Update: Tea Kettle

I purchased a new tea kettle to replace the one that almost burnt down the house. I also got a new stock pot so I can make soups without being so restricted (stay tuned for NM green chile stew mmmm)

apple crisp

I have a secret to tell you. Come closer.

I don't really like pie.

Now before you call me blasphemous and anti-American, let me explain. Pie is okay, and I like making it because everyone else really seems to enjoy it. The associated paraphernalia, like pie plates and rolling pins, are fun (and collectible!). But pie is too formal; it has to be cut into a perfect wedge and put on a plate with the tip pointing at you and eaten with a dessert fork. Bad pie crust is...really bad, and good pie crust is just buttery and boring. A final blow to pie supremacy, some varieties of pie do not work à la mode (Have you ever had banana cream pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream? It just feels icky to think about it.). It should be no surprise that I evaluate the merit of any dessert based on its effectiveness as a vehicle for ice cream (I guess by that logic, waffle cones are king.).

This is not to say that I'm not gonna make pies anymore, just that I'm a huge fan of the crisp. It's relaxed where pie is formal. It takes to endless variations and it's hard to mess up. Most importantly, it needs a big scoop of ice cream to reach the apotheosis of crisp-ness.





This recipe came from my great aunt Marge Jensen and it's the one we've always used in my family. I always get out this stained recipe card in my grandma's handwriting (I love the corner where it says "Marge Jensen" and "Good") but I never follow it. It calls for margarine and is way too sweet for my taste. So here's what I did last time:

Butter a glass baking pan (Mine was about 7x11 but you can go smaller and have a higher crisp to apples ratio, or bigger, but that requires a lot of apples.) and fill it 3/4 full with peeled, sliced apples. Add:

1/4 c white sugar (I'm sure brown would be good too)
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg

and mix it all up in the pan.

For the crisp, mix together:

1 c flour
1 c oatmeal
1/4 c sugar
1/4 lb butter (that's one stick)

If you can cut the butter in so it remains crumbly it will make for a rubblier crisp; if it gets totally mixed up, it will be more like a cookie on top.

Top the apples with the crisp, and then sprinkle on:

~1/3 c brown sugar (or more or less to taste).

Bake at 325 for an hour (check on it before an hour, obviously, so it doesn't burn...to a crisp - especially if you're Tawny).

Serve warm with ice cream!

One experiment I tried this time was to leave one apple unpeeled to see if that would bug me (because not peeling the apples would be more fiber and less work, right?). But I can't even find that apple in there so the experiment was either really successful or a big failure.



Some ideas for variations:

- don't peel the apples?
- use whole wheat pastry flour in place of white flour (this works just fine, I've done it)
- add cranberries or craisins to the apples
- add slivered or chopped or ground almonds to the crisp...or pecans, or walnuts

In Season Now

Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant, battered in Japanese breadcrumbs
Mozzarella
Tomato Sauce
Fresh Parsley
Layer the ingredients
Bake at 400 degrees

The eggplant came out a little tough, so more sauce and longer cooking time may have remedied the situation. We ended up adding some water, covering with foil and continuing to cook it... and forgetting about it. The second time in a month we almost burned down the house. The first was my attempt at boiling water in a tea kettle after a long night out... needless to say the whistle of the tea kettle didn't wake me up and 8 hours later the stove was still on and the plastic handle on the pot was melted. Any suggestions for a tea kettle we're in the market for one!

Roasted Beet, Walnut and Goat Cheese Salad

The beauty of this salad is the dressing:

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinaigrette

Tbs or 2 of Honey :)

Garlic

Salt and Pepper

Once the beets have been cooked and the skins have been removed, chop to the desired size, and pop them back into the oven with the dressing for another 10-12 min. The warm dressing over the mixed greens is delicious.