Falling for Fall

Fall is my favorite time of year and not just because it means my birthday. Those, I don't look forward to quite as much as I used to. What I do look forward to it the cool crisp air, the changing colors of the foliage, Halloween and the return of hearty (albeit fattening) comfort food! Soups, and stews, and casseroles, oh my! Inevitable there is a swarm of pumpkin spice this and pumpkin spice that, but, for me, the real flavor of the season is APPLE! This is the time of year when the orchards are bursting with a myriad of apple varieties. I am still trying to figure out the best combination for my maple whiskey caramel apple pie but generally my go to apple for everything is McIntosh. This apple, to me, has the best apple flavor, but in pie it cooks away to nothing. In cake, however, it is PERFECT! This recipe came from the food blog, The Cozy Apron, run by Ingrid Beers. I encourage you to check it out. She has many wonderful things to eat on there. The only tweak I made was to add a little nutmeg.

Apple Cake (adapted from The Cozy Apron)

Ingredients:
7 medium-small apples, unpeeled (Ingrid uses Gala, I used McIntosh)
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/4 cup brown sugar, plus 2 tablespoons, divided use
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 cup melted unsalted butter, slightly cooled
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Sour Cream Drizzle Ingredients:
4 1/2 tablespoons sour cream
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions:
Prepare the cake: preheat the oven to 350°, and mist a bundt pan, or similar style cake pan, with cooking spray.

Prepare two bowls, and begin by grating the unpeeled gala apples (using a box grater onto) a work surface; then, take a handfuls of the grated apples, and squeeze as much of the juice out of them into one of the bowls as possible, and place the squeezed-out apples into the other bowl; repeat the process until all the grated apples have been squeezed of their juice, and set them aside for a moment.

Strain the squeezed-out juice, and set it aside for a moment. (You will need a total of 3/4 cup of juice for the recipe, so if your apples yield more than that, feel free to drink the rest!)

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and ground cinnamon, and whisk to aerate and blend; set aside for a moment.

To a large bowl, add the 1 1/4 cups brown sugar, the granulated sugar, the eggs and the vanilla, and with a hand mixer, beat those ingredients on low for about 2 minutes until fluffy; next, add in the melted butter, and continue to mix for another 30 seconds or so, until incorporated.

To the sugar/egg/butter mixture, add about 1/3 of the flour mixture, and carefully mix that until incorporated; add another 1/3, and mix to incorporate, then the final 1/3 and again mix to incorporate well.

Finally, add the grated apples into the batter along with about 6 tablespoons (1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) of the reserved apple juice squeezed from the grated apples, and fold that in with a spatula until well blended.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, and bake for about 50-55 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean; allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 5-10 minutes.

While the cake bakes, prepare your sour cream drizzle: in a small bowl, carefully combine the sour cream and the powdered sugar with a whisk until smooth, adding 1-2 tablespoons of water to reach your desired consistency; keep in fridge until ready to glaze your cake.

Prepare your apple “syrup”: combine the remainder of the reserved apple juice (roughly 1/2 cup) with the remaining 2 tablespoons of brown sugar in a small sauce pan, and allow it to very gently simmer for a few minutes until glossy and reduced by almost half.

Once the cake is baked and has slightly cooled in the pan for about 15 minutes, carefully turn it out onto a wire rack, and poke a few holes with the wooden skewer into the top of it; pour the apple syrup/reduction over the turned-out cake very slowly, allowing it to absorb into the cake, but don’t worry if it doesn’t completely absorb—it will continue to do so as the cake cools. (I just pour the syrup over the hot cake while it is still in the pan - less chance for a big mess. I use a plastic knife to VERY GENTLY pull the cake away from the sides a bit to let the syrup run down. Then I turn the cake out when it's cooled and all the syrup is absorbed)

Once the cake is completely cooled, pour over the sour cream drizzle, allow to set, and serve!

Ode to Summer

So, yesterday my poor hubs was not feeling well. After a lovely long holiday weekend in New Hampshire/Maine he returned to work with a case of the trots. Poor guy. He requested a meatless dinner, which is not something he ever does but since our vacation entailed a lot of meat laden meals, I was more than happy to oblige. I had a ton of tomatoes from the garden so I knew exactly what to make. This dish takes a little bit of time to make but the process is largely hands off so it is really easy and it just screams of summer. It was a perfect light meal for my hubby's restless tummy.

Angel Hair Pasta with Summer Squash and Tomato Confit

1-2 lbs cherry tomatoes

4 (or more) cloves garlic, peeled

1/4 Cup olive oil

generous pinch of salt

zest of 1 lemon

1 summer squash (green or fellow), grated

1 lb angel hair pasta (cappelini)

3/4 Cup grated paremsan or romano cheese

3-4 fresh basil leaves, chiffonade

Preheat oven to 300F

Place tomatoes and garlic cloves in a roasting pan

Add salt and lemon zest

Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat

Bake for 1 hour, let cool

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add pasta

Cook pasta halfway and add grated squash, cook another minute

Drain pasta and squash and return to pot.

Add tomatoes and juices to the pasta and finish cooking over low heat until pasta is done.

Remove from heat and stir in fresh basil and parmesan/romano cheese. 

Serve hot with fresh bread and/or a salad

NOTE: I tried making this with the regular, full-sized tomatoes from my garden and it did not compare. There was too much water and seeds and not enough pulp. The resulting confit was a watery, seedy disappointment so stick to the cherry and plum varieties.