Food of the Month - September: An Apple A Day . . . . . . .

    . . . . . . . keeps the doctor away! Or, at least boosts our vitamin quotient. With autumn comes a new crop of crisp apples and I love incorporating apples into my meals, in salads, in soups, in desserts. Tart apples like Jonagolds lend themselves beautifully to salads like Mesclun Salad With Stilton, Grapes and Apples from the inspirational website www.epicurious.com. Make a vinaigrette by whisking together 2 tsp. Dijon mustard, 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar, 3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil and 1 tbsp. finely chopped fresh thyme or sage, plus salt and pepper to taste. Toast 1/4 cup of sliced almonds. In a salad bowl mix together enough mesclun (assorted baby greens) to serve 4 people and 20 seedless grapes, halved. Toss greens and grapes with the vinaigrette and top with the toasted almonds, 1 crisp apple, cored and cut into 16 wedges, and 1/4 cup of crumbled Stilton or blue cheese. Gently combine and serve.

How about a lucsious, old-fashioned Sticky Apple Pudding With Toffee Sauce from the lovely book Apples - Recipes from Canada's best Chefs ? This dessert won 1st place in the annual Annapolis Valley Apple Blossom Festival dessert competition in 2005, which is all the prodding I need to try it. I made it last night and it is a cross between good, tender gingerbread and sticky toffee pudding with dates, with unexpected bursts of little apple cubes. The dates are first cooked so that they melt into a moist, sweet base to which you add everything else. My family loved this simple yet elegant dessert which means it's a keeper:

2 cups apple cider or juice; 1/2 cup chopped dates; 4 tsp. baking soda; 1/3 cup butter, softened; 1+1/4 cups granulated sugar; 3 eggs; 2 cups all-purpose flour; 1 tbsp. baking powder; 1 tsp. ground cinnamon; 1/2 tsp. each ground nutmeg and cloves; 2 Cortland apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch dice; Toffee Sauce (recipe follows).

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9X13" cake pan. In a large saucepan, bring apple cider (or apple juice) and dates to a boil. Boil until soft, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda. Mixture will froth and increase in volume. Cool the mixture for at least 30 minutes. In a mixer cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a bowl combine flour, baking powder and spices. Stir flour alternately with date mixture into the egg mixture. Stir in diced apple. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in oven about 40 minutes, or until tester inserted in the centre comes out clean. Serve warm with Toffee Sauce:

3/4 cup butter; 1+1/4 cup brown sugar; 3/4 cup heavy cream; 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract. In a saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Add brown sugar and stir until dissolved. Stir in cream and simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes, or until mixture reaches 240 F on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Serve warm.

Plenty of pudding for 8 people. I made extra toffee sauce, multiplying the recipe by 1.5, making enough sauce so that unnamed people could dip their eager fingers into it.

I must include another seasonal favourite of mine, apple chutney. There is something about the sweet/sour tease to the senses, the chunky texture, the deep tones and aromatic spiciness of chutney that speaks to me in the fall. Try this flavourful condiment with meats, fish, and cheese and crackers. It is from an old, worn recipe card from my personal stash, taken from a Gourmet Magazine issue from 1982!

Apple Chutney         

3/4 cup dark brown sugar; 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar; 10 medium-sized apples, peeled and diced; 1/2 cup golden raisins; 1/2 cup minced onion; 1/2 cup minced red pepper; 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice; 2 tbsp. fresh ginger, grated; 2 tsp. curry powder; 1 tsp. yellow mustard seeds; 1 tsp. ground cinnamon; 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes; 1+1/2 tsp. salt; 1/4 tsp. pepper or more to taste.

Combine sugar, vinegar and 3/4 cup water and cook over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Add apples and simmer for 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and boil, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes or until apples are soft and the mixture is very thick. Store in the fridge. Can be frozen.

This recipe is also wonderful when made with fresh peaches, using about 12 large peaches. You can kick up the heat by including fresh, diced hot peppers in the mix. Try the variations and let me know how things turn out.