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Category: Apples

  • Shaved Apple Kale Salad

    This seemingly simple kale salad has been on the menu at Oak at Fourteenth restaurant for over a decade. I think it is because it is a perfect balance of salty-tart-sweet-crunchy-and a little bit of spice.

    The chef-partner Steven Redzikowski has shared the recipe in local magazines and on social media several times. I have used his recipe and made it dozens of times and it is truly a restaurant quality salad if you don’t stray too far from the suggested portions and ingredients. I’ll copy the recipe below and put my comments in paratheses.

    • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
    • Zest and juice of 1 medium lemon
    • 2 cups thinly sliced kale (any kale works, just slice it thinly)
    • 1/4 cup finely shredded parmesan cheese
    • 1/4 cup roughly chopped candied almonds (you can use any candied nut (I use honey roasted peanuts sometimes) or even seeded granola if you can’t eat nuts. The sweetness from the candied nuts adds a much needed balance to the tartness in the salad. If you aren’t using candied nuts or granola add a little honey or agave or some other sweetener.)
    • 1 apple-sweet not tart apple (slice it very-very thinly-you want a thin slice of apple in every bite)
    • About 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
    • About 1/4 tsp. pepper
    • Ichimi togarashi* or red pepper flakes (*available the Asian area of the grocery store. You can use any red pepper flakes but the togarashi is really nice mild finely ground spice. The spice is a nice balance to the tartness of the apples.)

    • Whisk together oil, zest, cheese and lemon juice in a medium bowl.

    • Add kale, apple and almonds, then toss to coat.(Really-really-really toss this salad. I use my hands to tumble it in the bowl to make sure every single nook-and-cranny of the kale and apples are coated with the dressing and the candy coating from the nuts is ‘melting’ a bit to become one with the salad.)

    • Season with salt, pepper, and ichimi togarashi and pile it high on a serving dish.

    Like I said, don’t stray too far from the suggested amounts or ingredients. The beauty of this salad is the clean simplicity and balance; kale, apple, nut, salty and a hint of spice in every bite. Thanks for the recipe Steve, Chef’s kiss.

    Mo

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Apple Cake

    Fall is in the air and that means that apples are coming in from the Western Slope. We are super lucky to partner with  friends at First Fruits Organic Farm to bring our CSA an option to ‘add-on’ a fruit share. Now that the Farm store is open, anyone can stop by and get some of these delicious organic apples as well as some of our other vegetables if you need extra, or want to put up some food for winter. You could also check out our U-Pick event this weekend.

    One thing I know you should do,  you should make this apple cake.

    This cake is stuffed full of apples, nuts and raisins. It’s balanced with moist and chunky and chewy bites. It’s one of those cakes that that will travel well to work for snacking, or a potluck, or it will last a few days on the counter.

    I like to serve it for dessert with a soft cheese.

    Or, my favorite way to eat it is for breakfast with some yogurt.

    The recipe is from a tried and true high altitude cookbook. Follow the easy directions, I promise it will work.

    Apple Cake from Susan G. Purdy’s Pie in the Sky

    • 3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
    • 1/2 tsp baking powder
    • 1/2 tsp baking soda
    • 1/4 tsp salt
    • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
    • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
    • 3 cups apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
    • 1 cup (6 oz.) raisins
    • 1 cup (4 oz.) walnuts, chopped
    • 1 1/2 cups canola or light olive oil (I used 1 1/4 cups avocado oil)
    • 2 cups sugar (I reduced this to 1 3/4 cup sugar)
    • 3 large eggs
    • 2 tsps vanilla extract
    • 3 tbsps buttermilk
    • confectioners’ sugar for dusting the finished cake (optional)

    With the oven rack in the center of the oven, preheat to 375°F  Grease and
    flour a 12- to 16-cup capacity tube or Bundt pan.  In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the spices. In another bowl, mix together the apples, raisins, walnuts, and 2 tablespoons of the flour mixture. Toss together to coat. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk and beat everything together on the lowest speed. While the mixer is still running, slowly add the flour mixture, scraping down the sides until combined. Add the apple mixture until it is well blended into the batter. It should be pretty thick. Empty the batter into the pan and smooth over the surface. Bake 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes. Let cool completely and sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

  • Skillet Apple Crisp

    This tastes like a hug. I prefer apple crisp to apple pie. I love everything going on in a crisp: nuts, crunchy bits, chewy oats, tart apples and sweet syrupy juices. Pie always disappoints me, crisps never do.

    I think it’s been super fun to have apples in our winter CSA shares.

    There are literally millions of apple crisp recipes out there. I really like this one because you dump all the filling ingredients in the skillet and cook it until the apples are done.

    At our altitude, when making apple pie it is really hard to cook the apples until they are done. If you add flour or any thickener it often isn’t cooked all the way. This apple crisp solves those problems. Also, you can taste the filling and adjust it if you want  the filling sweeter or more lemon or spices. I was happy with my filling cooked down to this point.

    I topped it with the crumble and baked it until it was crisp. I don’t know why I always leave a hole in the middle of my crisps, but I do. Maybe my mom did it? You can cover the whole thing if you want.

    I also don’t know where I got this recipe but I’ve used it for decades. It’s got the perfect amount of apples to topping for me. If you make it I hope you like it as much as I do.

    My Apple Crisp Recipe

    Topping

     3/4 cup flour, any kind. I used whole wheat. Gluten free works fine.

     3/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

     3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled outs

     1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

     1/4 cup granulated sugar

     1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

     1/2 teaspoon table salt

     8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter melted

     

    Filling

     3 pounds apples, peeled, cored, cut into chunks

     1/4 cup granulated sugar

     1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

     1 cup apple cider or juice

     2 teaspoons juice from 1 lemon

     2 tablespoons unsalted butter

     

    Preparation

    Make the topping: Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Combine flour, nuts, oats, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in butter until mixture is thoroughly moistened and crumbly. Set aside while preparing the fruit filling.

    Make the filling: Put all the filling ingredients into a skillet (mine was an 8 inch skillet) and carefully mix everything over a medium heat on the stove. It will slowly collapse and cook down. When the apples are cooked to your liking sprinkle the topping evenly over fruit, breaking up any large chunks. Place skillet on baking sheet (incase it spills over) and bake topping is deep golden brown, 20 – 25 minutes. Cool at least 15 minutes before you eat.

    Happy thanksgiving. Stay warm and well.

    Mo