A is for Pork-stuffed Apples...

...and L is for Lazy Blogger. Sorry 'bout that.

This was my other attempt at a savory apple dish. Not entirely successful but, hey, not a kitchen meltdown either.

In the Prince Caspian book of The Chronicles of Narnia, the Pevensies eat bear meat roasted around apples while they're marching through the woods towards Caspian, and I’ve always thought that sounded oddly good. (The food, not the marching). So that’s where this started for me. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a source for bear meat.

The Joy of Cooking had a recipe for Sausage-stuffed Baked Apples, and that nudged me in a pork-ward direction (never a hard sell).

Here’s what I did:

- Lopped the tops off and dug out most of the insides of two apples.
- Seasoned two pork chops with sage, salt and white pepper. Cubed one and shoved it into the apples, sliced the other in half long ways and wrapped it around.

- Placed the apples on a bed of frozen hash browns (with a dash of milk).
- Baked that at 400 for 30 minutes

- I pulled it out to check the progress at that point and added some butter to the top of each apple. (I was worried about the pork being too dry.)
- I also added some zucchini to the dish and put the whole thing back in the oven for another 30.

How did it turn out:
It was ok, but the pork was a bit dry (darnit) and under seasoned (eep) and the side veggies didn’t really “go” with the main part (ok, probably something I wouldn't worry about if i didn't watch so many cooking shows). It was fine for home cooking. I mean, we ate it all and weren't hungry later or anything, but I wouldn't have wanted to serve it to guests.


What I’d change:
- The meat needed more moisture.
- I’d either try a fatter meat option next time,
- or marinate the stuff for a bit (which would've added more seasoning too. Hmm)
- or maybe try cooking the dish covered. I’m bad about that.

- The meat should’ve been smaller, to better fill up and get cozy with the apples. A nice mince or even a ground option would’ve been better, I suspect. Bad on me for being lazy in the meat breakdown.

- Still not really sure what sides would’ve suited better here. Way open to suggestions.

A is for Apples in the Curry

I was looking for something different apple-wise and some savory action besides. I was also facing the oh-so-typical modren dilemma of "I just washed a pound of chicken and I can't do a thing with it."

I don't think apples plus curry would've occurred to me without having seen this recipe.

What I did (not counting this as a recipe, because I played the whole thing by ear):

I got some olive oil heating in the bottom of my stew pot over a medium and then tossed in the chicken (purchased pre-cut for stir fry; lazy, I know). I threw some curry powder, garlic salt, ginger, cilantro and white pepper on it and gave it a stir, then minced a garlic clove and added it.

Next I threw in some hash browns (the cubed kind, not the toaster patties). Periodic stirring until the chicken cooked through, then added a bit of wine, butter and water (basically enough liquid to cover the mass of stuff). Cubed up some zucchini, and peeled and cubed a Gala apple and added those along with some frozen peas.

Once the peas looked cooked-ish, I stirred in a can of lentil soup and a bit more water. Then I let the whole thing simmer for awhile. Right before eating, I stirred in a bit of milk.

The verdict:
Tasty. The apples really worked and subbed in nicely for the dried cranberries I normally would've used.

A is for Dutch Apple Pie

Back when I was working as a full time actor I spent a September/October as a pig race emcee at an apple orchard. I made friends with the ladies in the bakery, which was great, 'cause they would offer me a slice of something tasty every morning and an entire pie to take home most afternoons. The “Dutch” treatment emerged as my favourite.

Here’s what I did today:

- Crust -
3 ½ cups flour
½ TBLspns salt
½ lb Crisco
4 TBLspns cold milk

- Filling -
2 Granny Smith apples
2 Gala apples
1 Green Tomato
½ cup sugar
½ teaspn cinnamon
dash of lemon juice

- Topping -
1 stick of unsalted butter
½ cup sugar
¾ cup flour

0.5) Preheated oven to 425 degrees.

- Crust -
1) Mixed flour and salt together in the food processor

2) Cut Crisco into cubes and added to processor. Pulsed seven times to blend.

3) Left 1 ½ cups of the resulting mixture in the food processor and mixed together with the cold milk.
*** The remaining mixture I put in a covered container and set aside for future pie action. More on this later.

4) Shaped the resulting dough into a rough ball, placed on wax paper on a flat surface and flattened a bit. Placed a second sheet of waxed paper on top and rolled the dough out until it was big enough to place into my (new!) 9 inch pie dish.

*** Full disclosure: I tried rolling the crust out on a floured board first, but this led to much swearing. In this my time of need I turned to Mr. Interweb, and he gifted me with a full page of Pie Crust Troubleshooting advice.

- Filling -
5) Peeled, cored and sliced 4 apples. Sliced 1 green tomato. Placed all the slices on top of the bottom crust in the pie pan.

6) Sprinkled ½ cup sugar and ½ teaspn cinnamon evenly over the apples. Added a dash of lemon juice.

7) Chopped the stick of butter into chunks and added it and the sugar and flour to the food processor. Blended.

8) Sprinkled topping over the pie.

9) Baked the pie 10 minutes and then lowered the temperature to 400 degrees. Cooked for 35 more minutes.

How’d It Go?
I think it turned out very very well. Crispy where it should be, soft where it should be, tasty all the way through. I’ve been bellowing “Behold! I have made pie!” at random intervals throughout the remainder of the evening. This may have something to do with this being my first baked crust from scratch. Mr. Husband is tolerating this very well, probably because he agrees that the pie is replete with tasty goodness.

Sources:
I built this recipe with help from Grannie's Pie Crust Recipe (more on this in a later post), this Dutch Apple Pie Recipe at Cooks dot com and, drat, I'm forgetting where I first read about using green tomatoes in an apple pie; I'll get back to you on that bit.

SundAy, SundAy, SundAy

- Last night was the first concert in our season tickets to the Seattle Symphony, so we ate at The Brooklyn. Best known for their oysters, but every darn thing there is so decadent that I always expect the mob of angry peasants to come carry me off while I'm eating. On my plate this time: Quail stuffed with sweetbreads and fuji apples.

- Woke up this morning to see an old high school friend had posted a link to lots of apple recipes on my FaceBook wall. Huzzah! If you know me, you know my attention was especially caught by the Apple Bacon Pancakes.

- And now off for a little field trip to secure tickets for the local Alton Brown book signing October 16th.

A is for Unexpected Apple

There's a new QFC in the 'hood where I work. It's fun to go there for lunch right now because part of the Grand Opening Festivities is the Gauntlet of Free Samples (lunch appetizers, yum!).

Having gotten past the pineapple and sliced meats I reached my actual goal: the Soup Bar. It's getting Fall-ish here and I was jonesin' for some butternut squash soup. Curious, I checked out the ingredients, hoping for bacon, only to discover it was a vegan-safe, gluten free soup featuring a puree of apples? Wha-hunh?

I'm not a vegetarian of any sort, but went ahead and got the soup anyway. And it was good, not too sweet, which was my fear. I was guessing the apples were in there as a thickening agent, but poking around online, most butternut squash soup recipes out there don't seem to need that. So I guess they just like what it does to the taste.

Perhaps this calls for a side by side taste test when I get to S; apple vs. bacon. I'm betting on the bacon.

A is for Baked Apples

Full disclosure: I wanted to start with an apple pie but discovered the horrible fact that I do not own any pie pans. How in the name of god is this possible??!? Anyhoo, it threw me back on a simpler idea, which may've been for the best.

Baked Apples
The first time I had these was actually last October. My family and I were spending a week keeping the New Dungeness Lighthouse and my Aunt Cheri made us "Baked" Apples (microwaved, actually); they were wicked awesome.

Unfortunately she lives in the central time zone and I'm in pacific standard, so I didn't feel comfortable calling her for the recipe at 9:30pm my time. (Note to self: Cook earlier.) So I cobbled together a game plan from recipes at AllRecipes, Food Network and The Joy of Cooking.

Here's what I did:

3 apples
dash of bitters
dash of lemon juice
3 tsp white sugar
5 tblspns of unsalted butter
cinnamon
4 tsp brown sugar
shot of whiskey
2 shots of water

0.5) Preheated oven to 375 degrees

1) As mentioned in the previous post, I started with three different apples (Gala, Elstar and MacIntosh), which is a pretty solid baking no-no. I sliced the top 5th off of each and put them in a loaf pan.


***I ate the tops to get a feel for the apples at hand. My fave was the Gala, a nice balance between the other two; Elstar was sweeter, MacIn was tart-er.***

2) Dug out the core of each with a spoon. Basically worked down until just past the seeds.

3) Added a teaspoon of white sugar to the core of each apple.

4) Dashed lemon juice on the top of the Elstar, bitters on the other two.

5) Divided the butter into 3 equal-ish sized chunks and put this in the core of each apple.

6) Sprinkled enough cinnamon to somewhat cover the top of each apple.

7) Added whiskey and water to bottom of pan.
7.5) Accidentally got a little whiskey on the Elstar. Whoops.

8) Added a teaspoon and a pinch extra of brown sugar to the top of each apple.

9) Baked for thirty minutes. (Checked at twenty; not done.)

The Outcome:

I felt a bit like Goldilocks and the 3 Apples: The Elstar was too hard, the MacIn too soft (it kind of 'sploded...on the left there) and the Gala was just right. They all could've used a touch more sugar and cinnamon, but were tasty nonetheless.

What I would/will change next time:
- Use all the same apples, probably Galas. Baking is delicious but fascist; it likes uniformity.

- Make the middle holes a bit wider to a) aid in baking and b) hold more of the good stuff

A is for Apple

Yeah, yeah, I know, kind of an obvious choice here. I'm feeling out the format and I promise to get weird later on, mmm'kay? Good.

What the Heck is it? It's a fruit (culinary definition here, i.e., sweet) that grows on a tree. Roundish. Matures in the autumn so it's (huzzah!) in season now.


left to right we have Gala, Elstar and MacIntosh apples. Organic, from my local Greenmarket. Closing in on them we have some "love apples," or tomatoes, from my garden. These are everywhere in my kitchen right now and if I thought I could've conned you and myself into thinking they were spelled "Atomato", we'd be playing with them right now.

Random free associating:
- The Forbidden Fruit in the Garden of Eden tends to be represented as an apple, pretty much everywhere in pop culture, except in the Bible where it's just called a fruit.

- Golden Apples are all over mythology. My fave is the story where Paris (Orlando Bloom in Troy, if you've seen it) giving one to Aphrodite leads to the Trojan War, which I like because those are pretty massive consequences for an after-school snack. (Paris would've done better to take Athena's bribe (wisdom), but if he'd been smart enough to do that, he probably, you know, wouldn't've needed to.)

- There's an episode of the GI Joe cartoon from the 80s where the Joes kill a giant all-consuming blob with the toxin in an orchard's worth of apple seeds. I still remember it after all these years and, hey, apple seeds do, in fact, contain cyanide. Knowing is half the battle!

- I like Fiona Apple's music but not her album titles. Not good cooking music necessarily, but good for driving or working out.