Baked Apples

Day 3 in my week of apple recipes...

Its cold & rainy outside but inside we have warm cinnamon scented baked apples...ah fall!

Baked Apples

2 apples
2 T packed brown sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
2 T raisins or currants
1/2 T unsalted butter
boiling water

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Core the apples from the top making a cup shape ,leave about 1/4 inch at the bottom. Cut a little of the edge off the top of the apples making it flat. Pack 1 tablespoon brown sugar into each apple. Top with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon & 1 tablespoon raisins or currants. Place 1/4 tablespoon butter on top of each apple. Put the apples in a baking dish & add boiling water until its 1/2-inch deep.

Bake for 35 - 45 minutes or until the apples are soft. Baste the apples from time to time during cooking with the water in the bottom of the baking pan.

Serves 2

These are great on there own but a little vanilla ice cream wouldn't hurt either.

Day 1 - Apple Waffles
Day 2 - Ginger Peach Applesauce

Ginger Peach Applesauce

Day 2 in my week of apple recipes...

When we went to the Cookin' Minnesota Meet-Up last month we learned how to make hibiscus applesauce & got to take some home. Matt loved it on his oatmeal in the morning & just straight from the jar. Well, that applesauce went quickly so he decided to try his hand at making his own batch.

We don't have any dried hibiscus on hand so Matt decided to flavor the sauce with some Ginger Peach tea. It's amazing how the smell & flavor of peach comes through & blends so well with the apple. The ginger was a little more subtle but still a wonderful addition. I've not been an applesauce fan in the past, maybe the problem is I've never had it homemade before because Matt's version has changed my mind.

Ginger Peach Applesauce

3 lbs apples, peeled, cored & sliced (we used Haralson Apples)
1 c water
1/2 c sugar
1 T ginger peach tea (or flavored black tea of your choice)

Bring the water, sugar & tea to a boil in a small saucepan. Boil until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat & allow to seep for 5 - 10 minutes. Strain this simple syrup to remove the tea leaves.

Put the strained syrup & apples in a large pot. Cook covered over low heat for 20 minutes mashing from time to time with a fork or potato masher.

Cool & place into jars. Keep refrigerated.

Day 1 - Apple Waffles

Chicken Stewed in Wine, Garlic and Cinnamon

This is our second recipe we've tried from our newest cookbook, Soup's On!: 75 Soul-Satisfying Recipes from Your Favorite Chefs. It's from Cat Cora & is apparently an adaptation of a Greek dish called Kota Kapama (Peter you'll have to let me know how Greek it seems to you).

I wanted to make this dish because of the cinnamon in it since I loved the cinnamon with chicken in the Phyllo Rolls last week. I have to say Matt really doubted this recipe when I read the description of it to him while making the weekly menu. I thought it sounded good but as it was cooking I too started to wonder how the cinnamon would go with the tomato sauce. Well, neither of us had any reason to doubt. This was a wonderful comforting dish. The taste is just as good as the smell it fills the house with while cooking. The chicken gets quite tender from stewing in the tomato paste.

We did adapt the recipe a little bit. It originally called for a full chicken cut up & stewed. Since it was being served over egg noodles I thought boneless chicken cut into pieces would be a little easier to eat. We also added spinach at the end of cooking as a way to get a green vegetable into the dish. The spinach was a perfect addition & I'll add it when I make this again in the future.

Chicken Stewed in Wine, Garlic & Cinnamon
adapted from a Cat Cora recipe in Soup's On!: 75 Soul-Satisfying Recipes from Your Favorite Chefs

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 t salt
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t pepper
3 garlic cloves, 2 minced & one peeled & left whole
1 T olive oil
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1/4 c dry white wine (I think you could substitute chicken broth if you didn't want to use wine)
1 c water
3 oz tomato paste
2 c spinach leaves, roughly torn
1/2 c grated Romano cheese

Mix the salt, cinnamon & pepper together. Rub the mixture on the chicken pieces to completely coat them.

Heat the oil olive in a large, skillet with a lid over medium-high heat. Add the chicken & cook until it is no longer pink. Remove the chicken from the skillet & set aside.

Add the onion & minced garlic to the skillet. Cook until the onions are soft & beginning to brown. Add the wine & scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. Let the wine cook until it is evaporated. Add the water, tomato paste, whole garlic clove & chicken to the pan. Reduce the heat to low, cover & let simmer for about 20 - 30 minute, until chicken is tender. Add salt & pepper if needed. Mix spinach leaves in & cook until wilted.

Serve over egg noodles & top with grated cheese

Serves 2

Apple Waffles

Day 1 in my week of apple recipes...

I mentioned to Matt the other day that he hadn't made me waffles or popovers in a long time. He heard that as "You'd better make me waffles this weekend." I really didn't mean it that way but it did mean I got waffles Sunday morning & not just any waffles but apple waffles.

I think he was looking for ways to use the apples we picked up at the Arboretum this weekend when he stumbled on this recipe on the Wikibooks Cookbook. The method is pretty simple you put the batter in the waffle maker & then quickly top it with sliced apples before closing the lid. I had a hard time imagining how this was going to work thinking the apples would stick to the waffle maker & not cook. Oh, was I wrong.

The batter actually covers the apples when you close the lid. As the waffle cooks the thinly sliced apple gets all soft & warm. These were amazing! No need for syrup here, just some butter & dive in.

I have to say that the waffle batter with this recipe is really good too. Its a little fussy since you have to beat the egg yolks & whites separately but it really creates a wonderfully fluffy waffle. (Ok, I know beating an egg isn't that fussy but first thing in the morning it can feel like it.)

Apple Waffles
from Wikibooks Cookbook

2 eggs, separated
1 1/2 c milk
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 T sugar
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
1 3/4 c flour
1 apple, peeled, cored & thinly sliced

Lightly spray the waffle iron with oil, close & heat.

On a small bowl beat the egg whites until stiff & set aside.

In a larger bowl beat the egg yolks until light yellow & thick. Whisk in the milk & oil. Add dry ingredients & whisk until smooth. Fold in the egg whites.

Pour 3/4 c of the batter into the waffle iron. Quickly cover the surface with a layer of the sliced apples.

Close the cover & cook as normal.

We found that we needed to re-oil the top of the waffle iron about halfway through making the batch or they began to stick.

Makes 6 waffles.

Weekly Menu - 10/6 - 10/11/08

We took a little trip out to the University of Minnesota Arboretum this Saturday to pick up a few bags of apples. The U has developed quite a few varieties of apples including the Honeycrisp, which is one of the best eating apples we've ever had & the Minnesota State Fruit. We picked up a bag of those as well as another MN variety, Haralson, which is supposed to be great for cooking (though I like its tart flavor fresh as well). So, expect a few apple recipes this week including Apple Waffles, Ginger Peach Applesauce, Baked Apples & maybe an Apple Caramel Bake Matt is dreaming up.

On to Menu Planning Monday...

Chicken Adobo - from What's Cooking

Prosciutto & Fig Paninis - Maybe I'll even make the rolls from scratch

Pomegranate Marinated Lamb over Couscous - From the new Bon Appétit - RESULT - I had high hopes for this but it was really disappointing. The flavors were really muddy & dull.

Brats with Roasted Potatoes

Creamy Turnip with Paprika Soup

Chicken Stewed in Wine, Garlic & Cinnamon - A Cat Cora recipe from Soup's On!: 75 Soul-Satisfying Recipes from Your Favorite Chefs - RESULT - This was so good. We added some spinach at the end which was wonderful.

This week's cupcake will be Candy Corn...I'm hoping this idea turns out because it could be super cute.