Episode 107: Apples
Featured Recipe 1: Savory Roasted Apple & Cheddar Turnover with Baby Kale Salad with Mustard Dressing
Apples and Cheese are a natural fit! Using Pineland Farms Cheddar, Chef teaches an impressive lunch or light dinner. When the apples and cheese bake together, the melted magic is delicious to enjoy apples in a non-dessert way.
Featured Recipe 2: Apple Upside-Down Cake
In a less-sweet version of Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, Maggie uses two types of apples that are known for keeping their shape when baked. Even though her version didn't come out as picture perfect as the practice cake (we think it had stage fright!), when topped with sea salt, this recipe is versatile for a breakfast, snack or dessert.
Leftover Tip: Apple Scrap Butter with Cinnamon Sugar Fried Crunchies
Don't toss your peels! Chef shows how to cook them down into a clever apple butter dessert. Topped with fresh whipped cream and warm cinnamon dough crunchies, the kids will gobble this up without even knowing what it used to be.
Chef’s Tip: Apple Varieties & Uses
Josh loves using all kinds of apples. See many Maine varieties and how to use them like a world-class chef!
Pantry Tip: Drying Apples and Infused Apple-Cinnamon Gin
After apple picking there can definitely be too many to eat or bake with. Making apple chips is a wonderful snack and Maggie shows how to make a gin infusion with Batson River's Riparian Gin.
Wine Pairing: 10-year Blandy's Madeira
A slightly sweet wine that brings out the flavors of all of today’s dishes. Thank you to Cat at SoPo Wine Co. for this wonderful pairing!
Featured Recipe 1: Savory Roasted Apple & Cheddar Turnover with Baby Kale Salad with Mustard Dressing
Ingredients:
Yield: 1 each
2 each sheets of Puff Pastry dough, laid out for 15 minutes at room temperature
3-4 each baking apples, peeled, cut into medium size pieces
3 each cloves of garlic, peeled and cut in half
1 ½ cups cheddar cheese, broken into pieces
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Season salt and pepper
1 each egg, scrambled
4 cups kale, chopped or use a more delicate baby kale
½ cup pecans, toasted
1 each lemon, juiced
1 Tablespoon stone ground mustard
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Method:
Heat oven to 400f degrees
Toss the apples and the garlic with the olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast for 15 minutes, or until the apples and garlic are tender and golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool.
When the apple/garlic mixture is cool, fold in the cheese and taste for seasoning. Set aside.
Using a large circle cutter, cut out 8 circles from the two sheets of puff pastry.
Divide the apple mixture into four portions. Place one portion in a small “mound” on four of the puff pastry circles. Top each mound of mixture with another of the puff pastry circles and crimp the edges with a fork to seal.
Brush the turnovers with the scrambled egg and season with salt and pepper.
Bake the turnovers for 15-18 minutes until golden brown.
Toss the kale with the pecans, lemon juice and mustard. drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Divide the kale salad between four plates and top with one of the turnovers.
Enjoy!
Featured Recipe 2: Apple Upside-Down Cake
Ingredients:
Yield: 1 ten-inch cake
3-4 each baking apples (granny smith, Rolfe, or wolf river)
⅔ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground mace
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons softened butter
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 each egg
⅔ cup apple cider
Method:
TossPreheat the oven to 350f degrees.
Place the ⅔ cup of sugar in a 10 1/4-inch skillet and place it over low heat. Cook, stirring, until the sugar has melted and is golden brown, remove from heat and set aside.
Peel the apples and cut in quarters from the stem end and blossom end and then slice the apples in half lengthwise. Cut the cores out with one slice.
Arrange the apple segments on top of the caramel in the skillet.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, mace and salt. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, beat the softened butter with 3/4 cup of granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until well combined.
With the mixer on low speed, add about half of the flour and half of the cider and mix until blended. Add the another half of the flour and the remaining cider and mix until blended.
Spoon the batter evenly over the arranged apples. With a spatula, gently spread the batter out, try not to disturb the apples.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake.
Remove the cake from the oven to a rack and let it stand for 5 minutes. Place a plate or platter over the skillet and carefully flip the cake onto the platter. Be careful, the caramel will be very hot.
Let the cake cool before serving. Enjoy!
Chef’s Tip: Apple Varieties and Uses
Apple Varieties & Tips:
Granny Smith, dessert apple, tart, good raw but also keeps shape when cooked.
Golden Russet, good to eat, because it is a russet it is good for cider
Wolf River, good cooking apple, its normally large size makes it a good yield
Rolfe, well balanced dessert apple, sweet & tart, supposedly one of the few “Maine” apples.
Cox Orange Pippin, dessert apple, cherry/anise flavor, good to eat, also good to add to ciders to help with flavor
Ginger gold, super popular apple, good to eat raw, gets a little mushy when cooked
Apple Facts:
Cider apples are distinguished from "cookers" and "eaters", or dessert apples, by their bitterness or dryness of flavour, qualities which make the fruit unpalatable but can be useful in cidermaking.
Cider apples often have higher sugar levels than dessert and cooking apples. While those sugars add to the flavor, their primary purpose is to help us in the fermentation process.
Apple cider is fresh, unfiltered, and often unpasteurized. It's also considered a seasonal drink and can be hard to find outside of the autumn months. In most cases, apple cider is raw pressed apple juice that has not been filtered to remove pulp or sediment.
Apple juice is filtered and pasteurized, which gives it a longer shelf life, a sweeter taste, and a smoother texture. Apple juice is always filtered to remove the apple solids and then pasteurized so it stays fresh at a supermarket.
Russet apples are varieties and cultivars of apples that regularly exhibit russeting, partial or complete coverage with rough patches of greenish-brown.
Leftovers: Apple Scrap Butter with Cinnamon Sugar Fried Crunchies
Ingredients:
Yield: 4 portions
3 cups apple scraps, peels and cores, remove the seeds, stems and leaves
¾ cup brown sugar
2 cups apple cider
1 cup whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks
1 cup flour
1 cup beer
2 cups canola oil
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoonsground cinnamon
Method:
Place the apple scraps in a medium saucepan with the sugar and the cider.
Cook the apple mixture on low heat.
Cook the mixture until the fruit is very soft and most of the liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat.
While the apple mixture is still warm, carefully blend in a high speed blender until very smooth.
Pour the mixture into 4 serving bowls, top with the whipped cream and chill.
Mix the beer and the flour together and let sit for 30 min.
Bring the canola oil to 350f degrees in a fryer or a pot on a medium high heat.
Drip the beer batter into the oil so it creates small “fried dough crunchies”.
Remove the fried dough from the oil and drain on paper towels.
Season the fried dough with the sugar and cinnamon.
Top the apple puddings with the fried dough crunchies
Enjoy!
Pantry Tip: Drying Apples & Infused Apple-Cinnamon Gin
Ingredients:
Yield: will vary depending on how many apples you are drying. Apples are mostly water so they will shrink a lot.
1 bunch Apples. Try as many different varieties as possible.
Method:
Wash apples and slice into ¼ inch slices. Discard seeds.
Arrange on a dehydrator tray in a single layer.
Set the temperature to 140 and dehydrate over night.
If you do not have a dehydrator and would like to use an oven. Place on a sheet pan with a pan liner and bake at 170 high fan for about an hour or so, checking often to make sure they are not burning.
Uses:
Apple infused Gin or bourbon
Apple hot toddies
Crumbled apples on oatmeal
Dried apples in granola
Apple tea or infused hot cider
What will you do?
Wine Pairing: 10-year Blandy's Madeira
Our wine stylist Cat from So Po Wine Co found a lovely 10-year Blandy's Madeira that accentuates the slight sweetness of the mustard, pecan and cheddar salad while the fig and caramel notes are heavenly with the cake. All of her wine choices are found in independent wine stores throughout Maine.