4 Bites: Apples

Apple sauce

Serve with cake, pork chops, roast chook or latkes. Makes 2 cups

1. Peel and evenly chop 4 apples (we used a mix of granny smiths, gala and braeburn).
2. Add to a saucepan with the zest and juice 1 lemon, 1 Tbsp sugar, ¼ tsp apple spice mix (see below) or use ground allspice or nutmeg, a small piece of a split vanilla bean and ½ cup good apple juice.
3. Simmer over a low heat until soft and the liquid has evaporated. Cool and chill. Get the recipe

Apple spice mix

Lightly toast 1 tsp each of cloves, cinnamon, allspice, mace or nutmeg and black peppercorns. Cool and blitz (in a spice mill or coffee grinder) until finely ground and store in a jar.

Dutch apple cake

1. Beat 3 eggs, 1 large cup caster sugar and 1 tsp vanilla essence until voluminous and ribbony.
2. Sift 1½ cups high-grade flour with 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda, ¼ tsp sal, and 1 tsp each of apple spice mix (see recipe above) and cocoa powder.
3. Peel and grate 3 apples and mix with the zest and juice 1 lemon. Melt 150g unsalted butter and cool.
4. In stages, fold the flour into the egg mix until just incorporated, followed by the apple and the butter.
5. Pour evenly into a baking paper-lined 23cm ring tin, sprinkle the top with a little apple spice mixed with caster sugar and bake 35-40 minutes in a 180C oven until a skewer comes out clean.
6. Cool in the tin and serve with apple sauce (recipe above) and vanilla cream. Get the recipe

Apple fritters

1. Sift 1 large cup flour with ¼ cup caster sugar, 1 tsp baking powder and ¼ tsp each of apple spice mix (see recipe above) and salt. Whisk 3 eggs with 50ml cream. Add to a well in centre of flour and whisk to incorporate. Add approx ⅔ cup apple cider to whisk into a smooth batter. Chill 30 minutes.
2. Thinly slice 2-3 apples (use a mandolin if you have one) and mix into batter.
3. Shallow or deep-fry large spoonfuls of the apple batter mix into beignet-like fritters and dust them with apple spice sugar (a little apple spice mixed with sugar). Or fry the mix in butter to make apple pancakes, sprinkled with apple spice sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice to serve. Serves 8-10 or more. Get the recipe

Apple and kumara salad

1. Whisk ⅓ cup sour cream with 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard, a little pickle juice or vinegar, and the zest and juice of ½ lemon. Chill.
2. Roast (boil or steam) 2-3 kumara until tender. Cool, peel and cut into chunks. Cut 2 large apples into similar-sized pieces.
3. Slice 2 boiled eggs, slice 1 small red onion into thin strips, slice 10 baby gherkins and cut up a small bunch of chives.
4. Arrange all on a salad plate, add a grind of black pepper, drizzle with the sauce and garnish with fresh dill (and white anchovies if you have them). Serves 4-6. Get the recipe