remaining lemons to measure 1 cup. Add enough juice to cover lemons and screw on lid. Let stand at room temperature, shaking jar gently once a day, 5 days. Add oil to lemons and chill, covered.

Cooks’ note: Lemons keep, chilled, 1 year.

RESULTS: In case you're wondering, lemons were on sale at Kroger. I bought a lot. Not the fancy-pants meyer lemons, I've never heard of those.

I think most of what I have to say about this recipe is about mechanics. First of all, my cookbook says to use a 6-cup jar. All I had was a 4-cup jar (from store-bought spaghetti sauce), so I thought I'd just do 2/3rds of the amounts for everything, but it was Saturday morning, and my tea hadn't enough kick for me to do the math, so I just decided to make it easier and do half the recipe and just have room at the top. The problem is that lemons float, so in order for everything to be submerged, I had to add a LOT of juice, and then that got me worried about the salt-juice ratio, and I was using sea salt instead of kosher salt anyway so it was already a little screwy.... anyway. I think it turned out mostly the way it's supposed to, but I've never had a Moroccan-style preserved lemon so it's hard to say. Take my advice, just follow the recipe the way it's written, don't try to get fancy with fractions and what not. Besides, I just now found this recipe on the Gourmet magazine website where they say to use a 4- to 6-cup jar. NOW they tell me! Sheesh.

You're probably wondering, "why would you preserve a lemon? They're readily available year round!" which is exactly the question Chris asked me as I was covered in lemon juice and sea salt. (By the way, don't make this recipe if you have any recent cuts or scrapes on your hands. Trust me.) I've seen a few recipes that call for preserved lemons and I intend to try them, but I also like just a couple wedges cut up small in salads, and the juice makes a good salad dressing with a little extra olive oil and pepper. The rind gets rather soft, and the lemons seem to have gotten more sour and rather briny... basically, they taste just like you would think they taste based on the recipe.