Welcome September

It's Gravenstein apple time here in Sebastopol. The trees seem to be loaded this year, which is surprising since we had rain when the blossoms were heaviest in the spring. No complaints about the quantity, although I doubt that I will be able to use them all this year.

Just had some homemade Gravenstein apple sauce that I made yesterday. It only takes a short while to peel four apples, cut out the core and stem, and cut into wedges. Into a heavy bottomed pot they go along with cinnamon, a bit of vanilla sugar, some allspice and some nutmeg. Since they are ripe, they didn't need any added sugar. I only used the vanilla sugar for the flavor. You could sub vanilla extract...but just use a few drops. I added some water and lime juice for liquids and cooked them over slow heat, covered.

Gravenstein apples break down really easily, so you barely have to mash the finished product, especially if you like lumpy applesauce as I do. I'll make some applesauce with more readily available apples like Granny Smith later. This recipe works best with the slow food darling, the real Gravenstein.

It's fall, y'all!

Gravenstein Apple Sauce
two servings

4 medium to large ripe Gravenstein apples, peeled, cored & stem removed, sliced into wedges
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon vanilla sugar
dash allspice
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon lime juice

Place the apple slices and the rest of the ingredients into a heavy bottom saucepan with a lid. Stir to coat the slices with the spices and liquids, then cover and cook over low heat for 45 minutes. Check every 15 minutes to make sure there is still some liquid and stir to keep apples from sticking.

When cooked and soft, mash with a potato masher or a fork until desired consistency. Cool to eating temperature. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Best Brussel Sprouts and Ribs and Zoodles and Applesauce...

Sometimes you find friends at unexpected times and in places that are unusual. Think about it. Most of your friends are probably ones you met at school or work, through your hobbies or children, or they are neighbors or friends of friends. Still, most of us have at least one friend that we made friends with outside of the usual because we recognized something in them that spoke to us of friendship, even beyond the ordinary busyness of our lives.

One such occasion for me happened serendipitously last fall when I rented a B&B and was lucky enough to befriend the owner and his partner. They live a short distance from my daughter so when I visited her last week, they invited us over to their gorgeous house (not the B&B although the B&B is also beautiful) for a wonderful dinner.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I don't share a kitchen very well when I'm cooking. Randy wanted us to all cook together and we did. To my surprise and delight I really enjoyed knocking around the kitchen together as we each made a part of the feast. My part was applesauce and my daughter made some amazing brussel sprouts (even more amazing when you consider that she didn't have the actual seasoning mix she usually used, but figured it out using the spice components). Nathan made delicious zoodles from two kinds of zucchini and Randy made the highlight of the dinner, ribs that were started in the oven but finished outside over a large wood fire (see first photo). Awesome to see it done and even more awesome to eat it! It felt like being with family and the food was good enough to think of as a family feast!

I'll have to get the recipe for the zoodles and the ribs, but I can tell you what went into the sprouts and applesauce.

Kate's Tsardusted Sprouts

For the brussel sprouts, cut each in half and remove any outer leaves that are tough. There should be enough to cover a sheet pan in one layer. Put into a covered container or gallon ziploc bag, then add olive oil (2-3 tablespoons), salt and pepper to taste and Penzey's Tsardust Memories seasoning - start with 1/4 teaspoon and then next time adjust up or down to your taste. Shake to get an even coating on all the sprouts, then spread in a single layer on a sheet pan. (I like to cover the pan with heavy duty foil first for easy clean up.)  Roast in a very hot oven (425 degrees F) , turning once, until tender, about 20 minutes total. Serve while hot.

For the applesauce, peel and dice your favorite apple. Randy loves Honeycrisp, so that's what we used. My daughter peeled them before I got involved, but I leave mine unpeeled...great both ways. Place in a heavy bottomed pot and add cinnamon, ground cloves and nutmeg to taste, plus about 3 tablespoons water. If your apples are tart (or you prefer your applesauce sweet as Randy does), add some sugar, too, to taste. Cover and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring about every 5 minutes. When apples are very tender, stir and crush with a wooden spoon to desired chunkiness. Serve warm or cold.

Old Apples Make Good

I'm not sure what possessed me when I bought a good sized brown bag of Jonagold apples that had been marked down at the market. There were about 10 large apples in the bag and I guess I had a hankering for fresh apples to eat. The sad thing is that once I tried one I found that it was mealy and a bit dry and not terribly good for eating fresh. The bag sat in the crisper for a week until I had time to figure out what to do with it, so those poor old apples became even older. There is probably a parable in all of this, but haven't figured out what it is.

Finally I decided that the thing to do was to make chunky apple sauce with them. The best thing about chunky apple sauce is that I don't peel the apple, just cut them away from the core and cut them into small chunks. With the addition of some slow cooking, a little water, a little brown sugar and lots of cinnamon and Penzey's Cake Spice, those poor old apples became delicious apple sauce.

Now for the fun part. I made a quiche for Sweetie the other day and had another single crust in the fridge. Tonight as I was making dinner I realized that I had the makings of a quick and delicious dessert for my pie loving hubby. I turned on the oven to pre-heat and took the crust out of the fridge to warm up a bit, then kept going with the rice dish I was making for dinner. Eventually the rice was ready to just simmer for a while, so I toasted some pecans in the oven, cooled them a few minutes, chopped them fine and took the applesauce out of the fridge.

After lining a baking pan with parchment it was the work of moments to roll out the crust, put it on the parchment, ladle on the applesauce over half the crust, leaving a good inch uncovered at the outer edge of the crust, sprinkle on the pecans with a generous hand, swab some cold water along that free edge, fold one half over the other, press the edges together, crimp with a fork along that edge, smear on some soy creamer and sprinkle on some sanding sugar, poke a few steam holes in the top and...voila...pop the slab half pie into the oven. It baked for about 20 minutes until golden and was done before we sat down to dinner.

The crust was flaky and delicious, the apples warm and sweet and spicy, the nuts lent a good deal of chewiness and overall it was an excellent dessert. It was so good that I didn't even get a photo of the cut pie. As you can see, I'm having a bit of gluten now and then, but still no dairy. The soy creamer worked just as well as half and half for helping the crust brown and the sugar stick.

Applesauce Slab Pie

1 rolled out pie crust (I used Pillsbury pre-rolled crust)
1/3 cup toasted pecans
about 1 cup chunky applesauce, homemade if possible (drain off excess liquid)
water
soy creamer or half and half - about 1 teaspoon
sanding sugar - about 1 tablespoon

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Have the oven rack at the mid-point of the oven.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Place the rolled out crust in the center.
Chop the toasted pecans to very small pieces.
Spread the applesauce over half the crust, leaving about an inch uncovered at the outer edge of the crust. Sprinkle the nuts evenly over the applesauce.
Using your finger or a pastry brush, skim a very thin coat of water over the uncovered edge of crust.

Fold the half the crust with no applesauce over the half with applesauce, having the edges meet. Seal the edges by pushing down with your fingers. Use a fork to crimp the edges together. You will have a filled half circle of crimped dough.
Use your finger or a pastry brush to lightly coat the top of that half circle with soy creamer or half and half. Sprinkle with the sanding sugar. Use a sharp knife to cut three small slashed in the top.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes, until the edges of the crust are golden brown.
Remove from the oven and cool in the pan. Place pan on a cooling rack.
Can be eaten warm or at room temperature.
Refrigerate any leftovers.

A Local Sweet Specialty

Gravenstein apples were once the mainstay of agriculture in Sonoma County, along with hops, chickens and eggs. They are suited to this area because they are drought tolerant and we get very little summer rain. They are a beautiful apple with a green skin streaked with red striation. The flesh is white and the apples don’t keep and bruise easily, so they don’t ship or store well like Red Delicious and Pippin, for example.

One of the things that Gravenstein apples are superior for is applesauce. They cook down easily and retain a nice tartness and strong apple flavor. You can purchase Gravenstein applesauce at some Trader Joe’s, but as wine grapes have been slowly taking over the county, the number of apple ranches has diminished to a very small number.

The Arc of Taste, a project of Slow Foods, which is preserving endangered food products, one species at a time, includes the Gravenstein apple among them. To read more about it, go to : http://www.slowfoodusa.org/ark/gravenstein.html

I am fortunate enough to have a large old Gravenstein apple tree on my property. I don’t spray, so the apples are not perfect and not for sale, but I do try to make some applesauce every year with the apples. This is my entry to the SHF event for August hosted this month by the Passionate Cook. The apples show in the photo above were early, (I couldn't wait for them to be fully ripe), so you don't see much red on the skin. The apple sauce was a bit tarter than when they are fully ripe as they are right now. This photo was taken right before I mashed them into a tasty, chunky sauce.

Gravensteins also make a stunning apple pie. Because they soften so much while cooking, even when you pile them high in the pie, by the time that you serve it the top crust arches over a space before you reach those lovely sweet tart cooked apples.

This weekend in Sebastopol is the annual Apple Fair, dedicated to the Gravenstein apple. If you get there, be sure to purchase one of the apple pies baked by the folks at the Community church. They have been making hundreds of pies for the fair for years and years. Also, look for Walker Apple Ranch apples. They are one of the handful of farmers still growing Gravensteins for sale. Then you can make your own authentic Gravenstein Applesauce.

Gravenstein Applesauce
4-5 large apples, peeled or unpeeled, stem and core removed, cut into 1” chunks
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon

In a heavy bottomed pot, combine the apple chunks, water, sugar and cinnamon, Bring to a boil, cover, and turn down to a simmer. Simmer for 5-10 minutes until the apples are soft and tender. If you like chunky apple sauce, mash with a potato masher. The applesauce is now ready to eat warm, or you can cool it. For smoother applesauce, put the apple mixture through a food mill. The smooth applesauce is now ready to eat warm or cooled.

Gravenstein Apple Fair
Ragle Ranch Park, Sebastopol, CA
Aug 11 (10 am – 6 pm) & Aug 12 (10 am – 5 pm)
Live music, free parking, no pets
Admission: Adults - $10, Seniors - $8, age 6-12 - $5, under 6 – free
Sponsored by Sonoma County Farm Trails