They’re coming. It’s about that time.
If you have an apple tree in your back yard, they’re about to start abandoning their post, if they haven’t already. You may have already experienced the little tarts dive-bombing your head, or they may be starting to compost themselves right there on your lawn. Don’t you love sliding through an apple that has already turned itself into applesauce on the inside? Slippery little so-and-sos.
We talked about crab apples on the Eyeopener yesterday morning. It’s a fascinating topic if you have a crab apple infestation problem. Also very cool: the Calgary Urban Harvest Project (formally Calgary Fallen Fruit Rescue Program) – a team of volunteers who will come harvest your tree, then divvy up the fruits of their labour: some for you, some for them, some for the food bank, and some for sale at the Hillhurst-Sunnyside Farmers’ Market on Wednesday afternoons. They even do fresh-pressed-on-the-spot crabapple cider! How very cool is that?
The thing that makes people so crabby about these apples is their size. No one wants to bother peeling and coring as many as you’d need to get a pie out of it. People make jelly because you can just cook and mash them, and the cores have tons of pectin, so it sets up well. But there isn’t a jelly maker in all of us. Nor wine – a project I’ve yet to let take over my dining room. But crabapples have some selling points – they’re tart and flavourful, with potential to be more than just compost.
So what to do with them? During a spontaneous conversation on the subject in the RedPoint offices last week, someone told me about her mother slow-roasting them with cinnamon, then snacking on them by picking them up by the stem, and pulling the soft fruit off with her teeth and pulling the wee core out by the stem. What makes this even more brilliant is that you don’t even have to bother stemming them. And how easy is dumping a bunch of apples out on a rimmed baking sheet? You don’t even need to haul out your largest pot.
I tried it, and it worked, but the cinnamon didn’t stick much. For the second batch I drizzled the apples with just a tad of canola oil and rolled them around – this made the dusting of cinnamon stick, and it also gave the apples a nicely roasted exterior.
All you do to slow roast apples is spread them out in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, drizzle them with a bit of oil if you want, dust them with cinnamon if you want, and roast them at 300?F for an hour and a half. You may want less or more time if your apples are smaller or bigger than mine, which are about 1 1/2″ in diameter. Really, you just want to roast them until they’re soft and wrinkled. There’s no need for sugar, even though mine are tart when they’re raw – although I imagine a drizzle of maple syrup would be most fab.
Then I made chutney. I’m a fan. Chutney is easier to make than jam, if you’re intimidated – it doesn’t need to set, and is a thick, sweet-tart fusion of fruit, onions, sugar and vinegar, spiced with whatever you like – curry powder or fresh thyme from the garden. Or whatever. The beauty of a chutney is its chunkiness, which comes in very handy when you’re trying to disguise an apple core. I experimented by putting a whole whack of whole (stemmed) crabapples in the slow cooker with cranberries, onions, sugar, vinegar et al, and it cooked down into this wonderful stuff in which no one could detect apple core, which were of course pretty small to begin with. Victory.
Crabapple-Cranberry Slow Cooker Chutney
6 cups whole crabapples, stems removed
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tsp – 1 Tbsp. fresh thyme or sage, chopped, or 1 tsp. curry powder or paste
Put everything into the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours, until dark and thick; mash it all up with a potato masher or spoon, breaking up the apples. Cool completely and refrigerate for up to 3 weeks, or freeze for up to 6 months. Makes about 8 cups.
And yes, I pickled some. Because every time the topic of WHAT TO DO WITH ALL THOSE %$%#!! APPLES came up, someone’s mother or grandmother used to pickle them. And if you can pickle an onion or a beet with delicious results, why not a crabapple? I used a similar formula to the one I use for beets, and added some whole spices and rosemary sprigs, because they were there. I haven’t stored them for longer than a day so far – I’ll keep you posted. But aren’t they purdy? They need big old glass mason jars for storage – you can sometimes find them at Value Village, or at garage sales, or in my basement.
Spiced Pickled Crabapples
I don’t use measurements here because really you can pickle as many apples as you like, and the brine is made from equal parts white vinegar, water and sugar. Whole spices are put in each jar, so those numbers will depend on the number of jars you use.
crabapples – as many as you want to pickle
white or apple cider vinegar
sugar, white or brown
whole allspice berries
cinnamon sticks
whole cloves
sprigs of fresh rosemary
Wash and if you like, stem the apples. Bring equal amounts of vinegar, sugar and water to a simmer, add the apples to the pot and cook for about 10 minutes, or until just tender but not split open. Put a cinnamon stick (or half one, if they are long), a couple allspice berries and a few cloves into each jar, and a sprig of rosemary if you like.
With a slotted spoon, pack the apples into clean, hot jars, leaving about 1/2″ headspace between the apples and the top of the jar. Pour hot liquid overtop and seal. Refrigerate for up to 3 weeks.
September 08 2010 | preserves | 20 Comments »
It’s 11pm, and I just arrived in Edmonton. I’m exhausted, and cranky, and it was a long day and a long drive, made longer by what was supposed to be a quick pull-over in Red Deer to a) wake up and b) find a bathroom that didn’t come with the obligation to buy junk food, which turned into c) a brief meltdown in the Winners changing room with bad florescent lighting. And then an arrival to find no record of the hotel booking I made on Expedia – fortunately the good folks at the Matrix took pity on the fact that I did have a printout from them and gave me a room – a suite, even, for the same price. And because it has a swank little kitchenette, I hauled up my CrockPot and am going to cook some ribs overnight. If I don’t fall asleep in this chair.
My eyes look like I popped them out and soaked them in chlorine for a spell, and I don’t have much confidence they’ll look any better at 7 tomorrow morning when I’m on BT trying to sound smart.
But good news: I’m proud to report I gave in to no road food to keep me awake (if you don’t count coffee) – I brough a few leftover pork satay with almond butter sauce (which are delicious cold, and great for picnics) that I made on the weekend. I found another jackpot of interesting recipes – pork ones – over 20 food writers and bloggers have entered pork recipes to celebrate the launch of Maple Leaf Prime® Pork, and if you go and vote (and live in Western Canada) you get a 50% off coupon to pick up your own piece of pig. Not a bad deal for a click!
Pork Satay with Almond Butter Sauce
Sara entered this one in the Prime Pork recipe contest. I changed it a little. It’s pretty fab.
1 package Maple Leaf Prime® Pork Tenderloin
Marinade:
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. orange or lime juice
1 tsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. curry powder
pinch hot chile flakes
Almond Butter Satay Sauce:
1/2 cup almond butter (peanut butter works too)
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. lemon or lime juice
2 Tbsp. hot water
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/2 tsp Sriracha sauce (chile garlic sauce)
Cut the pork tenderloin in half crosswise and then lengthwise into strips. Put in a bowl with all the marinade ingredients, and toss it around with your hands. Cover and refrigerate for an hour or overnight.
Mix together all the satay sauce ingredients, and thin with additional water if necessary. Set aside.
Preheat a grill or broiler. Thread the pork onto skewers that have been soaked in water for at least 10 minutes. Grill or broil on both sides until just cooked through. Serve skewers on top of coconut rice with satay sauce on the side.
September 07 2010 | pork | 16 Comments »
Honestly, this comes across as far more upscale-sounding when I write it out than it actually was. In reality it was eaten in my Pepto-pink polka dot flannel PJ pants in the middle of the day after coming home from the sloppy, rainy dog park, and as you can see, I was impatient and totally burnt it. And I may have dropped a chunk of mine, and it may have landed goo-side down, and I may have called Lou over to lick it up. Grilled pears and brie are not our post-dog park norm, but there were leftovers to use up. Leftovers are great, aren’t they? Especially when they’re wedges of brie and chewy naan, which I really needed to get out of the freezer – much more badly than the frozen edamame and cauliflower soup. (Wanna see what else is in my fridge? And how I dress when I haven’t showered in two days? Take a peek.)
The leftovers are from last week. I held out on you – or more accurately the days slid by and I didn’t manage to keep you in the loop – a week ago I got to go hang out with my pal Paul (Rogalski) at Rouge (a few blocks away, it was recently named #60 in the top 100 restaurants in the world), which is co-owned by Paul and Olivier Reynaud. It’s a fantastic spot, in the former home of one of A.E. Cross, one of the Big Four, with a stunning backyard half filled with an organic kitchen garden and surrounded by high hedges, that takes over 6 city lots.
So last week – wait, the week before that – Paul was in Toronto at a grilled cheese-off. The Dairy Farmers of Canada brought a bunch of chefs together from across the country to come up with new ways to make a grilled cheese sandwich. A worthy mission if I ever heard one.
So Paul went, and came up with two recipes, but the other I’m saving for a special occasion – one that calls for meat, cheese, butter, garlic and caramelized onions. And when he came back he needed a little help with a bunch of media appearances, so I was his grilled cheese wingman.
(No, that’s not me. Sigh.)
This particular masterpiece is built on naan instead of regular sandwich bread – brilliant, no? He stirs curry powder into butter to spread on the outside, although it was so chilly our butter was less than spreadable, so instead he melted the butter in the skillet and sprinkled it with curry. Easy. You don’t really need a recipe – just slice brie and pears (I don’t bother peeling them) and go ahead and make a grilled cheese sandwich on naan spread with mango chutney. With curry in the pan. This would be great served in small wedges with wine at a cocktail party, if you do want to swank it up a bit.
Curry Me Brie
By Chef Paul Rogalski
Ingredients:
½ cup (125 mL) butter, room temperature
2 tsp (10 mL) mild curry powder
4 slices naan bread
4 tbsp (60 mL) mango chutney
6 oz (170 g) Canadian Brie, thinly sliced while chilled; discard the end cuts that contain the most rind
1 ripe pear skinned, seeded, and thinly sliced
In a small bowl mix butter and curry powder together. Spread on one side of two slices of the naan bread. Place one naan butter side down in a large non-stick skillet or panini press.
Spread 2 tbsp mango chutney and place half the sliced Brie, then half the sliced pear on naan. Cover with the second naan, butter side up. Cook first side over medium heat for approximately 5 minutes or until golden brown.
Using a spatula, flip carefully. Continue cooking on the second side for another 5 minutes or until golden brown and the cheese has melted.
Remove from heat and set aside for 2 minutes to cool slightly. Wipe skillet with a paper towel and repeat instructions for the second sandwich. Cut each sandwich in half and serve. Serves 4.
Paul’s and the other chef’s grilled cheese recipes -and photos- can be found here.
September 06 2010 | appetizers and sandwiches | 16 Comments »
Again taking a stab at a new use for the proliferation of chard out back. Pizza! Shazam. I figure this takes care of both my slightly obsessive desire for pizza and obligation to eat some greens. (The boys didn’t get why I would do such a thing to an innocent pizza, and ate pita pizzas instead.)
I saw it here. But I couldn’t bring myself to boil the poor freshly-plucked chard – instead I roughly chopped, then sauteed it in a slick of oil and whack of crushed garlic until it wilted down to almost nothing, scattered grated mozzarella over rolled-out pizza dough (on a cornmeal-dusted baking sheet), topped it with the chard and crumbled goat cheese and took their advice to drizzle it with garlicky oil (squish a clove of garlic into a small dish of oil and let it sit a bit) and baked it at 450°F for about 20 minutes, until it was golden and fantastic.
The goat-cheese-and-chard-ness of it makes it sound a little shi shi lala, don’t you think? It’s sufficiently unsloppy enough to serve in small fingers for a cocktail party, if you’re into that sort of thing. Serve it straight from the cutting board. Rustic-chic, no?
September 04 2010 | appetizers | 11 Comments »
Confession: we watched Date Night (love Tina Fey) and then got sucked into YouTube for far too long, and now it’s closing in on 1am and I don’t have the gumption to upload pictures of our pizza.
But check this out: thickly sliced pound cake (which is more substantial than most cakes and able to withstand the heat of the grill) topped with saucy-sweet warm berries, grilled alongside in a foil packet. You can grill strawberries? Oh yes. There’s still time.
Of course sliced fresh strawberries straight-up would work just fine. But I discovered that if you pile berries onto a square of foil and sprinkle them with a bit of sugar, then fold up the sides and ends of the foil to seal them into a little packet (much like cooking en papillote, or the same way you might do potatoes in foil) and toss them on the hot grill for a few minutes, just until they release their juices. Carefully open the packet and pour out the warm berries and their juices over a piece of grilled pound cake, and top with a scoop of ice cream or blop of whipped cream.
Congratulations Anita, who has herself a new cast iron skillet! (I left it on the doorstep yesterday, between Winter’s and Chuck Hughes. Full tutorial to follow.)
September 04 2010 | leftovers | 4 Comments »
