Sunday, December 31, 2017

Slow cooked Apples

Hi all, this is a version I found in the LA Times. You can adapt to the larger version I made pretty easily, just put all the apples in one 10 inch baking dish, cover with plastic and weight. Then cook at 175 degrees for 10 hours or so.

This version is easier and Mike Joyce won't have to worry about the oven being on all night.


Recipe: Long and slow apples
December 09, 2010
Long and slow apples
Total time:
30 minutes, plus 2 hours baking time and optional chilling time Servings: 4
Note: Adapted from Dorie Greenspan's "Around My French Table."
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1/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground coriander
4 apples, such as Gala or Fuji, peeled
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Zest of 1 small orange, removed with a vegetable peeler, then very finely chopped (optional)
1. Center a rack in the oven and heat to 300 degrees. Generously butter 4 (6-ounce) ramekins or heatproof cups (Pyrex custard cups work well). Line a jellyroll pan with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
2. Put the sugar, ginger and coriander in a small bowl and whisk to blend.
3. The apples need to be sliced as thin as possible. First cut them in half from top to bottom and remove the cores with a melon baller, or excavate them with the tip of a small knife. If you have a mandoline, or Benriner slicer, use it to slice the apples crosswise 1/8- to 1/6-inch thick. If not, do this with a knife — just set the apple halves cut-side down on a board and slice crosswise.
4. Arrange a thin layer of apple slices in each ramekin, brush with a little melted butter, sprinkle with a little spiced sugar and scatter over a small pinch of orange zest, if you're using it. Continue to make layers of apples, butter, spiced sugar and orange zest until you've used all the apples.
5. Wrap each ramekin in parchment paper and then aluminum foil and use a small knife to pierce both the parchment and foil in about 4 places. Put the ramekins in the jellyroll pan and weight each ramekin down, using more ramekins or heatproof coffee cups — you don't need anything too heavy, but you do want to press the apples a bit while they're baking.
6. Bake the apples for 2 hours, undisturbed. Transfer the jellyroll pan to a cooling rack and let the ramekins rest with the weights in place until they cool down a little, or until they reach room temperature.
7. Remove the weights and the wrapping. If the juices have run over the sides of the ramekins, wipe them clean.
8. Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled. If you want to serve the apples chilled, cover each one with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours, or better yet, overnight. If you want to unmold the apples, run a small knife around the edges of each ramekin, cover with a small plate, turn over and lift off the ramekin.
9. Serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream (add a pinch of ground ginger) or vanilla ice cream.

Happy New Year! Another great Christmas Swap!

Thanks to everyone who came out for our annual Christmas Book Swap! As usual, we had a wonderful time. This event really highlights the great range of interests we all have - the breadth of subjects, the number of authors and the time frame in which they were written was pretty impressive. I'd say we have a group of readers!

Winning the "Gee, I want that one" lottery was Tom Hank's book Uncommon Type. It turns out Tom Hanks is a collector of old typewriters and wrote a short story collection that has a typewriter in each one. Interesting, and interesting that two people brought along that book to swap, both Lynn and Val. And so, that is our January book - I for one can't wait, the interviews I heard with Tom Hanks peaked my interest, as did the fervor with which this book got claimed!

Many thanks to Lynn who jumped in and took notes so we know who brought what and who wrote it. Great job! And to Ashley for the amazing toffee - she has sent out the recipe so I will not repeat it here, but if you need it, let me or Ashley know. As for the slow apples - I will post it separately. The version I can find online is for individual servings which is much faster than my version.

Gordon added a great twist this year as she wasn't able to attend, but did drop off a book. That gave us a wild card that could be used whenever wanted and it was very fun. We can keep that idea for next year.

And now to the books! Here they are, thanks everyone:

Snobs and Past Imperfect  by Julian Fellows - Maggie (this one swapped around a lot too)
The Paris Wife  by Paula McLean - Karin (2nd year in a row this one has shown up)
Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks - Lynn and Val - the only book ever to have been brought by 2 people!
Kindred by Octavia Butler - Celia
Glass Houses by Louise Penny - Jean
Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shatak - Renee
The Last Tudor by Phillips Gregory - Julie J. (Looks fantastic, it is now in my library list)
The Forger's Tale by Edward Dolnick - Sally (another must read)
I Capture the Earth by Dode Smith - Catherine
The Mating Season by P.G. Wodehouse - Gordon
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbach - Carol
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld - Ashley
Negroland by Margo Jefferson - Mary

We had some ideas for our February book - many of us were intrigued by Negroland which is a memoir of sorts about a black Chicago area that was filled with intellectuals. Another is The Red Notice, by Bill Browder, another memoir about a murdered Russian financier who was on the wrong side of Putin by one of his closest friends. The third suggestion was Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin (who wrote The Aviator's Wife). This is a novel but tells the stories of the wealthy women of Truman Capote's world.

And so on we go into 2018, who would have believed it! We do not have a venue yet for January, can someone please volunteer? We are on for January 16, location TBD.

See you all soon!