Apple of my eye...balls....

One of my favorite things to do in the fall is to go apple picking. I usually go to a pick-your-own farm in Chester County, about a 45 minute drive from my apartment. That's one of the things that's so great about living in this part of the country, it doesn't take hours of travel to get out of the city and find yourself on a farm. I usually pick WAY too many apples, I think last year I ended up with about 80 pounds that I turned into two different kinds of apple butter and apple chutney. 

This year, between my work and travel schedules and some ill-timed bouts of rainy weather, I never managed to make it out to the orchard. Luckily, close proximity to the farms means that many of the local grocery stores also carry locally grown produce. So, instead of picking 80 pounds of apples at the orchard, I bought about 30 pounds of apples from the local Acme. I didn't want to miss the chance to make apple butter, it's become a bit of a tradition to give it as a gift to friends and family during the holidays.

I've also had this idea kicking around in the back of my head to do something with apples and brandy. Last year's brandied cherries were such a hit, and I missed the cherry season this year so wasn't able to repeat that recipe. One of the nice things about the cherries is that they look so pretty in a cocktail glass, so rather than wedges, I used a melon balling tool and balled the apples. 

Yes, I said balled.  Apple balls. Brandied apple balls. (Try to keep from giggling, I dare you.)

Well, one of the consequences of balling the apples (stop giggling) is that I had a lot of leftover scraps and bits of apples that I didn't want to waste. They were such odd shapes, they really wouldn't work for a pie, but I could cook them down into an apple sauce. I then remembered a cupcake recipe that I had developed for work a couple of years back that calls for fresh-made apple sauce. So, I made a batch to take to work for Black Friday. I still have apple sauce in the fridge...eh, maybe I'll just eat it for breakfast!

Enjoy!

Brandied Apple Balls

I used Granny Smith apples for this recipe, they have a firm texture and tend to hold their shape when cooked. (I didn't want to end up with mushy balls...sorry I just couldn't help myself...) You'll have extra syrup after filling the jars--don't throw it out. It's delicious as a cocktail mixer. Try it with vodka and gingerale. Tasty!

Makes 15 8-ounce jars

6 pounds Granny Smith apples
Juice of 2 lemons mixed in a large bowl of water
5 cups sugar
10 cups water
2 cinnamon sticks
2 green cardamom pods
4 allspice berries
15 tablespoons brandy


Peel the apples and using a melon balling tool, cut balls out of the apples and transfer them to the bowl of lemon water. Save the apple scraps for another use.

In a large stainless steel pot, bring the sugar, 10 cups of water and spices to a boil. Add the apple balls and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the apples are just starting to soften and become a little translucent. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the apples to a bowl. Continue to simmer the syrup until it has reduced by about one third.

While the syrup is reducing, prepare your jars for canning. Remove the lids and rings from the jars. Bring a large stock pot of water to a rapid boil. Sterilize the lids and rings by lowering them into the boiling water for about 3 minutes. Transfer them to a clean towel. Repeat with the jars.

Divide the apples amongst the jars and ladle in enough syrup to leave about ½ inch of headspace. Spoon 1 tablespoon of brandy into the top of each jar, then cover the jar with a lid and a screw top ring. Tighten the ring to just finger tight.

When the stock pot of water has returned to a boil, lower the jars into the pot, standing them upright and in a single layer across the bottom of the pot. Make sure the jars are completely submerged under the water. Cover the pot and when the water in the pot returns to a boil, set a timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the jars from the pot and set on a clean towel. Repeat the process with the remaining jars, being sure to let the water come back to the boil each time.

Let the jars sit undisturbed until they are room temperature. You should hear a noticeable "plinking" sound as the jars cool and pull the center of the lids down. After they have cooled, gently press on the center of each of the lids to be sure they have fully depressed. Any jars with lids that have not pulled down tight have not properly sealed. Place those jars in the refrigerator and enjoy them first. 

Apple Cider Cupcakes with Cider Cream Cheese Frosting

Back in my early days with Sur La Table at their location in Arlington, VA, I was known as the cupcake queen. I served as the primary pastry instructor at that location, and one of my favorite classes to teach was cupcakes. Cupcakes are just a happy dessert, and unlike a lot of baked goods, not intimidating to the novice cook. I used to create seasonal menus, one for spring, summer, fall, winter, and holiday. I had customers who I would see 5 times a year, each time I changed the menu. This recipe was one of my most popular, and found its way into a lot of menus beyond the fall cupcake class.

Makes 24 - 28 cupcakes

For the cake:

1 pound Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, diced

¼ cup apple cider

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

½ teaspoons Kosher salt

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

2 cups sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 tablespoon brandy 

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste

4 large eggs

For the icing:

2 cups apple cider

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

½ cup unsalted butter

1 ½ cups sifted confectioners' sugar

crispy apple chips for garnish

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cupcake pan with 24 paper liners.  (You may need additional liners depending on how full you fill the cupcake cups with batter).

Combine apples and cider in a small saucepan. Cover; simmer over medium-low heat until apples are tender, about 20 minutes. Mash with a fork until you have a smooth-ish sauce. (I like to keep it a bit chunky.)

Place the flour, baking powder, spices and salt into a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter until well creamed, light and fluffy. Mix in the brandy, vanilla and eggs until blended. Mix in half of the flour mixture and 1 ¼ cups of the apple sauce, then the remaining flour mixture (save any remaining sauce for another use). Divide the batter among the cupcake cups.

Bake the cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 17 to 20 minutes. Cool for about 10 minutes in the pan, then remove the cakes to a rack to cool completely.

To make the icing, place the cider in a small saucepan and boil until it is reduced to about a thick syrup and let it cool. 

In a bowl with an electric mixer beat together the cream cheese and butter until well combined.  Add about half the confectioners' sugar and mix to incorporate, then add in the second half and continue to mix until smooth. Add the reduced cider and mix until the icing is smooth. (If the syrup has become too cool, it may not easily come out of the pan. Just warm it slightly to loosen.)

Spread each cupcake with some of the icing.  Garnish with crispy apple chips.

Someone was stealing my tomatoes....

There's probably nothing better than a fresh, ripened on the vine, home-grown tomato. Tomatoes have become one of those vegetables that we expect to be able to buy in the supermarkets all year round, but tomatoes are a summer vegetable. So, it's the first of November, why am I writing about tomatoes when we are clearly well out of the summer? I have a tomato thief.

Tomatoes are fairly temperature sensitive. If it gets too hot, in the upper 80's, for too many days in a row, the blossoms will drop off. If it doesn't cool down enough at night, below about 70 degrees, then the blossoms will drop off. When I lived in Houston, the timing of planting was critical because of how hot it gets there in the summer. Generally, you wanted to put your plants in the ground by March 1st to ensure that you were well past the chance of frost and that there were enough days for the growing season before the night time temperatures consistently stayed above 70 degrees. This meant that tomatoes were harvested in May and early June. When I moved north, all of those planting schedules shifted. Tomato plants go in the ground in mid to late May, and we harvest here in the Philly area in August, September, and even October.

This year, I got my tomato plants in the ground a bit later than I normally do, over Memorial Day weekend. My first tomatoes were just beginning to ripen in mid-August. They were so good, I planned my meals around whether I would have ripe tomatoes out of the garden that day. For those few weeks, I was in tomato heaven.  Then, I went out of town...

I spent the first 2 weeks of September on vacation. I haven't had a proper vacation since I moved to Philadelphia in 2010. I traveled to Texas and spent time with friends and family. I was in the Texas Hill Country, my hometown of Houston, and with my parents in Tyler. I drank amazing wine (trust me, the Texas Hill Country is putting out some fantastic wines, makes me think of California before the 1976 Paris wine tasting), ate some great food (Tex Mex, barbecue, and Whataburger--if you're from Texas you'll understand why I missed Whataburger), and had a lovely, lovely time. 

Before I left town, I made one last check of the tomato garden and saw that several of the tomatoes would probably ripen during my trip. When I got home, I checked the garden, and not surprisingly, all of the tomatoes that I expected to ripen were gone from the plants. Being away for so long, I sort of hoped that one of my neighbors might have picked the tomatoes so they didn't just rot on the vine. So, in that moment, I really didn't mind to much. I noticed that there were a couple of tomatoes that were just starting to ripen, so I left them on the plants and went about my day. Two days later, I went to check on them, and they were gone. I never got another ripe tomato off my plants. As soon as I would see one starting to ripen, if I left it on the plant even one more day, I would come out and find it gone.

By now it was getting on into October, and the weather was definitely starting to cool off. My plants were covered in green tomatoes, but there just wasn't going to be enough days left in the season to allow them to ripen before we would inevitably get our first frost . And, even if that wasn't an issue, with my tomato thief, chances were slim I'd get to enjoy any of them anyway. So, I picked all of the tomatoes, regardless of size, maturity or ripeness, dug up the plants and got the garden plot ready for winter.

But, what to do with so many pounds of green tomatoes? Why, create recipes for a blog post, of course! I hope you enjoy!

Green Tomato Bisque

Serves 4

Tomato soup is a classic, but I wondered how it would taste if you swapped out the traditional ripe tomatoes for green. The green tomato flavor is very bright, almost a bit citrusy. I wanted to boost the green flavor and color, so I added in spinach to the soup base. I also added the herbs in at the very end of cooking, as I was pureeing the soup in the blender, to help keep the green color. It also kept the herbal flavor very fresh which nicely enhanced the flavor of the soup.

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 small bell pepper, seeded and diced

3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

8 cups chopped green tomatoes

5 ounces baby spinach

4 cups chicken stock, low or no sodium

½  cup Italian parsley leaves

½  cup fresh basil leaves

1 cup cream

juice of ½ a lemon

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

to garnish: sliced cherry tomatoes, chopped chives and fleur de sel

Melt the butter in a large saucepan set over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and bell pepper and cook, stirring, until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add the tomatoes, spinach and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender, adding the parsley and basil to the blender as you process the soup. Place the pureed soup in a large saucepan set over low heat. Stir in the cream, lemon juice, and season generously with salt and pepper.

To serve, ladle into soup bowls and garnish with sliced cherry tomatoes, chopped chives, and sprinkle with fleur de sel.

Pickled Green Tomatoes

Makes 8 8-ounce jars

What can I say, I've been having fun canning these last few years. Unlike fully ripened tomatoes, green tomatoes have a much firmer texture that I thought would hold up well to pickling and canning. These are great paired with a sharp cheddar cheese.

3 cups apple cider vinegar

3 cups granulated sugar

2 tablespoons Kosher salt

½ teaspoon whole cumin seed

1 teaspoon whole coriander seed

½ teaspoon whole black peppercorns

1 cinnamon stick

8 cups diced green tomatoes

2 large shallots, peeled and thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced

Place the vinegar, sugar, salt and spices in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Add the tomatoes, shallots and garlic, and return the mixture to a boil. Remove from the heat while you prepare your canning jars.

Bring a large stock pot of water to the boil. Remove the screw rings and lids from the canning jars. Place the jars into the boiling water in batches and submerge for 30 seconds. Remove the jars and place them upside down on a clean dish towel. Place the screw rings and lids into the boiling water and submerge for 30 seconds. Remove and place them on a clean dish towel.

Carefully ladle the pickles and their liquid into the prepared jars. Be sure to wipe away in drips from the mouth of the jar, and top each with a lid and screw ring. Tighten the ring down until it just feels tight, then tighten it just a bit more. But don't crank down too hard!

Return the large stock pot of water to the boil. Working in batches, transfer the jars into the pot, making sure that the tops of the jars are fully submerged under the surface of the water. When the water returns to the boil, cover the pot with a lid and set the timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, carefully remove the jars from the pot and place on a dry towel to cool. After a few minutes, you should hear a noticeable "plinking" sounds as the lids contract. If any of the lids have not contracted after about 30 minutes, these jars didn't seal properly. They're still safe to eat, just put them in the refrigerator and enjoy them first.

BLFGT Sandwich  (that is Bacon, Lettuce and Fried Green Tomato, of course!)

How can I have a posting about green tomatoes and NOT have a recipe that uses fried green tomatoes? I must admit, it was hard to not just eat the fried green tomatoes right off the plate, but I did manage to save enough of them to make one sandwich.

2 large green tomatoes, cut into ½  inch thick slices

½ cup all purpose flour

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup panko bread crumbs

Kosher salt and black pepper

olive oil for frying

To assemble the sandwich: toasted whole grain bread, crispy cooked bacon, arugula, and mayonnaise

Place the flour, eggs, and panko in three shallow dishes. Season the sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper. Dip the tomatoes first in the flour, then the beaten egg, and then the panko, being sure that the tomatoes are well coated in each dish before moving on to the next. Place the breaded tomatoes on a plate.

Pour enough olive oil into a large skillet to reach a depth of 1/4 inch. Heat over medium heat until hot--I like to test the temperature by dropping a few panko breadcrumbs into the oil to see if the sizzle. If they do, you're ready to go. Carefully place the tomato slices in the skillet and fry until golden brown on the bottom. Flip them over and continue to fry until golden brown on their second side. Transfer the fried tomatoes to a wire rack set over a sheet pan and sprinkle with additional salt and pepper.

To assemble the sandwich, spread the whole grain toast with a layer of mayonnaise. Add a layer of arugula, then a layer of bacon. Top with two or three slices of the fried green tomatoes, then a second piece of toast.