By Brian on January 10, 2011
If you haven’t got Gordon Ramsay’s Great British Pub Food recipe book, I can recommend you do. Aside from many easy-to-make tummy fillers, it also features a number of recipes with apples and pears.
For his Apple Charlotte you will need:
800g apples mixed Tru-Cape Granny Smith and Tru-Cape Braeburn or other reds.
2 Tbs caster sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
120g unsalted butter
3Tbs raisins
2 tsp honey
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 loaf of day-old white bread (unsliced).
Icing sugar to dust and whipped cream or custard to serve.
Method
Peel, core and slice the apples and toss them into the sugar and cinnamon.
Melt 20g butter in a non-stick pan and coat the apples before adding the raisins, honey and lemon juice. Cook for 6 minutes over high heat until the sugar has dissolved and the liquid evaporated. Allow to cool.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade. Melt the remaining butter and brush the sides of a 20cm tin with a removable base. Cut off the crusts and then slice thinly. Roll over each slice with a pin to flatten further. Brush both sides with melted butter and line the base and sides of the tin overlapping slightly.
Fill the bread-lined tin with the cooled apple mixture using a slotted spoon to keep the bread as dry as possible. Fold over the overhang from the sides and cover the middle and any gaps with the remaining bread. Brush the top with butter and weigh it down with a plate to compress.
Bake for 20 minutes and then dust with icing sugar and bake again for 15 minutes or until the sugar has lightly caramelized.
Allow it to cool a little before unmoulding and slicing into wedges to serve with cream or custard.
Posted in Recipes | Tagged apple charlotte, apple recipes, Gordon Ramsay, Tru-Cape Braeburn, Tru-Cape Granny Smith
By Brian on September 24, 2010
Here’s another recipe from Riaan Geyer of Malvern.
Ingredients
1.5 litres water
1 cup sago
6 Tru-Cape apples
1-2 tablespoons honey or malt to sweeten
Method
Preheat the oven to 175′c.
Peel and cut the apples very finely (to speed up cooking time) and boil in 500ml ater until soft, which should take about 10 minutes).
Put the honey or malt into this to dissolve while cooking.
Mash to a pulp.
Place in a baking dish with the rest of the water and the sago, mixing the sago evenly throughout.
Bake for 30 minutes then stir it once for an even consistency, and replace in the oven for another 30 minutes.
Apple sago is good either hot or cold and yummy with custard!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Apples, sago
By Brian on September 15, 2010
Riaan Geyer sent us this recipe from a dish that his Gran used to make.
- 1 Tbs. butter
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 qt. chicken stock
- 2 large green apples, cored, peeled, & chopped
- 3/4 tsp. curry powder (or to taste)
- juice of 1/2 large lemon
- 3 Tbs. butter
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup light cream
Melt the 1 Tbs. butter in large saucepan over medium high heat. Add onion and sauté until soft but not brown. Stir in stock, apples, curry powder, and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Melt remaining butter in another large saucepan over medium heat until foam subsides. Blend in flour and cook 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly, then gradually stir in soup until well blended. When mixture reaches boiling point, remove from heat. Strain into first saucepan, pressing apple and onion with back of spoon. Stir in cream. Cook just until heated through.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Hot apple soup, winter warmers
By Brian on September 6, 2010
Have you seen Ruth Watson as The Hotel Inspector on TV? I love her sharp tongue and ability to get to the heart of the problem quickly. Her book, Something for the Weekend with eight around the Table, brings her incisive understanding of how to get the best results with the least effort.
“I doubt if there is a British cookery writer alive who hasn’t recorded his or her pet crumble recipe somewhere. There’s only one reason why I’m adding another one, and that’s because I want to give you what I think is the best recipe – and it happens to be the most basic recipe,” she writes.
1.5kg Granny Smith, Royal Gala, Fuji apples or what have you.
225g caster sugar, plus extra for sweetening the fruit
400g plain flour
300g unsalted butter
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan/gas mark 4.
Thickly slice the peeled and cored apples and tip them into a large, ovenproof dish that will provide a good fruit to crumble ratio – the topping should be no more than 1cm deep. Sprinkle the fruit with about six tablespoons of caster sugar, or to taste. How much, exactly, is a wee bit difficult to gauge until the fruit is cooked. I know, but obviously sharp Granny Smith will require more than a sweeter Fuji or Royal Gala.
Traditionally you should rub the flour and butter together but I find it easier to use a food processor with the pulse button engaged. Either way, rub or wiz the flour and butter so it looks like jumbo porridge oats – don’t make it too fine. You want a crumbly, not sandy topping. Stir in 225g caster sugar and then strew the mixture over the fruit. Don’t be too tidy about it: this is meant to be a homely pudding. (And sorry about all the admonitions.)
Cook for 35 – 45 minutes or until the crumble is golden and you can see the jammy-looking syrup bubbling around the edges. (It’s why the fruits must render up their juices; non-slumping dessert apples just don’t work.) But if you’ve used the right fruit and it’s still not happening, or the topping looks too pale, crank up the heat for 10 minutes towards the end.
You can serve crumble with ice cream but, really, you should proffer a big jug of custard.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged apple crumble, recipe, Ruth Watson
By Brian on June 18, 2010
Find a good but not great bottle of red wine and pour it over as many pealed pears (with the stalks on) as you can fit into your saucepan. The wine must cover them. I toss in four or five cloves, (only use whole cloves as the ground cloves are too concentrated for this dish), four or so sticks of cinnamon or cassia bark and two tablespoons of caster sugar. You don’t want the pears sweet as much as just not too tart, as a result of the wine.
Poach with the lid on for about 15 to 20 minutes but it is important to check after 10 minutes for readiness. They must still be firm to the touch so they keep their shape when you prod them with something blunt, like the back of a spoon, but not unyielding.
If you overcook them they’ll work as a sauce, with some ice cream.
I leave them to cool in the poaching liquid.
I know it is very decadent, but I strain the poaching liquid and then reduce it by two thirds by boiling rapidly and then I whisk in nubs of cold butter until the sauce becomes rich and glossy. If you serve this with a ripe round of Camembert, the combination of the cheese with this fruity, winey, buttery sauce is delicious.
I like to serve two poached pears per portion and let friends help themselves to the cheese and sauce.
Posted in Hints and Tips, Pears | Tagged Hints, Pears, Poaching, Red Wine, Tips
By admin on June 4, 2010
I adore Nigella Lawson and her book, How To Be A Domestic Goddess and I will share a number of her recipes with you. My most recent apple pie was however with a butter pastry I saw in House & Garden magazine, April 2010.
- 300g cake flour
- 8g sugar
- 5ml salt
- 230g chilled, unsalted butter cut into 1.5cm cubes. (I’ve also made this with salted butter and then left out the 8g salt.
- 100ml or more ice water
Continue reading “Domestic god and the apple pie.”
Posted in Apple pie, Apples, Recipes | Tagged Apple pie, Apples, House & Garden, Nigella Lawson