Catching Up and Apple Pie

Ok, so I have a little catching up to do. Or a lot of catching up to do. So, here goes...

My last post was about apples and although the yummy Gravenstein apples are long gone now, I do have to catch you up on the piece de resistance of Apple Week: Apple Pie. I used the recipe from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook (my go-to for tried and true baking recipes).

The verdict: This pie took a very long time to make from making and chilling the dough to baking it. The crust could've been a little more golden brown on the bottom and I prefer my apples a little firmer, but all in all this pie was delicious and we happily shared it with the Cousin Crew at a lovely dinner (thanks, Cousin S for the delicious dinner! Maybe if we're lucky, she'll share her recipe for delicious Curried Egg Salad...

An Apple Recipe a Day...

This past weekend, MO and I checked out the Gravenstein Apple Fair in Sebastopol. It is my kind of festival - old farmers showing off their tractors meet church ladies selling apple pies meet young hippie homesteaders talking about growing organic veggies. It's actually a really well-done event with music, craft vendors, exhibits, chef demos, and of course lots of apples!

The Gravenstein apple apparently grows in only 3 places in the world and the little town of Sebastopol in Sonoma County is one of them. Gravensteins have a really nice sweet tart flavor, but don't keep well so you can't find them in many commercial markets. We couldn't leave the Fair without buying some apples - in fact we bought 8 pounds - so I'll be experimenting with some different ways to use them this week.

I wanted to use some of the apples in a non-dessert dish (don't worry - there will defninitely be a apple pie sometime this week) and I've made a cabbage and apple saute before, so here's what I made tonight. It is a beautiful simple dish (although it cooks for a long time) that would be great with any kind of meat or sausage I am sure. I served it with a German specialty I've been wanting to try my hand at for a long time: Spätzle. (I'll give you the play-by-play on that adventure another time!)

Braised Red Cabbage with Onions and Gravenstein Apples

1 Tbs. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium to large onion, chopped
1 medium head red cabbage, chopped into 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces
3 Gravenstein apples, peeled, cored, and chopped into small pieces (any tart apple would work fine)
2 tsp salt
2 bay leaves
dash each of ground cloves, ginger
3 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup apple cider, apple juice or red wine

Heat oil in a large pot or saucepan. Saute garlic and onion until soft. Add reamining ingredients, stir and simmer over low-medium heat, covered, for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour. The longer you let it cook, the softer and tastier it will be.

Thai Night

Pineapples were on sale 2-for-1 at Whole Foods last week and I couldn't resist their sweet tropical smell. Then I got home and I had 2 pineapples. The first one was easy to get rid of - I made a lovely fruit salad with mangoes and garden strawberries. With the second one I decided to get a little creative. I found an easy enough sounding recipe online and attempted my first Thai Pineapple Fried Rice. Cousin C came home and offered to make Tom Yum soup from scratch (I was impressed!) and before we knew it we had a Thai dinner fit for a king.

Strawberries

For as long as I can remember, I've loved everything about strawberries - their taste, their smell, their color. The first book I could read front to back was a tale of Strawberry Shortcake and her sidekicks Apricot and Hopsalot. To this day I can't think of a better dessert than flaky biscuits with fresh strawberries and real whipped cream.

As usual when I went to the farmers market last week I bought too many strawberries (they were such a good deal!), so I had to come up with some other uses. Here's what I came up with.

Buttermilk Pancakes with Fresh Strawberries:












Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler:

Kitchen Gadgets Galore!

Cherry Pitter

(no, this is not a medical device)

Fresh cherries have been so fabulous this year and after eating enough to get a stomachache, I decided to freeze some for later use, using my new cherry pitter (thanks, D)! It's really handy and easy to use and makes cherries even easier to eat.