Applebeena

As I explained previously the apple master was purchased because of the kind donation of another bag of apples. 

It came into its own when making the applebeena. Applebeena is the River Cottage take on a well known brand of cordial.

I set Mr VST the task of peeling 1.8kilos of apples, they were quite small and there were a lot of them but he didn't mind. The apple master kept him entertained for a while!

Having now tested the apple master extensively I can say that it is awesome. It peels the apples very well and cuts them into a kind of spring which you can then cut in half to make little uniform slices. 

Apple Slinky

So we cooked down our apples, which after they were peeled came to about a kilo of apples.

The directions were to mash with a wooden spoon or potato masher once cooked, which we did.

Then you scald a jelly bag and leave the apple purée in it to drip over night .

The next day there was a disappointing amount of juice in the bowl. I whizzed the apple up in the food processor and we set it to drip again. We ended up with about 350ml of juice and added 245g of granulated sugar to this and warmed it to dissolve it. 

The cordial is lovely if a little sweet even for my sweet tooth. Pam does say 700g of sugar per litre of juice 'to taste' I'd probably start with about half of that and go from there! Glad we tried the applebeena though. If you have a LOT of apples then I would definitely recommend this recipe. I'd really like to try it again with a mix of apples and another fruit. 

River Cottage Seasonal Chutney

Apple recipe number 3,672! River Cottage seasonal chutney with courgettes, tomatoes, cooking apples, raisins.

 I managed to fill the flat with vinegar vapours, which were quite persistent!

 Have to wait 8 weeks now before trying it....

...not sure Mr VST can wait that long.

American One Crust Spiced Apple Pie

Another apple post as I am still trying to get through the mountain of cooking apples that Mr VST brought home from work. I love this pie, it's very easy to make and very tasty, once again the most annoying part is peeling, coring and chopping the apples. I am getting very tempted by one of Mr Fry's top gadgets, an apple peeler! 

It's a Delia recipe so, of course, I didn't follow it to the letter, not least because she says to use lard in her pastry. I used half vegetable fat, half butter and made it in the food processor not by hand and still made lovely, light and crisp pastry.

So you mix the apple, sugar, raisins and spices together and lay them on top of the pastry and just gather in all the edges as roughly as you like (my kind of recipe).

You are then supposed to use crushed demerara sugar cubes on the top. I used the sugar, not from cubes and it still creates the same crunchy topping.

Then you bung it in the oven and bake and hey presto, a lovely apple pie.

Bramley Lemon Curd

As part of my plan to get through the cooking apple mountain I decided to make some Bramley Lemon Curd from the River Cottage Handbook on Preserves. It is a fairly straight forward recipe which of course starts with peeling, coring and chopping apples. I've been through a good few kilos of apples this summer so far and so this was what I thought was going to be he worst bit. 

So you cook the chopped apples with 100ml water and the grated rind of two lemons. 

Then you put the sugar, butter, and some lemon juice into a bowl above hot water with the apple puree and wait until the butter is just melted.

At this point you check the temperature carefully and add 200ml of beaten egg. I was very careful and added the eggs as I was supposed to.

It's supposed to take about 10 minutes to get up to temperature and thicken. I waited about 20 minutes and it was getting nowhere near so I put the mixture into a saucepan and heated it up some more, got it up to temperature and it still didn't thicken. I frantically googled lemon curd recipes and came up with nothing. I added some liquid pectin, nothing and so resorted to some cornflour which did work. 

I have to say despite the difficulties with the recipe this tastes amazing. It is like eating apples and lemon custard. Any tips for thickening lemon curd would be gratefully received. 

Strawberry Leather

I decided to make one last (well maybe last) batch of fruit leather. I wanted to make some strawberry leather and a punnet of stawberries were only £1 on the stall this week so I bought them and got mushing!

I cooked down the apples and strawberries with lemon juice and then put them in the food processor before sieving the fruit to get rid of the seeds. I spread it out on the baking trays and popped it in the oven.

Unfortunately this batch was very runny and I had a little disaster as the purée spilt over the edge and I had to make a tin foil dam. It turned out very well though. Very tasty indeed. 

Fruit Leathers

This is another recipe from The River Cottage Handbook No. 2 Preserves I was going to make some plum leather when I made the tasty but now over set plum jam but I didn't have any apples. This week Mr VST brought home a massive bag of cooking apples and so I decided to buy some plums and try this out. It's SO EASY to make. You need 500g (1lb 2oz) cooking apples, the same amount of plums (or nectarines, berries etc), the juice of one lemon and and 150g honey.

Plums & Apples

Nectarines & Apples

You put the fruit and lemon juice into a pan on a medium heat for about 20 minutes until it goes soft. The second batch I made I put the apples in for about five minutes before adding the softer nectarines as I had had to put the apples back on the heat when making the plum mix. 

Step two says to add the honey and mix in well before putting the cooked fruit through a sieve or 'mouli', a food mill. This was the worst bit about making the first batch. For the second batch I just put it all in the food processor.

You then spread the puree quite thinly onto greaseproof paper, I used silicone baking sheets which worked perfectly, and put in the oven on a very low heat (60 degrees C) for 12-18 hours. I left mine overnight and both times they were done by the morning (about 12 hours) but I have a fan assisted oven. 

I really wasn't quite sure what to expect but I was really pleased. The result is a sheet of chewy, sweet fruit which is an amazing colour. 

I cut mine into strips with scissors and wrapped each roll in greaseproof paper before putting them all in jars.

They are like sweets only better, they are quite chewy and as I said very sweet. You can eat them as they are as a snack or chop them up and put them in your porridge or muesli. I am hoping to keep some for my ready brek in the winter, that is if they last that long. They are also extremely low in calories, I cut mine into 26 strips which makes them 37 calories a strip (for the nectarine ones). Fantastic. I'm so glad I tried these.

Mini Caramelised Apple Tarts

The new season of Bramley cooking apples is upon us and they had some fantastic ones on the market stall last wee, three huge ones for £1. I couldn't resist. I wanted to make a tarte tatin but none of the recipes online took my fancy. I came across notquitenigella's mini apple tarte tatins and it inspired me. 

I used 110g of golden caster sugar and melted it in a pan, sadly not keeping as close an eye on it as I should have been!

I added 110g of butter and then the apples.

I popped them in my tray and placed a disc of puff pastry on top and then popped them into the oven for about 15 minutes.

They came out really well. Not quite as pretty as NQN's but certainly tasty.

 I don't feel that they qualify as tarte tatins so have named them caramelised apple tarts instead.

Apple Pie Samosas

I came across this recipe yesterday on the BBC Good Food website. It really is an Autumn/Winter/Christmas kind of recipe so I apologise for being unseasonable but I had to try it, especially when I calculated that they were about 76 calories each.

(Makes 12)

Ingredients:
2 cooking apples (approx 250-300g) , peeled, cored and chopped
50g caster sugar
1 tsp ground mixed spice
50g sultanas
4 sheets filo pastry
25g butter, melted

1. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Place the apples, sugar, mixed spice and sultanas in a saucepan with 2 tbsp water and cook, covered, on a low heat for 10 mins or until the apples are soft, stirring once or twice. Tip into a shallow dish and spread out to cool slightly.

2. Cut a sheet of filo in thirds lengthways, then brush all three lightly with the melted butter so that they don't dry out.

3. Place a spoonful of the apple filling at the top of each strip, then fold over and over to form triangular parcels. 

 

4. Brush the baking sheet with a little of the melted butter. Place on a baking sheet and then brush the samosas with any remaining butter and left over sugar, mixed spice, water mix from cooking the apples.

5. Bake for 15-20 mins until crisp and golden. 

These went down very well. Mr VST said that they smelled of Christmas and he didn't mind at all that it is May! They make light, flavoursome, parcels of deliciousness and I can certainly recommend them with ice cream. 

Celery, Tomato and Apple Soup

I posted that last weekend when we went to my Mum's we had fennel, tomato apple soup. It was delicious but I was wrong about the main ingredient, it was celery not fennel (same family I think?!). I got the recipe from my Mum and decided to make it this weekend.

Ingredients:
60g butter
1 onion
170g/ 3 medium sized tomatoes, quartered
170g celery
2 apples, quartered, cored
600ml swiss bouillon vegetable stock
Pinch ginger
Pinch nutmeg
splosh of sherry/brandy


1. Melt the butter in a pan, cook off the onions
2. Add the tomatoes, celery, apples, spices and sherry

3. Wet a piece of greaseproof paper, fold it over and cover the vegetables with it. Leave on a low heat for 30  minutes until the fruit/veg are soft

4. Add vegetable stock and bring to the boil.
5. Blend together.

 The result is a lovely tangy, creamy, tomatoey soup. I can't quite describe it well enough to do it justice. It is very flavoursome in a subtle way.