all about apples

To a pastry chef, apples fall into one of two categories-eating apples and baking apples. Eating apples are quite sweet and juicy, but unfortunately, are usually not able to maintain those qualities in a baked item, often collapsing into applesauce when fully cooked. Baking apples have a strong flavor and are generally a bit drier in texture, holding their shape beautifully even with prolonged cooking in a pie. The best baking apples in the supermarket are Granny Smith, Pippin, and Fuji, but every baker has a favorite, so feel free to experiment. Other good baking apples include Braeburn, Gala or Rome. Explore local possibilities at farmers’ markets, where you may find “antique” or heirloom varieties of apples that are grown in small quantities and do not ship well; sometimes they are less than beautiful. These apples are usually far superior to anything you can find in a supermarket. Apple season begins in late summer and continues until the last variety is picked, sometime in November.

Simple and lovely on their own, these individual pastries are even better with a scoop of vanilla ice cream alongside or a dollop of crème fraîche. They’re best when warm from the oven, so if it helps with timing, you can assemble them ahead and refrigerate for a couple of hours before baking (don’t brush with egg until the last minute, though). Slicing the apples is a breeze; try to aim for uniform thickness so they cook evenly.

Enjoy!
Shannon



Flaky Apple Pinwheels
Serves 4

2 medium apples (12 ounces), such as Braeburn, Gala, or Rome
¼ cup sugar
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
Scant 1/8 tsp. nutmeg, preferably fresh ground
Pinch of kosher salt
1 sheet frozen puff pastry (9 ounces), thawed at room temperature for 45 minutes (keep refrigerated until ready to use)
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg
Turbinado sugar, or another coarse sugar, for sprinkling (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Peel the apples and cut them into ¼ inch thick slices. Put the apples in a medium bowl. Sprinkle with the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, and toss until evenly coated.

2. On a lightly floured surface, gently unfold the puff pastry and roll it out to a 12-inch square (use a ruler; don’t guesstimate). Cut it into four 6-inch squares. Put the squares on the lined baking sheet. Drop the butter pieces evenly over the apples. Moisten the four corners of one of the pastry squares with the water. Lift up and join the corners together in the center, first squeezing them firmly and then giving a good hard twist (don’t be shy; firm pressure is essential or the pinwheels may open during baking). Repeat with the other three squares.

3. Lightly beat the egg in a small dish. Brush the pastries with the egg; be sure to coat all surfaces, including the sides and the center knob. Sprinkle each pastry with a little turbinado sugar. Bake until the pinwheels are deep golden on top and bottom (lift one up to check), about 25 minutes. Set the pan on a rack for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

with a passion

Passion fruit is a plant cultivated commercially in frost-free areas for its fruit. It is native to South America and widely grown in, New Zealand, the Caribbean, Indonesia, California, Florida, Hawaii, Australia, East Africa, Israel and South Africa.

And now is the time to enjoy them here in Southern California. They will be in season for about another 3 weeks, according to my farmers’ market vendor. Passion fruit is not widely available in stores, so most of the fruit comes from backyard gardens or wild groves. It can be found, however, in farmers' markets throughout my area.

The passion fruit is round to oval, yellow or dark purple at maturity, with a soft to firm, juicy interior filled with numerous seeds. The edible part of a passion fruit lies under a leathery, dark purple, bitter-tasting skin.

Within is a cavity more or less filled with an aromatic mass of double walled, membranous sacs containing orange-colored, pulpy juice and as many as 250 small, hard, dark brown or black, pitted seeds. The unique flavor is appealing, musky, guava-like and sweet/tart to tart.

The fruit can be grown to eat or for its juice, which is often added to other fruit juices to enhance aroma. Its intense, tropical-flavored orange pulp and seeds are excellent in fruit desserts, sorbets, beverages, jams and sauces.

Choose the largest passion fruit available. They're usually sold by the piece. Look for one that's partially deflated or creased to be sure it's ripe before eating. Cut the passion fruit in half with a sharp knife. Scrape out the pulp with a spoon. Press through a fine sieve to remove the tiny seeds if desired. You'll get about 1 tbsp. pulp from one of the egg-shaped, 2-inch-long passion fruit.

So yes, I bought a bag full and they are still on the kitchen counter waiting for inspiration to hit me. 

Until tomorrow.

Shannon

more than i can chew?

I seem to be just a little behind.  This is not an excuse mind you, just a fact.  Apparently November is the National Blog Writing Month (NaBloWriMo); who knew.  So although it is November 2nd, I am still going to give it a go.  The annual challenge is to post each and every day throughout the 30 days of November to your blog.  This is a challenge indeed, especially since it's all I can do to squeeze one post out each week. 

But the reality is I want to cook more, write more, and photograph more with the intent to improve in each of these areas.  This is going to take some serious organization, something that I am still in the process of conquering. 

  I know that one month won’t get me to that point, a lifetime is often not long enough, but to inch slightly toward that goal is more than enough for me.

My initial thoughts are to organize the month by breaking it down by weeks. One week might focus on seasonal ingredients that are available right now and using those ingredients in different applications.  Another week could be exclusively devoted to making fresh pasta, tips and techniques.  Maybe another on base notes and top notes of flavors.  The balance of sweet, sour and salty tastes.

I do however reserve the right to change my mind and post on whatever the heck I feel like. I’m not great with structure and I tend to change my mind frequently.

So with that said, I better start going through the piles on my desk.

Scary.

Shannon