Happy Apple Day!

Last Monday it was Apple Day. Birthed by Common Ground in 1990 in response to the loss of varieties and orchards it's an opportunity to celebrate the rather wonderful English fruit (which is only like it is now thanks to Chinese cross-breeding centuries ago). I decided that though we didn't manage to enjoy the frivolities at Stoke Newington Farmers Market this year we could still try a few varieties and eat them in all sorts of ways.

My colleague at work brought bagfulls of apples from his tree at home (unidentified variety) and a combination of our wonderful local MFR greengrocer  and Waitrose supplied some other rather lovely types:

Sunrise - very white skin with a rosy side to them. Aromatic, crisp.
Royal Gala - red and small and crisp and juicy.
Russet - drier inside, with a slightly weird rough yellow/brown skn, but very sweet.
Pirourette - the largest eating apple I've ever seen. Skin is bright yellow and red and the flesh is almost peach like in it's aroma and sweetness.
Cox - green skin, tart, crispy, juicy.
Nik's (unknown variety) - a bit like Cox but even juicier.

L-R Sunrise, Cox, Russet, Royal Gala, Nik's, Pirourette

So, for a starter we just cut them all up in slices, and savoured them all in their glorious difference.

THE DISH
Thanks to Womans Day for 10 savoury apple suggestions including:

Apple Stuffed Chicken

• 1 Empire, Fuji or Braeburn apple,  cored and finely diced
• 120 mls shredded reduced-fat Cheddar
• 30 mls seasoned dried bread crumbs
• 7 mls chopped fresh thyme, plus 3 large sprigs
• 15 mls lemon juice
• salt and freshly ground pepper,  mixed
• 4 skinless boneless chicken-breast halves (6 oz each)
• all-purpose flour,  for dredging
• oil
• 180 mls apple cider
• 120 mls chicken broth
• 10 mls Dijon mustard

Directions

1. You'll need 12 wooden toothpicks. In a small bowl, mix apple, cheese, bread crumbs, chopped thyme, lemon juice and half the salt mixture. On a cutting board, lightly press each chicken breast flat with one hand; using a sharp knife, carefully cut into side of breast to form a deep, horizontal pocket (do not pierce top, bottom or far side of breast).
2. Divide the apple mixture into 4 portions and stuff into chicken pockets. With the toothpicks, pin closed. Sprinkle the remaining salt mixture over breasts. Dredge chicken in flour to lightly coat; tap off excess flour. (At this point, chicken can be refrigerated, covered, up to 6 hours.)
3. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and brown 3 minutes per side. Pour 1/2 cup of the apple cider and the broth into skillet; add thyme sprigs. Bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 5 to 7 minutes.
4. Remove chicken to a serving plate; cover with foil to keep warm. Whisk mustard and remaining 1/4 cup cider into juices in skillet; boil mixture 3 minutes on high until reduced and slightly thickened. Spoon sauce over chicken and serve.

Needless to say I did a quorn fillet too, stuffing in this way, for the Eldest. And you may well have noticed that my selection of apples didn't include any of these three, but I can't say that the dish was the poorer for it. Still yummy, I thought.

I cooked red cabbage (with apple) as a side...

THE REACTION
We did get a little of the 'Oh is it Travelling Tuesday? But it's Thursday!' response. Which surprised me due to the heavy chicken content. But they all really engaged with the taste testing of the apples to start with. 


THE VERDICT
N and I thought it was really tasty. Eldest ate it all, as did Mr Middle, but the Littlest MacInnes really complained for some reason. It was hard word getting him to even try it and after much bribing, cajoling and chivvying on our part, and generally grumpiness on his, he declared 'I only like chicken with bones in'. Well, at least he's purest about it.

DESSERT
Wonderful big Bramleys roasted with raisins in their middles and a honeyed liquor round the outside. Whoop de whoop! I realise I keep using a whole range of superlatives to describe the apples. Possibly not enough to gain me a level '6' at SATS but quite a lot nonetheless. I think it must be because my parents' garden had 12 apple trees. Enough to inspire them to call the place 'Orchard House'. My childhood was full to bursting with apples - apple charlotte, crumble, fritters, pie, baked, stewed, fooled. I loved it all. We could even earn pocket money picking up windfalls. So there's quite a lot of emotional baggage in the humble apple for me. Hopefully I passed some of that onto the kids on our Apple Day!

Lebanon

Ye hay. Another red and green flag in the series. I wonder if there's a beginning to be an obvious correlation between the ubiquitousness of the green and red flags on this blog and my predilection for Middle Eastern food? Today even Youngest got involved in creating the atmosphere with a hastily coloured flag to match the one Eldest printed from the Internet. There's something about that cedar on it... a little bit homemade somehow. In a good way. Sort of 'Welcome to our country. We like trees'.

My paternal grandparents were travellers. They had a bit of money and they had a bit of an adventurous spirit, so whilst my maternal grandparents were happy for a week in the deck chairs at Margate the Toynbees clocked up a variety of itineraries including Cyprus, Iran and Lebanon. In fact I'll never forget the genuine sadness in her eyes as Nana reflected that just when they thought they'd found the perfect holiday destination it descended into civil war. Maybe their love of the Arabic World was brought about by Grandpa's spell in North Africa in World War 2? I should probably investigate a bit further. Maybe my love of it began deep in my subconscious as I played with the wooden camel train that sat on their window sill and marvelled at the camel saddle which was a favourite place to sit.

THE DISH
So, I had falafel mixture in the cupboard. I admit it. And I have a vegetarian daughter who I am trying to school in the art of enjoying pulses. But I chickened out once more in deference to the boys in my life and also prepared, ahem, chicken.

Lebanese Grilled Chicken - Djej Mishwe - (thanks to Mama's Lebanese Kitchen)

• 6 pieces of chicken (breast or leg quarters with skin)
• 1/2 cup of lemon juice
• 1 cup of red vinegar (apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar)
• 1 garlic head
• 3/4 cup of olive oil
• 1.5 to 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1 teaspoon of Arabic 7-Spices (or black pepper) (I bought karasik baharat which is more a '5 spice really!)
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

In a bowl, sprinkle then rub ground cinnamon on raw chicken, rub with half a cup of vinegar for a couple of minutes and then rinse well with cold water. This will help rid the chicken of any smell. Make cuts in chicken pieces (for marinade to seep through).

 

In a blender or food processor, grind/crush for 3-4 minutes the garlic along with the lemon juice, 1/2 cup of red vinegar, salt, and 7-spices. Once done, add the olive oil then run the blender for 1 more minute. Your marinade is now ready. 

 

Place chicken in a bowl, add a few lemon slices (with peel), pour marinade on and let sit in the fridge overnight. (Needless to say I was not organised enough to do this. It had about one hour, maz. Still yummy though!). The longer you marinate the chicken the more flavor it will have. Once ready for cooking don’t throw away the leftover marinade, you’ll need it later.

 

Why is it that gherkins always look so unappealing?

Grill the marinated chicken on a BBQ as you would other chicken, on low to medium heat for about 20-25 minutes. In the first 10 minutes of grilling, brush the leftover marinade on the chicken occasionally so they stay moist and absorb more marinade flavor.

 

The falafel were the 'granose' variety and you just add water and roll 'em up. Easy peasy and I would say they were pretty OK as far as 'instant' falafel go.

Then we had the usual trimmings: hummus, tomatoes, green leaves (shredded spinach), yoghurt, gherkins (I wish I'd been able to get the crazy pink coloured ones that are so prevalent in the West Bank - and I presume in Lebanon too) if only to shock the kids! Oh, and I had some curried chick peas left over. It's my new favourite quick recipe for things like church bring and share lunches! Not that I've noticed any of the children eating it yet, but hey. It's a Hugh F-W one from his Veg Every Day book - which we're only just getting to grips with.

• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 2cm piece of ginger, finely grated
• A pinch of dried chilli flakes
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 2 teaspoons curry powder or paste
• 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 5 tablespoons tomato ketchup
• Juice of 1⁄2 lemon
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• A handful of coriander, to finish 

Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium-low heat. Add the onion and sweat for around 8 minutes, until soft and golden, then stir in the ginger, chilli flakes, garlic and curry powder or paste. Fry, stirring, for 1–2 minutes more.
Add the chickpeas, tomato ketchup and enough water to just loosen to a thick sauce consistency. Simmer gently for about 5 minutes, then stir in the lemon juice. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.
Serve in warmed bowls scattered with coriander leaves. Plain rice, quick-cook noodles, naan or flatbreads are all good accompaniments.

THE REACTION
All quite understated really. I think of it as a mark of success of this project. Though to be honest I have noticed a new phrase creeping into the lexicon of the family.. "is it Travelling today?" And I wouldn't say it is asked with excitement and anticipation. More dread and trepidation. But nothing that a little bit of Wadih al-Safi on You Tube couldn't smooth away! (Legendary Lebanese folk singer who died, aged 92, just three days before our Lebanese adventure).

THE VERDICT
I have to say that the empty plates said it all. The Youngest even declared he liked the falafel. Wonders will never cease.


DESSERT
The wonderful Petek Bakery, purveyors of all sweet things Turkish, supplied drippingly good baklava to finish off. Amazingly Mr Middle wouldn't even try it. Eldest is always game for that sort of taste sensation but none of them really loved it. I guess they were right to an extent... it was just a bit too soggy. Personally, I feel that when you've had them from the Palestinian sweet shop just inside Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem nothing else comes quite as close.  

The Land of Neil

Oh dear. Just when I thought I was on a new term 'roll' I have rather slid to a halt again. There seems too often to be a good reason not to do a Travelling Tuesday.  Tomorrow is a Tuesday but I am going to a funeral and I suspect that will be my excuse for this week. Mostly it's more mundane. Quite often it is because Neil is away, or back too late to partake and it always feels a little too much effort without him around. But last week I had a work away day, which meant he picked the kids up and made tea. And when I got home wonderful smells of nothing less than prawn curry were wafting through the air.

Prawn curry? Maybe he just has thicker skin than me, but I would never have made prawn curry for my kids for fear of the whiney backlash and the complaints about going to bed hungry. And yet, as I walked in, he had not only cooked, but served and seen it was eaten too! Granted I think the Eldest (who as our resident 'pescatarian' should jolly well know better) didn't eat any of her prawns, and the Middle one did eat his under sufferance with a mountain of rice to wash it down, but the Youngest actually declared 'I Love Prawns'. This of course only confirms my children's extremely annoying

habit of only one of them liking anything. Maybe two at a push. Never all 3. But nevertheless seems to me to be another Travelling Tuesday Triumph. Especially as this was no namby pamby creamy korma crap. This was hard core, homemade, quite spicey prawn and tomato curry, turned green with the amount of fresh corriander. (Which, in all honesty, I don't really like... good job I was eating a little later and the children didn't see me leaving a good bit of sauce on my plate!!).

So, I really felt he'd carried off as good a Travelling Tuesday as there ever needed to be. No pictures, alas, as it all took my a bit by surprise. But at least a record of a recipe... something that's been rather lacking these past weeks.

Thai prawn curry via Good Food

• 2 tbsp curry paste (they used Patak's Origional Balti curry paste N used Patak's Tikka)
• 1 onion, finely sliced
• 200g large raw or cooked prawns, defrosted if frozen
• 400g can chopped tomatoes with garlic
• large bunch coriander, leaves and stalks chopped
• I think N added garlic and grated ginger too.... 

Drizzle some oil from the curry paste jar into a wok or large frying pan, gently heat, then add the onion. Sizzle over a low heat for 4 mins until the onion softens, then stir in the paste and cook for a few mins longer. Stir in the prawns and tomatoes, then bring to a simmer. If using raw prawns, simmer until they have changed colour and are cooked through. Season, if you like, then add the coriander just before serving with boiled rice and naan bread.

Does this mean we've done Thailand too now??