Maple-berry apple crisp

It's cold. It's warm. It's cold. It's warm.

It's maple syrup season.

Cold nights and above freezing days mean sugar shacks are in full boil. And for those of us luck enough to know someone with a sugar bush, visions of golden, mapley goodness dance in our heads...and our palates.

I'll pour it on sweet fritters, warm corn bread, ice cream and yes...pancakes.

Unlike "table syrup" in all its cloying viscosity, I'll use it as a more subtle sweetener--one that lends a deep smoky sweetness to whatever I use it in.

Normally when I make a crisp, sugar abounds: the apples are tossed in it, the topping has one or two types and usually the dessert is served with a dollop of sweetened cream, a generous spoon of custard or a healthy scoop of ice cream. This time I wanted the Granny Smith's tartness to shine through and be more of a feature against the sweetened accompaniment.

I'm fairly happy with the results--the apples are tart with a hint of maple. I like how the crisp nubbly topping contrasts against the softened apples and melting rivulets of ice cream. I will play with it some more--the topping could do with some playing -- maybe plump up the fruit before baking and maybe use a mixture of both whole wheat and ap flours...but for now, here's my maple-berry apple crisp.

Maple-Berry Apple Crisp
Serves 6-8

Ingredients
For the topping
70g (5Tbsp) butter, softened
65g (0.33c) brown sugar
40g (0.25c) dried cranberries, finely chopped
40g (0.25c) dried blueberries, chopped
40g (0.33c) chopped walnuts, toasted
55g (0.5c) rolled oats
75g (0.5c) whole wheat flour
finely minced zest of one orange
0.5tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt

For the apples
juice of one orange
180ml (0.75c) maple syrup
pinch of salt
butter
6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into 3mm (1/8") slices

Method:
Preheat oven to 190C/375F. Butter a 23cm x 33cm (9"x13") pan.

Mix the topping ingredients together, until crumbly and set aside.

Mix the juice, syrup and salt together. Tumble the sliced apples into the buttered pan and por the syrup mixture over top. Strew the topping over the apples.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the topping is golden and the apples yield to the point of a sharp knife.

Let cool a bit before serving. Serve with custard, ice cream or cream sweetened with maple syrup.

cheers!

jasmine

I'm a quill for hire!

Corned beef Hash

Even though I was careful to not have a whopping huge hunk of corned beef, I had more than enough for a couple of suppers and sandwiches.

The most obvious solution to my embarrassment of cured beef riches was, as you've probably guessed by this post's title, corned beef hash.

Then again, I may have embarked on a 14-day brining adventure just to make this crisped potatoey-beefy-oniony conglomeration.

Like so many foods created to use up an odd bit of this or that, this, again, is a non-recipe recipe. I don't think there's a hard and fast rule about corned beef hash: chopped up left over boiled potatoes, chopped up left over corned beef, mixed with chopped onion, garlic and spices, fried, an served warm for breakfast lunch or supper.

Browned hashed potatoes with bits of spiced cured beef, topped with a soft boiled or runny poached egg, with butter toast to sop up the golden goo...what more does one want for a lazy Sunday breakfast, or a midnight nosh when back from a night out sampling the local pub's liquid offerings? Not much, I think.

Corned Beef Hash
Serves 2-4

Ingredients
Butter and or olive oil, for frying
1 onion, finely diced
1 garlic clove, minced
250g (1.5c) boiled potatoes, finely chopped
100g (1c) corned beef, finely chopped
salt
pepper
0.5tsp mustard powder
1tsp vinegar



Method
Heat fat in a cast iron pan until quite hot. Saute onions until transluscent. Add garlic and stir until its scent is released.

Tumble in chopped potatoes and meat, a pinch of salt, two of pepper and the mustard powder. Sprinkle with vinegar and stir well and press into an even layer in the pan.

Fry until the bottom is crisp and golden. Turn, in sections, to crisp the other side. If it sticks, add more fat to the pan. Fry and turn again (or as often as needed) until the potatoes and meat are lovely and crispy.

Dollop some sour cream along the side and garnish with chopped chives or spring onions.

Serve with eggs (soft boiled, poached, fried, or whichever way you wish), baked beans, fried tomatoes and or fried mushrooms.

cheers!

jasmine

I'm a quill for hire!

Colcannon

I love it when I find an incredibly easy and tasty dish. Don't get me wrong: for the most part I still love spending a couple of hours in my kitchen, carefully dosing out ingredients, slowly folding and rubbing and waiting for volatile oils to release and scent the air. The truth is I don't always have that sort of time to devote to feeding myself (sad, isn't it?). I'm normally on the lookout for something quick, delicious and slightly different from the same-old same-old, but one that can be completed in those fleeting moments between work, meetings, going out and sleep. From time to time I find a solution so elegant in its simplicity, I wonder why I didn't try it before. Colcannon is one of those foods. A traditional Irish dish, it's simply sauteed greens stirred into mashed potatoes. As someone who loves sauteed kale, cabbage and other deep leafy greens almost as much as I love creamy (and garlicky) mashed potatoes, this is pretty much a happy foodish marriage to my tastebuds and gullet. What makes it better (I think) is that it's pretty much a non-recipe recipe. Don't believe me? Here's proof:

• Step one: Saute some kale (or green cabbage or other leafy green).


• Step two: Mash some potatoes (preferably with milk/cream and butter).


• Step three: Mix everything together.

Still don't believe me? Read the painstaingly recorded instructions which follow this bit of expository. To summarize:

• Step one: Saute some kale (or green cabbage other leafy green).


• Step two: Mash some potatoes (preferably with milk/cream and butter).


• Step three: Mix everything together.

See? Colcannon Serves 4-6 Ingredients 250g (0.5lb) Kale leaves, chopped (one bunch) 1 shallot, thinly slivered 4 spring onions, green parts only, finely chopped butter, for sauteing and mashing 500g (1lb) Yukon gold potatoes (or any mashable potato) 125ml (0.5c) milk 1 clove garlic, smashed salt pepper Method: Fry the shallots in butter until golden. Add the kale and spring onion greens and a couple of tablespoons of water to the pan. Give it a stir and lid the pan and let the greens steam lightly--the green will be vibrant, but the veg won't be limp. Remove the lid and let the water evaporate, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside

Parboil potatoes in salted water. When they are about half-cooked, drain off 2/3-3/4 of the cooking water and retun to the hob, put the lid on and steam over low heat until an inserted knife blade or fork easily slips in and out of a potato. When the potatoes are about ready, heat the milk with the smashed garlic. Mash the potatoes to your liking, using the garlic-infused milk and butter. Stir in the cooked greens. Balance flavours to taste. Notes:

• You can substiute cabbage (savoy or green) for the kale.


• If you have bacon fat on hand, use that to saute the greens.

cheers!

jasmine

I'm a quill for hire!