When we lived down South we were surrounded by beautiful orchards, the bonus in the autumn being we got to forage from the drops and I had no end of lovely apples and pears to do things with. We knew we would miss that so our first year back up here in Chester we planted our own fruit trees at the back of the garden. This year our Cox's Pippin tree gave us a bumper crop and I hear the gorgeous growing season we have just had has resulted in bumper apple crops all over the UK.
I just love cooking with and eating apples, and when you have grown them yourself it somehow makes it an even better experience!
When I was searching for a simple recipe to help to use up some of our lovely apples the other day I came across this fabulous recipe at the Jamie Oliver Magazine Recipe page. I love Jamie's recipes. Next to Nigel Slater, he is one of my cooking idols. Seriously. When he first came out with his magazine, I was one of the first to subscribe and I have been a loyal and faithful subscriber ever since. In fact this year, I haven't been able to renew any of my magazine subscriptions because of the cost . . . except for his. His is the only one I have kept on, which says a lot about how I feel about his ideology and his recipes. I am saving up for his latest cookbook, fingers crossed. Maybe Santa will be good to me this year.
Back to the recipe. I don't think you would need to use the actual apple recipe specified. Any good, firm eating apple would serve this purpose. A Granny Smith would probably work equally as well.
It uses simple ingredients . . . apples, butter, sugar, cinnamon . . . things most of us have in our kitchens at any given time. And it's easy and quick to throw together, which makes it the perfect recipe for entertaining, especially at this time of year with Halloween and Bonfire night coming up over the next few weeks. The beauty of this recipe is that it's seasonal, simple and can easily expand according to however many people you are feeding, which makes it the perfect dessert for sharing with your friends!
Speaking of which, have you checked out the Halloween/Bonfire night pages on Jamie Oliver There are all sorts of ideas there and I have bookmarked more than a few. Tasty offerings such as Toffee Apple Tart, Neeps & Tatties, frosted Butternut Squash Muffins. A lotta, lotta scrumminess there.
These tasty apples went down a real treat today . . . and I know this is a recipe I will make again and again. I love the simplicity of it. You get a lot of wonderful flavor for very little effort. I do hope you will give it a go and that you'll check out some of the other recipes too.
Oh, I do so love autumn and the wonderful food and tastes that it brings to our table! It's small wonder that it is my favorite time of year, taste wise . . . but then again . . . I say that about all the seasons! I am just a glutton I guess!
*Fried Cox Apples with Cinnamon Sugar*Serves as many as you have friendsPrintable Recipe
A deliciously easy recipe, using seasonal and simple ingredients from Kevin Gould and the Jamie Oliver page.250g unsalted butter (A generous cup)1 cox's orange pippin apple per person, peeled and coredlemon juice1 TBS caster sugar mixed with 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon per personapple juice, cider, calvados or water for deglazing the panCreme Fraiche to serveYou will need to clarify the butter first. Bring it to the boil in a small pan and then strain it through a seive which you have lined with a coffee filter, into a clean container. (Don't worry if you don't need it all. Any leftover clarified butter can be kept in the refrigerator.) Mix together the cinnamon and the sugar to have at the ready.Peel, core and slice each apple into eight wedges, tossing them with lemon juice to help prevent them from turning color. Heat some of your clarified butter in a heavy based skillet. (The size will depend on how many you are doing. Two apples fit just nicely into my 8 inch pan.) Once the butter begins to foam lightly add the apple wedges in a single layer. When the undersides of the apples just begin to turn golden, flip them over and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. They will begin to caramlize quite quickly. Lift them into a dish and then pour some of the liquid of your choice into the pan. It will bubble up and deglaze the pan. For two apples I used about 60ml or 1/4 cup. Pour this over the apples and serve warm with some creme fraiche. Delicious!
