Spice stewed apples

Our new roller blinds have finally arrived. The last time the engineer husband of mine took fours hours to mount a set of Roman blinds. I cannot, for the life of me, imagine how many hours it will take for him to put up three roller blinds this time. So, as Phil sets up to install those blinds, I sneakily retreat to the kitchen, leaving him with the Best of Bread blasting in the background. Well, at least it is not Neil Diamond.

It is a wet and cold day, a day most suited for a nice hot dessert of stewed apples. Apples go very well with spices like cinnamon and cloves. Plus, there are so many things you can do with stewed apples. On it's own with cold vanilla ice cream or creamy custard. With French toast, maple syrup and freshly whipped cream. Or one of my quick more refined dessert. Place some stewed apples into individual serving bowls. Crumble two ginger nut biscuits over it. Top it up with a dollop of whipped cream.

Ingredients:

600 grams apples

4 tbsp brown sugar

2 piece cinnamom quills

1 tbsp whole cloves

4 cups water

Steps:

1. Add cinnamon quills and cloves to the water in a pot over high heat.

2. Peel and core the apples. Cut each apple into wedges of eight.

3. Add apples and sugar to the boiling water.

4. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for about 20 minutes or until apples turn tender, stirring occasionally.
5. Drain apples and remove the cinnamon and cloves.

6. Leave to cook and serve as desire.

Serves 4

Tip: To stop cut apples from turning brown, place them in a bowl of water (enough to cover the apples) with 1 teaspoon of salt.

Comments

Mini Chicken Curry Pies

The thought of spices and buttery pastry simply makes my mouth water, or maybe it was that extra teaspoon of chili I added to the pie! Whatever it is, this recipe is always a hit with friends and family. Best of all, it is easy to make. Mini Chicken Curry Pies Ingredients: 1/2 Brown onion 1 Large potato 2 Chicken breast (or 500gm boneless chicken) 4 Sheets flaky puff pastry 3 tbsp Curry powder 1/2 tsp Chili powder (optional) 1/2 tsp Garam Masala (optional) 1 tsp Salt 1/2 tsp Sugar 1 Egg Cooking oil Steps: To make pie filling: 1. Boil water (enough to cover the large potato) in a sauce pan. 2. While waiting for water to boil, finely chop onion. 3. Dice potato into small cubes of about 1 cm in size. Add to boiling water. Boil potato cubes until almost soft, about 8-10 mins. You do not want to cook the potato completely. Drain and set aside. 4. Dice chicken into cubes of about 2 cm in size. Add 1/2 tbsp cooking oil to a frying pan. Fry chicken until 70% cooked. ...

Guinness Beef Stew

There is a really neat legend about the humble origins of the Guinness beer. The Guinness beer is the brain child of Arthur Guinness. Back in the 1700s when medical science was in still in its infancy, people were getting illnesses and diseases just with drinking water. Ironically, they started turning to alcohol, mainly Gin which proved to be safer than their drinking water. Disheartened by the destitute caused by Gin which had plagued the city of Dublin, Arthur Guinness decided to brew a drink that not only the Irish would enjoy but will be nutritional to them. The beverage is none other than what is known today as the Guinness beer. It is supposed to be so full of nutrition that it is more like a meal! I had my first Guinness stew in an Irish pub; where else? And I absolutely fell in love with the rich, creamy texture and flavours the stew had to offer. Many years later, an Irish friend handed me a recipe for the stew and as with any good cook, I made changes to suit my taste. H...

Coffee Spare Ribs

On our trip to Martinborough, I bought some spare ribs from Scotty. Like any good butcher, he asked what I was going to do with his produce. I think he was rather disappointed when I stared at him blankly and answered I had no idea. I think half of the world's population go grocery shopping with an idea in mind what they are going to cook. And the other half is probably like me, buy and decide what to do with the ingredients later. That is how I ended up with a freezer full of spare ribs until a bright idea came along. I recall savoring coffee spare ribs in a food court many years ago in Singapore. I thought it was the most intriguing idea; who would have imagine using coffee with meat. Perhaps it was one of those incidents where the cook mistakenly added coffee to the ribs thinking it was ground spice. Like the story of the Tatin sisters from France who "accidentally" invented the Tarte Tatin. The story goes that one of the sisters burnt an apple pie that she was makin...

Michelle's world of food

Search This Blog