Apple Pie Filling

It's good to cook your pie filling ahead of time. Many apples reduce in volume (and give off a lot of liquid) during cooking, leaving you with a cavernous pie that's full of water. These "pie guts" are versatile, in that they can go into conventional pies, "pocket pies" or even directly into your mouth.

N.B.: The volume of filling that the recipe produces is intended to make about four pocket pies (coming soon!). To make a conventional pie, you may like to triple the recipe.

TIME

About 30 minutes of cooking time with about 10 minutes of prep time beforehand to peel and dice apples.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup of apple juice. Use the good stuff that's only juice, not from concentrate, no additives, etc. A good apple cider could suffice too.
• 2 large apples, peeled and diced. I used Mutsus. Dice them coarsely for a conventional pie, more finely for a "pocket pie"
• 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp. light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 Tbsp. Grand Marnier
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• 2 Tbsp. corn starch

DIRECTIONS

1. Pour the apple juice into a heavy-bottomed pot. As you peel and dice the apples, throw them right into the juice and toss them to coat to prevent browning. Add the sugars, spices, etc. and stir.
   
2. Bring everything to a boil, stirring early on to make sure everything is dissolved. Once boiling, cover and simmer 10 minutes to soften the apples.
   
3. Uncover. Now's a good time to taste the mixture to make sure you're happy with the spices, sweetness, etc. Simmer uncovered 10 more minutes to reduce the liquid.
4. Make a slurry. Take 2 Tbsp. of liquid from the pot and put it in a small bowl. Add the corn starch and stir well to make the slurry. Stir the slurry into pot.
5. Cook on low until the sauce has thickened further, about 10 more minutes. Transfer to a bowl and let cool to room temperature.

Finished pie filling





Finished "pocket pies"

Scott's Vegan Chili

This chili is awesome. And it's vegan.

TIME

The main work takes me about two hours, not including soaking or simmering time, but I'm kind of slow.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb dried kidney beans, rehydrated
• 1.5 lb dried black beans, rehydrated
• olive oil
• 2 small white onions, diced
• 2 dried guajillo peppers, rehydrated, diced
• 4 small green peppers, diced
• 2 medium red peppers, diced
• two 14.5 oz. cans of diced roasted tomatoes, or about 30-35 medium tomatoes you roasted yourself (see recipe below).
• 1 quart of water or vegetable stock
• 2 cups of corn kernels (fresh or defrosted)
• salt
• chipotle powder
• ancho powder
• cinnamon
• sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Rehydrate the beans overnight. Put them in a very large bowl and fill it with cold water. Stir a bit. Let them sit out overnight. Next day, drain them well.

2. Rehydrate the dried guajillo peppers about 30 minutes before starting the main prep work. Put them in a small bowl and fill it with boiling water. Puncture the peppers and let the air out so they don't float. Once soaked, drain them, cut off the tops and bottoms, remove all seeds, and dice very finely, almost to a paste. You don't want to eat chunks of these.

3. Dice the onion and green and red peppers. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Sautee the onion in olive oil until soft, then add the green and red peppers. Add salt and continue sauteeing until all are soft. I like to sautee them longer so they melt a bit more.

4. Add the tomatoes (see below), guajillo peppers, powdered peppers, sugar, cinnamon. Stir. Bring to a boil. Add water or vegetable stock. Add beans and corn, stir well, and return to a boil.

5. Reduce heat and simmer on low for a long time (perhaps 10 hours), stirring occasionally. Lid on for the first several hours, then uncovered for some time if there's too much liquid remaining.

6. You now have a lot of chili. Have a party, or else freeze much of it. It freezes very well, for months.

To roast tomatoes:

1. Wash each tomato and cut it in half (top to bottom, not side to side). Remove the core and discard. Scoop all the tomato guts and liquid into a bowl. Toss the tomato halves in olive oil and salt lightly. Lay the tomatoes open-side up on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet and roast at 400F for about 20 minutes, or until slightly browning.

2. Dice the tomatoes and add to the chili pot. Use an immersion blender on the tomato guts and strain as much liquid as possible (fresh tomato juice) directly into chili pot.

(END)

On Greek yogurt

Now that I've started a healthy eating kick, I've noticed that some things taste even better to me.  Like Greek yogurt.  I'm eating Fage 2% with honey, and I swear it tastes like cheesecake!

Groundnut soup

Thanks to the Temple of Zeus for the starting point for this recipe.  As one of my favorite soups of all time, this was actually the first time I've attempted to make it.  Happily, the results were of high quality, and this was a relief given the fact that Zeus's proportions are for restaurant kitchens.  Hence, making soup for 2 meant scaling down the recipe, which is always a dangerous proposition.  Although, perhaps scaling down is easier than scaling up? 

At any rate, here is what went into our version of the soup, most of which was from our CSA:

2 T vegetable oil
1 chopped onions
1 clove garlic, minced
3 carrots, diced
1 celeriac, diced
1 sweet potato, diced (I used a Korean yam b/c that is what I had)
1 jalapeno, chopped
2 pinches of garam masala
1 pinch of chili powder
1 pinch cumin

1 cup cooked rice
salt 1 can of Glen Muir diced fire roasted tomatoes (can't remember the oz but it's sort of big, for Ithacans it's the one in the natural/organic aisle)
4 cups of chicken broth (can use veg broth to make this recipe vegan.  also I used less but I now recommend using 4)
4 T chunky peanut butter
pinch sugar
Juice from 1/2 a lime
Cilantro for garnish


Directions: saute onion for a couple of minutes.  Add garam masala, cumin and chili powder.  Add carrots, celeriac, garlic, jalapeno and sweet potato, saute for a few minutes more until slightly softened.  Add tomatoes and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil and then let simmer for ~20-30 minutes.  Add cooked rice, lime juice, peanut butter, sugar, salt to taste.  Stir to incorporate and then let simmer for ~5 minutes.  Garnish with cilantro and enjoy.


(Depending on how finely you diced the ingredients and your preferred texture, you'll have to let it simmer as needed.  Keep checking it for appropriate doneness.  I like mine soft but not overcooked, you might prefer more bite)