Apple dish ideas?

September 23, 2008 12:36 PM

Apple picking filter: What are some delicious and healthy recipes that use apples?

I'm going apple picking and I'd love some nutritious ideas of what to do with the many, many apples I'm going to have. I'm interested in it all: hot, cold, side dish, healthy dessert, salad, soup, snack, etc. If you know of anything good where apples are the star of the show, please pass it along! As an aside, I'm not vegan but really interested in trying a few vegan recipes, so don't be shy if you have some of those!

posted by Rudy Gerner to food & drink (18 answers total)

Applesauce. Wash 10-15 apples, slice them in half and put them in a pot with a cup of water and a bit of sugar (I like to use 1/4 cup brown). Turn the heat on low, let the apples simmer for 30min-1hour. Stirring every 10 minutes or so. Once they are all cooked down and mushy dump the whole thing into a food mill to get rid of the seeds and stems and skins. Then put the remains back in the pot and taste it. Add more sugar, a bit of lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg to taste.
posted by sulaine at 12:47 PM on September 23, 2008

"Healthy" is such a subjective term. You'll love Chicken in Apple and Whisky Sauce.
posted by rocket88 at 12:50 PM on September 23, 2008

One of my all-time favorites: German Apple Pancake. Breakfast, dessert, etc.
posted by jquinby at 1:15 PM on September 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

Stuffed apples
Wash and core four apples. Fill the cavity formed by coring with a mixture of raisins, brown sugar, and nuts. Add a few tablespoons of water, cover with plastic wrap and microwave until the apples start to collapse. Cool and enjoy.
posted by francesca too at 1:17 PM on September 23, 2008

Seconding applesauce. It really is ridiculously simple and amazingly tasty when homemade. You should make as big a pot as possible (I start out with my gigantic stock pot full of apples) because applesauce freezes very well. I stockpile quart size containers of applesauce in my freezer and eat delicious, delicious applesauce that tastes like autumn all through the winter.
posted by warble at 1:20 PM on September 23, 2008

I just found this recipe last wekend and am planning on using it next time I make soup:

Roasted Sweet Potato and Apple Soup

Also, if you are flexible on the "healthy" part of your requirements, I would enthusiastically recommend Minnesota Brie and Apple Soup, which is sublime.

Oh, and you should definitely make caramel apples and hand them out to friends.
posted by triggerfinger at 1:33 PM on September 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

Apple butter.
posted by thinman at 1:41 PM on September 23, 2008

If you don't have a food mill, applesauce is still really easy. Core and peel however many apples you want and splash a bit of water in a pot (so the bottom doesn't burn). I usually put in enough water to go half way up the apples. Sprinkle a bit of sugar in it and simmer, stirring occasionally until mushy (most of the water will evaporate, and the house will smell delicious). add a bit of cinnamon, nutmeg and more sugar (doesn't need much) to taste. Mashing with a potato masher will help as they start to get mushy. Applesauce is delicious hot or cold.

Apples and cheese are a healthy and yummy snack. Get small quantities of several cheeses and experiment with what cheese goes good with what apples (Personally I like Munster or sharp Cheddar with gala or fugis)

More ideas for apples
posted by silkygreenbelly at 2:07 PM on September 23, 2008

Oh yeah, for breakfast (or dessert) cut cored apples into rings and put a small dab of butter in a frying pan. Lightly toast with cinnamon.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 2:10 PM on September 23, 2008

Crock-Pot Apple Crisp


Mixture
Apples - 6 or more, sliced
Raisins or dried cranberries - as many as you want
100% apple juice - about 1/2 cup
Cinnamon - teaspoon
Non-stick spray

Spray crock-pot with spray, throw all mixture ingredients in and stir well. Pack it down.

Topping
Rolled Oats or combination rolled oats/ginger snaps
Vanilla extract - tiny little drizzle
Orange extract or Rind (if you want to be all fancy) - tiny teeny little bit
Cinnamon - just for extra measure
Butter spread - 2-3 tablespoons

In bowl melt the butter and then mix rest of ingredients in with butter spread. Put this on top of mixture already in crock-pot. Pack.

Cooking
Put lid on crock-pot and put temp on low. Walk away. Come back in 4 hours. Or if you want it quicker, put it on high and come back in 2 hours.

YUM
posted by Jenny is Crafty at 3:58 PM on September 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

it takes a bit of investment in terms of effort & equipment but, seriously, CIDER, baby!
posted by jammy at 5:28 PM on September 23, 2008

Quick sandwich from one of my favorite cookbooks, Cool Kitchen:

Two slices of hearty sandwich bread. Health-Nut is especially good for this.

Hot mustard.

Extra sharp cheddar cheese.

Apple slices. Preferably crisp, tart Haralsons in the fall, otherwise, Granny Smiths.

Alfalfa sprouts.

Assemble, enjoy.
posted by marsha56 at 5:41 PM on September 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

I was gonna suggest baked apples, which are similar to what francesca too suggested; only baked instead of microwaved.
posted by purpletangerine at 6:22 PM on September 23, 2008

Really all of these sound terrific, thanks everyone. I'm still checking the thread, so, keep 'em coming!
posted by Rudy Gerner at 6:35 AM on September 24, 2008

Tonight I made a red cabbage and apple braise; it was delicious and I highly recommended it, especially with some pork, but I imagine it would be nice generally.

I didn't follow a recipe, but it involved garlic, red cabbage, apple, apple cider, all spice, caraway seeds, lemon juice, vinegar and brown sugar. Google has a few million recipes.

Or, get some tart(-ish) apples and make a yummy apple salsa.
posted by oxford blue at 8:05 AM on September 24, 2008 [1 favorite]

Pork

Normandy

Not vegan ..or..healthy but so good and hard to cook "wrong." There are lots of variations depending if you want an herb-y or garlicy taste. I use more apples (like 4 small ones or 3 huge ones) and add a teaspoon of nutmeg and cinnamon to give it a sweeter edge.



If you want to complete the cozy Autumnal mood, serve it over buttery egg noddles coated in poppy seeds.
posted by The Whelk at 8:15 AM on September 24, 2008

Seconding german apple pancake. Or try it without the pan: German Apple Cake.

My all-time favourite salat is with arugula (rocket?), apple slices, rasped carrots and chopped walnuts or roasted sunflower seeds (even better: pine seeds). For the dressing take some apple juice, sallow-thorn-carrot juice and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Delicious.
posted by kolophon at 8:42 AM on September 24, 2008

Another variation on the applesauce theme:

We peel, core the apples.. then throw them in the crock pot with about a cup of those spicy Red Hot candies (can buy them in bulk at some stores like Henry's and Winco). Don't need to add water or anything, just stir and mash a couple of hours in (or when the apples are tender and puffy). The best apples for this are Golden Delicious, Granny Smith or Mutzu (sp?).

Yumm...
posted by brynna at 11:18 AM on September 25, 2008