Cooking CHB: Abundant apples offer ample options

There are plenty of apples at good prices in the stores.

The apple harvest is finished and there are plenty of apples, at good prices, in the stores. As an older cook, I know the value of a good store cupboard, so I've been bottling and freezing apples with no sugar, ready to use later in the year. But I've also been eating them right now, in various ways.

If your apples are crunchy and full of flavour, the best way to enjoy them is raw. However, even mealy, tasteless apples can be improved with a little lemon and spices. I've given you a few ideas, but haven't got space for recipes for apple pie and turnovers, apple strudel, apple cake, chutney, apple sponge pudding, tarte tartin and all the rest. They're such a versatile fruit that I haven't even scratched the surface.

BREAKFAST APPLES set you up with a good dose of your daily vitamins and fibre

Per person :-

1 - 2 dessertspoons sultanas, currants or raisins, or a mix

1 apple

Pour boiling water over the dried fruit, then leave overnight in the fridge. In the morning grate the apple, with skin, and mix with the drained, plumped-up dried fruit. Enjoy as is, or eat with yoghurt and/or muesli.

BAKED APPLES

The French call this dish Pommes Bonne Femme.

1 large apple per person

Dates or dried fruit or both

Spices such as cloves, cinnamon or mixed spice, if liked

Butter

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Leave the apples whole but remove the core by cutting down around it from the top of the apple. An apple corer is the best tool for this, but it can be done with a small paring knife. Cut a light circular incision around the "equator" of the apple so it doesn't burst in the cooking.

Place the apples in a large greased baking dish. Loosely fill the hollow where the core used to be with dates, dried fruit, etc to your own taste. If the apples are sour, add a teaspoonful of sugar to each one. Top with a small knob of butter. Pour a few tablespoons water into the dish.

Bake until the apples are just tender. Serve warm with cream, custard, or yoghurt.

ROASTED APPLES (to eat with roast pork)

Quarter apples. Remove the core but leave the skin on. Roast them with the other vegetables for the last half hour of the cooking time. Delicious.

FRESH APPLE AND ONION SAUCE

This turns plain old sausages into a gourmet meal.

20ml oil

2 apples, unpeeled, but cored and sliced

2 onions, peeled and sliced

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 teaspoon sweet chilli sauce

Heat the oil in a saucepan. Brown the onions till they are pale gold, then add the apples. Turn down the heat and cook till they are soft and caramelised then mix in the salt, sweet chilli sauce and the cider vinegar. Cook for a few minutes more until the flavours blend.

Serve with sausages, roast pork or pork chops.

WALDORF SALAD (4 servings)

Made with crisp, crunchy celery and sweet, but tart apples, this is good enough to serve on its own as a first course. Good with chicken, and a useful winter salad.

200gm fresh young celery

200gm granny smith or other sweet, tart apples

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons walnut halves

mayonnaise

Lettuce leaves, to serve

If the celery is at all stringy, remove the strings. then dice it. Peel, core and dice the apples. Mix them both in a bowl with the lemon juice.Add enough mayonnaise to bind and flavour. Serve on lettuce leaves, sprinkled with walnut halves.

APPLE CRUMBLE

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup brown or white sugar

60gm butter

4 cups peeled, cored and sliced tart apples

Lemon juice, if the apples are a bit mealy.

Preheat the oven to 180C

Put the apples in a deep 23cm oven dish.

Rub the flour, butter and sugar together with your fingertips until it looks like breadcrumbs. Spread evenly over the apples. Bake about 30 minutes. Serve hot or cold with yoghurt, cream or icecream.

You can replace half the flour with rolled oats, or add a spoonful of coconut for a change. Experiment with a teaspoon of cinnamon or mixed spice or nutmeg, or half a teaspoon of cloves in the crumble. Apples are delicious cooked with feijoas or rhubarb for a crumble.