Mum's Apple tree

My mum has 2 apple trees in her garden. One is an eating apple tree (who's small sweet apples are a hit with my 5 year old son) & the other is a cooking apple tree.

This year the cooking apple tree has yielded loads of lovely apples which I have been making the most of! 

I have made apple cakes before & often found them a bit stodgy and dense so I decided to seek out a new recipe. I came across a BBC Good Food recipe for Dorset Apple cake. 

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/dorset-apple-cake

This recipe was really tasty and light. Perfect warm with custard & also went down well with a cup of tea the following day when a friend popped over for a catch up. 

It was such a success I almost forgot to get a photo! 

Following on from the success of the Dorset apple cake, I decided to try something similar with cupcakes for a family Halloween party.

The recipe this time was for toffee apple cupcakes and was found at Red Online. 

http://www.redonline.co.uk/food/recipes/toffee-apple-cupcake

Now, the recipe here was not easy to follow & was riddled with typos. The writer had not taken the care to split up the ingredients into the different elements of the cupcakes which led to some confusion while I was baking. The quantity of frosting was also double what I used (& as a result I now have a large bowl of green icing in my fridge!). I had planned to pipe grass with the green cream cheese frosting but it was too soft & would not have held its shape. Instead I used a pallet knife to ice the cakes (rather rustically) & topped them with card gravestones and witches legs. Mum made the cake toppers for me & I think they looked good! 

The cakes were a hit & devoured quickly.

Having just a handful of apples left that needed eating up, tonight I decided to do some more baking. My barriers - I've run out of eggs and butter. 

I found a recipe for shortcrust pastry online (http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/shortcrustpastry_1278) and substituted the butter for margarine. Once I had lined the dish I filled it with peeled, slices apples coated with cinnamon and light brown sugar, and poured over the remaining caramel sauce (left over from the Halloween cupcakes) which I had added salt to.

It looks a bit messy but it tasted lovely with warm custard. 

The tinned caramel sauce is delish (despite it being Nestle!)

I should start researching more apple recipes now as I know mum still has a massive bag of apples sat waiting in her conservatory! 🍏

N 🍏

The Only Vegetarian at the Party

Close up of  my Red Pepper and Lentil Jalousie 

I was at a New Year's Eve party last night, at my brother's and, due to sickness and domestic crisis, found myself the only veggie. My brother had made two pots of chilli; one meat, one veggie , and so it fell to me to eat plenty of the veggie one! He'd asked me to make and bring a pie that he's had many times at my house. It's a real crowd- pleaser , even for quite hardened meat-eaters. I got it from the Christmas 2005 edition of BBC GF Vegetarian magazine, and the page is all torn and stained, as so many favourite recipes are. Here's the recipe:

Red pepper & lentil jalousie

Serves 6 – according to the recipe but if you are serving as part of a buffet, you can feed double that.

1  tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 sticks celery, finely chopped

140g/5ozred lentils

300ml/1/2pt vegetable stock

1 tbsp sundried tomato paste

1/2 tsp yeast extract

1 red pepper, deseeded and finely chopped

85g/3oz fresh breadcrumbs

15g pack coriander, chopped

5OOg pack puff pastry, thawed if frozen

1 medium egg, beaten

1 Heat the olive oil in a large pan and fry the onion

and celery for 3 – 4 mins until softened. Stir in the

lentils, vegetable stock, sundried tomato paste and

yeast extract, then bring to the boll. Cover and

simmer over a very low heat for 15-20 mins until

nearly all the liquid has been absorbed. Allow to

cool slightly. Stir in the red pepper, breadcrumbs,

coriander and seasoning.

2 Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Cut the

pastry in half and roll out one piece on a lightly

floured surface to an 18cm x 32cm/7in x12 1/2in

rectangle. Place it on a lightly oiled baking sheet

and spoon the red lentil mixture down the centre,

leaving a 2.5cm/1 in border-Brush the pastry edges

with beaten egg.

3 Roll out the remaining pastry to make a 20cm

x 34cm/8in x 13'/2in rectangle. Fold lightly in half

lengthways and cut slits through the folded edge,

2.5cm/1 in apart, but leaving a 2.5cm/1 In border.

Unfold the pastry and place over the red lentil

mixture to cover. Press together the edges of the

pastry to seal. Knock up the edges using a knife,

held horizontally, to mark flaky layers (this helps to

seal it and make it rise evenly). Flute the edges of

the pastry and brush with the beaten egg. Bake for30-35 mins until golden.