apple notes (part two):
what flavors and foods pair well with apples

Apples are an extremely versatile fruit that can pair well with warm, seasonal flavors and well as foods with a fresh, tangy profile.   Warm tones of vanilla, tonka, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, bay, caramel, butter, brown sugar, molasses, and sage.  Apples, raw or cooked, are a good companion to a variety of nuts and dried fruits including hazelnuts, pine-nuts, walnuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, pecans, pumpkin seeds, chestnuts, raisins, currants, died berries and cranberries.  Apples go well with other fruits: pomegranates, pears, quinze, cranberries, figs, dates, oranges, and blackberries.

Foods with “fresh” flavors such as ginger, tarragon, chervil, Italian parsley, sorrel, fennel, leeks, celeriac, celery, and frisée taste wonderful with apples as do seasonal items such as parsnips, winter squash, carrots, potatoes, and wild mushrooms.

My favorite proteins to serve with apples include wild boar, duck, quail, poultry, goose, pork, veal, cured meats such as  pancetta, prosciutto, lomo, sausage (all types, especially blood sausage), and eggs.  Seafood and lean white fish also go well with apples.

Apples pair well with many types of cheese, including: (1) Swiss-style cheeses: Comté, Gruyère; (2) Goudas, in particular,  aged Gouda; (3) Cheese from the Normandy region of France (Camembert, Pont l’Évêque, Brillant Savarin, Neufchâtel); (4) aged Cheddars; (5) triple creams (Saint André, Brie);  (6) speciality cheese (i.e., cranberry-stilton); and  (7) some blues (i.e., Gorgonzola Picante, Cashel Blue or Saint Agur) are nice crumbled in an apple salad or tart.

menu ideas

There are hundreds of ways to prepare an apple ranging from starters to desserts and jams.  Here is a list of some of my favorites to give you ideas of what to do with this seasonal treat.

starters and sides

caramelized apple and fennel crepes
red apple soup
chilled green apple soup
apple and winter-squash soup
apple and fennel soup
curried apple soup

pork rillette with apple, fennel and celery salad
apple and celeriac salad
Waldorf salad
warm spinach and apple salad with bacon dressing
apple and escarole salad
shredded apple and carrot salad with currants
chopped apple and walnut salad with gorgonzola
apple and cabbage slaw

apple purée
apple pancakes
apple corn-cakes

apple wedges wrapped with prosciutto
radicchio braised in apple cider
potato and apple gratin
apple napolitain with cinnamon cream
apple and potato pavé
endive stuffed with apples
curry chicken (or turkey) salad with apples
baked apples stuffed with sausage and chestnuts
apple stuffing with fennel and sausage
apple soufflé with 4 year-aged Gouda

apple tartine with roasted nut butter
apple and quince butter
apple marmalade
apple chestnut jam
apple and date butter
apple nut butter

mains

marmite
potato gnocchi with sautéed apples
apple risotto
pork stew with apples, endives and plums
mushroom chicken with sautéed apples on biscuits with blood sausage
braised pork with apples and melted radicchio and endive
chicken and apple sausage
baked ham with apple-sage glaze
apple omelet (frittata or scramble) with chicken sausage and tarragon
crispy pork belly with apple purée and Beluga black lentils
pork tenderloin stuffed with apples, currant and sausage
crispy roast duck with apple chutney

desserts

apple turnovers (chaussons aux pommes)
apple flat cakes (fouaces)
baked apples wrapped in pastry (douillons aux pommes)
charlotte aux pommes
apple kabobs
poached apples
baked apples
apple sorbet
tarte tartin
apple bread pudding with brioche
apple galette
apple galette with brie
baked apple stuffed with camembert
apple and blackberry pie/tart
apple and cranberry pie/tart
bruléed apple and caramel tart
apple crumble
apple cobbler
apple and rhubarb cake
sautéed apple compote
apple cake (with raisins and/or carrots)
apple muffins
apple turnovers
apple and walnut tart with maple ice cream
apple bread
apple and almond tart
warmed apples with chestnut honey
caramelized apples in Calvados
caramel apples
melted camembert in its box with apple wedges and endive
apple and pear frill tart
apple fritters
apple beignets with apple Calvados confiture
apple clafoutis
apple flan

sources

In California, to pick your own apples:

Ridley’s Apple Farm
12201 South Oak Glen Road
Yucaipa, California 92399
866.585.6407
www.rileysapplefarm.com

If you cannot to pick your own apples, Windrose Farm comes to the Santa Monica market (Arizona and Third Street) on Wednesdays.  Windrose Farm has some terrific apples, including heirloom varieties, you rarely see.  This season they have had some of my favorites: White Pearmans (terrific all purpose apple); Smokehouse (green and tangy); Ashmead’s Kernal (gorgeous yellow and brown); Hudson’s Gold Gem (very crispy with pear tastes);  Sierra Beauty; and Pink Ladys.

Windrose Farm
5750 El Pharo Road
Paso Robles, CA 93446
805.239.3757
bandb@windrosefarm.org

food for thought . . .

When you tell someone that  you
“ love [them], a bushel and a peck”

that is the equivalent of 52 1/2 pounds
(or about 14 apple pies)