stacey ewing

Using the very last of the apples from Mercier Orchards, I made two casserole dishes of apple goodie yesterday. The second one, I altered the recipe a bit adding a couple dashes each of nutmeg, ginger, and cloves as well as drizzling approx. 2 TBSP of sourwood honey from Berry’s Honey Farm in Blairsville, GA. We both agreed that that one came out superior to the other.

APPLE GOODIE:
APPLES - peeled, cored, sliced into half-moons (and enough to fill a small casserole dish)

Apple Mixture:
SUGAR - 1/2 cup
FLOUR – 1 tablesppon
CINNAMON – to your taste

Topping:
BUTTER – 3/4 of stick at room temperature
BROWN SUGAR – 3/4 cup (packed)
BAKING POWDER – 1/4 teaspoon
BAKING SODA – 1/4 teaspoon
SALT – 1/2 teaspoon
FLOUR – 3/4 cup
OATMEAL – 3/4 cup

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Make Apple Mixture by mixing the flour, cinnamon, and sugar in a bowl. You’re basically making cinnamon sugar. I use a whisk to fully incorporate all the ingredients. (you can get a little crazy here and shake in some cloves, ginger, and/or nutmeg).
3. Pour mixture over the apples and gently toss to make sure all the apples are covered. (if you’re feelin’ saucy, drizzle about 2 tablespoons of honey over the apples.
3. In a separate bowl and using a wooden spoon, mix the brown sugar and butter until completely incorporated and crumbly.
4. Sift together the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour and then slowly add to brown sugar/butter mixture, working it in until crumbly. I sometimes use my fingers to knead/work it in a bit. When it’s mixed it should look like crumbly pebbles.
5. Add the oatmeal and mix again.
6. Gently pour topping on top of apples. Two schools of thought on this: packing down the mixture or leaving it light and crumbly. Personally, I leave mine light and crumbly and just keep an eye on it in the oven to make sure it doesn’t bubble over. Seriously, you can go either way without fear of reprisal from the Apple Goodie Cops (because they don’t exist).
7. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 25 minutes then uncover and finish it off for 10-15 more minutes until golden brown and bubbly.

Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream. You can also serve it instead with a little bit of half-n-half, milk, or soy milk OR if you’re feeling particularly boring, just eat it plain. :)

*click picture for a larger view:*

The Accidental Environmentalist (AE) invited me to join her this morning at the Alachua County Farmers’ Market off of 34th & 441. I somehow managed to drag myself out of bed to be down there by 8am. :D Very early for me on a Saturday but so worth it! I had a great time!

There was a really large crowd waiting for the gates to open and AE told me it was the biggest she’d seen yet. I wondered if it had to do with the Gainesville Sun running an article about all the local stores yanking tomatoes because of the salmonella outbreak. I could see from outside the fence that many of the tables were heaped with all sorts of ripened tomatoes- maybe that was part of the draw.

When AE got there, I helped her hang up a bunch of bags for the Need-A-Bag? Project. We finished right as the gates opened and the crowd rushed forward, politely pushing/shoving each other as they raced over to their favorite tables.

She and I strolled around the market, checking everything out and stopping to chat with people we knew. AE introduced me to Erica and we “ooohed and aaaahed” over all the different varieties of caladiums she was selling. AE picked up two gorgeous reddish/pink ones and a way-cool green one with pink spots. Erica told us what they were called but that important information just leaked right out of my ear as I squatted down to take a closer look. ;) They’re going to look so great in AE’s yard!

I ended up buying some really nice grape tomatoes, a rosemary baguette, an acorn squash, and some yellow, crook-neck squash. There seemed to be quite alot of Japanese eggplant around but I wanted to wait until I found a good recipe before buying some so they didn’t go to waste. I’ll probably pick some up next weekend and give it a whirl.

Tonight I made Baked Rigatoni with the yellow-crookneck squash. The following is my bastardization riff on this recipe.

BAKED RIGATONI, stacey-style ;)

SAUCE
1 jar of Newman’s Own Marinara
1 24oz can of Muir Glenn Fire Roasted tomatoes
3-4 cloves of garlic
2 cups of diced yellow squash
oregano to taste
kosher salt to taste
pepper to taste
3/4 cup of half & half cream (if you’re ready for the heart attack use 1/2 cup heavy cream instead)
[I've also done this recipe with chopped fresh basil and it's really good]

PASTA
1 lb of Rigatoni
4 quarts of water
2 tablespoons of kosher salt (after the water boils)

THE BEST PART
10oz of grated fontina cheese ( you can use mozzarella but it just won’t be the same)
1/2 – 3/4 cups of grated parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven 450 degrees.

Prepare 13 x 9 baking pan by greasing with olive oil.

Combine all the sauce ingredients (except for the cream) and simmer for about 15 minutes.

While sauce is cooking, bring 4 quarts of water to boil in a stock pot. When boiling, add 2 tablespoons of kosher salt, & stir before next adding rigatoni. Cook rigatoni until al dente (about 10 minutes).

As the rigatoni cooks, slowly stir in the cream to the sauce and lower the heat to low. You want it to warm up in the sauce but not simmer hard/bubble- too much heat will cause the cream to go yucky (nice scientific term, eh?) and kind of curdle.

Drain pasta, return it to the now empty stockpot, pour in sauce, stir to combine. Then toss pasta/sauce mixture with about 1.5 cups of the fontina cheese and all of the parmesan. Toss until well distributed and then pour mixture into prepared 13 x 9 pan. Sprinkle remaining cheese over the top and bake for about 15 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Let sit about 3-5 minutes before scooping so no one has to go to the hospital with cheese burns and plus, it’s easier to scoop out of the pan after it sets up a bit. ;)

We ate the rigatoni with the awesome rosemary baguette. YUM!