Sweet
This year, I promised I would make apple picking time more exciting. Unfortunately, there were far fewer geocaches hidden in orchards than I had hoped.
So I had to be content to count the time spent turning those apples into fresh meals as part of the adventure. Eating locally and avoiding processed food certainly leaves everyone better.
For many people, cooking is exercise, craftwork and science mixed into one. There can be challenges and setbacks, but the act is Zen-like and the finished product a source of pride. That is certainly true for my girlfriend.
She began cooking as soon as we returned from Tougas Family Farm with our first half bushel. Even before she made my cake, she made Apple Toffee Blondies while I slept late.The blondies were amazing. She later reused the brown sugar frosting recipe when she made my birthday cake. They were rich, almost fudge like, but with chunks of apple on the bottom.
Unlike some chocolate lovers, I gladly take fruit in my dessert. In fact, when I wasn’t eating apple toffee blondies, I am proud to say my dessert was usually just an apple.
Savory
Our first savory dish was Apple and Sage Roasted Chicken with Pan Juices (originally from Country Living). This was a whole chicken and a recipe that required three apples. Most desserts take only one, which is not enough to make a dent in our stock.
For me, there is a lot of ambiguity in cooking. I wish I could laugh at people going to work, saying “ha! Have fun at the office, I’ll be home mixing up delicious items in the kitchen.” But I’d rather spend Tuesday afternoons with math and science homework than cooking.
Rebecca started the recipe the day before so I found the bird already stuffed and rubbed, but I still had to slather on the mustard butter. At least there was a lot of roasting time between steps so I could do homework while it cooked.
Just two days later, I cooked Rachel Ray’s Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Pork Chops with Cider Gravy, Sauteed Apples and Onions. This recipe was terrifying as there were at least three separate things to make.
I recently learned the ideal cooking approach called Mise en Place: measuring and preparing the ingredients before beginning any cooking. Recipes are written with the assumption that everyone follows this approach.
But where do I put all the ingredients, both the chunks of protein and countless ½ teaspoons of dry goods and spices? We don’t own that many tiny bowls.
I want to prepare a recipe like a computer program. For example, the pork chop recipes start with “In a medium pot, add sweet potatoes.” Here the recipe should stop while I jump up to the ingredients and chop four sweet potatoes. Once that is finished, I jump back to point I left off.
In reality, while I had the potatoes simmering in the pot, I also had the pork chops frying in the pan. And while both bubbled and sizzled, I measured cups of cider and chicken stock and marmalade. Plus, I had to chop 2 tablespoons thyme.
Thyme is already pretty freaking small. That is why those 30 minute recipes are a lie; few of us can chop like the pros.
I made the cooking process more engrossing by playing Zodiac in the background. There is a perfect fall movie, but it is hard to define exactly why. A fall movie has nostalgia, a lot of time outdoors preferably in the fall, and a story that takes place over a long period of time. (Last year, I made chewy apple cookies while watching The Time Traveler’s Wife.)
I was proud of the outcome. It is funny to think that barely 18 months ago I was still congratulating myself on baking chicken rather than ordering pizza or defrosting a Lean Cuisine. Then Rebecca introduced me to real cooking.
It wasn’t always a smooth ride. In a previous post I idolized family dinners as a prelude to a night of homework and television watching. Real cooking is a long affair, capable of filling a full weeknight.
That is why we need TV dinners. I want to believe Michael Pollan, but I also have to believe Betty Friedan. Sustainable agriculture is not worth the price of wasting someone’s talents by forcing them into the kitchen unless he or she really, really wants to be there.
Sweeter
But if Rebecca insists, I will be happy to eat more delicious apple desserts. In the middle of October, we reloaded with a visit to Brooksby Farm in Peabody.
On Halloween, Rebecca made Super Simple Roasted Apples (from JoytheBaker.com) which we served over Butterfinger ice cream for a spooky, scary treat. It made the Snickers I over-consumed taste even worse.
Also, much easier to spend a Saturday writing lab reports when the morning begins with Apple Pie Breakfast Cakes (from How Sweet It Is.) These are a crumbly sweet muffin overflowing a bowl with lots of chunks of fresh apple. We made one last batch with our very last apple the first week of November.
Later that day, Rebecca went to the supermarket to buy apples to make her grandmother’s apple loaf. They were out of locally grown apples. Long before I was ready, apple season ended.
