Peel-delicious Applesauce
My CSA farmer emailed me today and asked me if I could use some “discard” apples~ones with big bruises, bites taken out of them, holes, etc. I said sure!
When I went to my pickup today there was a *HUGE* box of apples waiting for me. I had no idea it was going to be so many. So I went through pulled out the worst looking apples, cut out the cores and bad spots, roughly diced them, and boiled them in a bit of water. There were two different types of apples, a yellow and a red one, one of which broke down quickly and the other stayed more chunky. I used a potato masher to break the chunky pieces down a bit more. The sauce is beautiful colored and textured and it tastes great! And since I left the peels in it’s a whole food with all the great fiber and antioxidants and everything. Why can’t I find commercial applesauce with the peels?
The applesauce didn’t need any sugar in my opinion, so I just added some cinnamon and put it in the fridge–almost two quarts of apple sauce and I still have the other 3/4 of the apples left! Of course, they’re in pretty good shape so I’m guessing I can leave them out for a few days? But what should I do with them??
Rating: B+
Update Nov 2012:
This week I made a ginger cranberry applesauce that is bright and hot:
- 725 g apple chunks (with peels but no cores)
- 100g raw cranberries
- 17g peeled, minced ginger
- 2? Tbs. of water
Instructions: Add all the ingredients to a 1.5- to 2-quart pot, bring the water to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Cook, covered, until the applesauce has the consistency you like.
I used a mix of a baking apple that dissolved into sauce and an eating apple that stayed a bit chunkier. The applesauce was intensely ginger-y and a very cheery red. If you want something a little mellower, you could probably use half as many cranberries and half as much ginger.
This made 725g of applesauce (about 1 pound 10 oz), about 3 cups worth.
Stuffed zucchini with black beans, corn, and chipotle chiles
Unlike many vegetarian dishes which are basically “mush,” stuffed veggies are a cohesive main dish, with real structure. (They are, however, more time-consuming to make.) Stuffed zucchini often comes out soggy and tasteless. Cook’s Illustrated suggests pre-roasting the zuchinni cut-side down for a flavorful sear before filling them with hearty vegetables and seasonings and baking them briefly. The recipe is based on the original Cook’s Illustrated recipe, but I made a few changes to streamline the preparation. Read the rest of this entry »
Raw Zucchini Salad with Lemon and Basil
Slicing zucchini paper thin yields a salad with a wonderful, silky mouthfeel; the lemon and olive oil and basil all come together to create one unifying flavor. This simple but lovely recipe is from The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook by Jack Bishop.
Ingredients
4 medium zucchini (about 1.5 pounds)
3 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
salt
10 large fresh basil leaves, cut into very thin strips
Add instructions here!
My Notes
After trying two of Bishop’s tomato salads that looked simple but tasty, and not being too excited about either, I was nervous about this one, since it’s even more simple! But I’ve never eaten raw zucchini so had to try it. I used a vegetable peeler to slice the zucchini into long thin strips. Bishop says to refrigerate the sliced zucchini until well chilled, but mine was already cold so I didn’t bother.
I’m not sure of the exact proportions I used, but I only used 1 zucchini and I vaguely recall that I needed more lemon juice than called for: 3/4 Tablespoon. I think I actually used 1.5 Tablespoons, and maybe the zest too? In any case, the salad was wonderful. It was totally different than I expected. I’ll definitely be making this salad for friends!
Rating: B+
Derek: B-
Two Tomato Salads (B-)
It’s the peak of tomato season here in sunny Pennsylvania, and so of course I pulled out my Complete Italian Vegetarian cookbook by Jack Bishop. It seems that every other recipe in that cookbook requires fresh tomatoes, so most of the year many of the recipes are out of reach. Not so in August!
There are two tomato salads that caught my eye. The first was tomato salad with black olives, capers, basil, and oregano. I didn’t have fresh oregano so used a bit of dried and extra basil. I also probably used less olive oil than called for. The end result tasted fine, but didn’t excite me. I thought that the briny olives and capers overwhelmed the tomatoes. The flavors really didn’t come together.
The second salad was tomatoes, red onion, basil, and vinegar (half red wine, half balsamic). Again, I wasn’t excited. This time the flavors weren’t too strong exactly, just not really any better than eating plain tomatoes.
Now, I’m thinking that to some extent the result will depend on the tomatoes you use. I was using “heirloom pinks”, which are sweet but not very acidic. Perhaps with a more acidic tomato these salads would work better?
If anyone has any advice please let me know. I’d really like to make a heavenly tomato salad before the season is up!
Rating: B-
The captious vegetarian 