A Trip to the Orchard and an Apple Recipe Round-Up

On the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah, my family and some friends drove out to the country to go apple-picking. Apples, of course, are a traditional Rosh Hashanah food and there was something that just seemed right about spending the holiday together as a family outside on a beautiful fall day.

My favorite spot to go apple-picking near Chicago is Garden Patch Farms in Homer Glen. Garden Patch Farms starts in June with strawberry-picking and goes right through to October with a pick-your-own pumpkin patch. Usually at this time of year, there are vegetables to pick as well as apples, but due to the rainy summer we have had, everything that grew on the ground washed away. Fortunately, apples, safe in the trees, were unharmed.

Kids and adults alike enjoyed comparing all the different varieties of apples and arguing about which were the tastiest. Some of our group agree with me that the best apples are firm and tart. Others argued that merits of sweeter varieties.

After an hour in the orchard, each family had close to thirty pounds of apples, so it was time to head back. Garden Patch Farms also has a small country store with lots of fresh vegetables, farm eggs, and apple cider doughnuts (on the weekends at least) to complete your outing.

What does one with 30 pounds of apples, you might ask. Every family that has ever gone apple-picking has had to reckon with this problem. Luckily, apples will keep for a long time in the refrigerator. Think of how early Americans stored apples in root cellars through long winters.

But you will have to eat or cook with all of those apples eventually! Never fear, I have you covered with a long list of apple recipes, from appetizers to main course and, yes, dessert!

My Butternut Squash and Apple Soup is a great way to start a fall dinner, or serve it with a green salad for a vegetarian lunch. If it is not quite soup weather where you are, might I suggest a salad featuring sweet, crunchy apples such as my Cortland Apple, Fennel and Bleu Cheese Salad or a Gala Apple Orchard Salad with Apple Cider Vinaigrette.

For an impressive main course that is easy enough for a weeknight, try Apple and Gorgonzola-Stuffed Chicken Breasts. (Wow, it seems I love the combination of apples and bleu cheese!)

When it comes to apple desserts, they do not get much better than the Caramel Apple Tart that I made for Thanksgiving last year. A Pear-Apple Crisp is almost as delicious but with a lot less work. Then again, there is nothing like an Old-Fashioned Apple Pie. Every apple-picking expedition should end with a pie, don’t you think?

Yum

Old-Fashioned Apple Pie

Ingredients

Crust

7 ounces cold, unsalted European-style butter
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
½ cup ice water
1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar

Filling:

7-8 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
Zest and juice of ½ lemon
1 TB cinnamon
¼ tsp. each ground cloves, allspice and nutmeg
Pinch salt
2 TB flour
¾ cup sugar
2 TB whole milk

Instructions

Cut the butter into small cubes and place half of the cubes in the freezer. Return the other half to the refrigerator until needed.
Combine the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to mix. Add the chilled butter from the refrigerator to the dry ingredients and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
Add the frozen butter to the food processor and pulse until the butter is in small but still visible pieces.
Combine the lemon juice and ice water and add six tablespoons of the mixture to the ingredients in the food processor. Pulse several times until combined. Pinch a bit of the dough and if it holds together, you do not need to add more liquid. If it is still dry, add more of the liquid, one-half tablespoon at a time. Remove the dough to a bowl or a well-floured board.
Knead the dough until it forms a ball. Divide the dough into two and wrap each half well in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator to relax for at least a half-hour but preferably overnight.
Begin by rolling out the bottom crust: remove one of the balls of dough from the refrigerator. If your dough was chilled for longer than thirty minutes, allow to soften for ten to fifteen minutes before rolling it out.
Prior to rolling out the dough, strike it with your rolling pin to flatten. This will soften it further.
Preheat the oven to 400 and grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate.
Liberally dust a pastry board or mat and your rolling pin with flour.
Roll the dough out, rotating it and turning it frequently and adding more flour as necessary to keep it from sticking, until it is the size of your pie plate and between ¼ and ⅛ of an inch thick.
Carefully center the pie dough in the plate and press it into the bottom and sides. Trim or fold over any excess dough around the edges.
Sprinkle the bottom of the plate with a teaspoon each of sugar and flour to prevent the filling from making the crust soggy
Chill the dough in the pie plate 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 425.
Prepare the filling by tossing apple slices with lemon juice, sugar, flour and spices. Taste and adjust sugar as needed.
Remove second disk of dough from refrigerator and roll it out according to above method.
Pour filling into pie pan making a mound in the center.
Carefully place top crust on top of filling and pinch edges of the top and bottom crusts together. Use your fingers to create a nice, fluted edge. Cut three or four tear-shaped holes in center of top crust to act as a vent.
Brush the top of the pie with the milk. Sprinkle the top with Turbinado sugar if desired.
Bake at 425 for 25 minutes.
After 25 minutes, reduce heat to 375. It is a good idea, at this point to cover the edges of the crust with tin foil or use a pie crust shield to prevent them from burning.
Bake pie at 375 for 30-35 minutes until crust is deep golden.
Cool on a rack before slicing.