Small Bites

A colleague reports that she has a bushel of apples at home and needs recipes! I’ll post two of my faveys here, but who else can help? Share your apple recipes in the comments section!

Apple Martini
Recipe by George Delgado

1 Granny Smith apple
3/4 ounce vodka
1/4 ounce Calvados
1 ounce Berentzen’s Apfel Schnapps
1 ounce DeKuyper’s Sour Apple Pucker

Cut apple into quarters and those quarters into thirds.
Muddle two thirds of one quarter apple in the bottom of a cocktail shaker.
Add other ingredients and fill with ice. Shake at least 20 times, to infuse apple flavor.
Garnish with the leftover apple third.

Chestnut, Celery Root and  Apple Soup
Recipe by Daniel Boulud

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 medium leek, white part only, thinly sliced, washed and dried
2 McIntosh apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
10 ounces celery root, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3/4 pound dry-packed bottled or vacuum-sealed peeled chestnuts
2 quarts unsalted chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream

Heat the oil in a stockpot or large casserole over medium heat. Add the onion, leek, apples, celery root, bay leaf, thyme, nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, or until the onions and leeks are soft but not colored. Add the chestnuts and chicken stock and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook, skimming the surface regularly, for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the chestnuts can be mashed easily with a fork. Add the heavy cream and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes more, then remove from heat and discard the bay leaf and thyme.
Puree the soup until smooth, using a blender, hand-held immersion blender or a food processor, and working in batches if necessary, then pass it through a fine-mesh strainer. You should have about 2 quarts of soup. If you have more, or if you think the soup is too thin — it should have the consistency of a velouté or light cream soup — simmer it over medium heat until slightly thickened. Taste and, if necessary, adjust the seasoning. The soup can be cooled completely and stored in a covered container in the refrigerator three to four days or frozen up to a month. Bring the soup to a boil before serving.

Yield: 4 servings.

Pork Roast with Corn Bread-Apple Stuffing
Adapted from Saveur magazine.

4 ounces slab bacon, finely diced
2 tablespoons butter
1 small yellow onion, peeled and chopped
1 rib celery, trimmed and chopped
2 fuji or other crisp, juicy apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1/4 cup shelled pecans, toasted and chopped
Leaves from 4 sprigs thyme, chopped
Leaves from 1 sprig sage, chopped
2 cups crumbled corn bread
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/3 cup chicken stock
1 four-pound pork loin rib roast, chine bones cracked, rib bones frenched

First make yourself up a batch of cornbread. Buy the blue Jiffy box and follow the instructions. While you’re waiting for it to bake is a great time to toast your nuts and chop your other ingredients. When it’s ready you can make the stuffing.
Preheat oven to 350. Fry bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a large bowl. Increase heat to medium high and add butter to bacon fat in skillet, then add onions and celery and saute until golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Add apples, pecans, thyme and sage and cook until apples soften, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to bowl with bacon. Add corn bread, cayenne, stock and salt and pepper and toss well.
Now comes the hard part, though if you do it once, you’ll be an expert from then on. You have to butcher the pork a little. Put the pork on the cutting board with the ribs sticking straight up and the meat on the right. Use a long thin and very sharp knife, and cut along the right side of the ribs, (leaving a litle meat) until you get 3/4 of the way down the loin. Don’t detach the ribs! Then turn your knife to the right and “unroll” the loin into a wide slab. When you’re done, you should have a flat piece of pork with some ribs sticking up. That’s where you’re going to put your stuffing. So do that. (We’ll wait.) Now starting from the not-rib end, roll the pork like a jelly roll. (Or a cigarette, depending on which you have more experience with.) Tie it with kitchen twice, and if you feel more comfortable, close it with some toothpicks.
Transfer to a roasting pan and roast until internal temperature reaches 135, about 50 to 60 minutes. Loosely cover with foil and set aside to rest for 15 minutes before carving.

Yield: 6 servings.

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