A gorgeous autumn weekend! Apple Fest in Long Grove and my annual apple cider donut. Also a couple of bags of apples. Apple sauce and more!! The table this week is all about apples.
Apple Onion Soup in the slow cooker with Cinnamon Cheese toasts
Apple Potato Salad
Crab/apple Cakes
Apple Bread Pudding Cake
Some of this table was a bit of a disappointment and some a wonderful surprise!
French onion soup has been a restaurant favorite for years. This recipe adds diced apple and cinnamon. The onion, apple and garlic are simmered in a slow cooker with beef stock, white wine, apple cider, herbs and seasonings. The French bread toasts are dusted with cinnamon, covered with shredded Gruyere cheese and baked on the soup in the oven. A great change from the usually salty French variety.
The apple potato salad was a lot of chopping and preparing and a bit of a disappointment. Idaho potatoes are diced and sauteed with onion, garlic, diced fresh ginger and slivered almonds. Apples and butter are added and cooked until apples are softened. A dressing of mayo, sour cream, diced apple, onion. lemon juice, Parmesan cheese and capers is mixed and tossed with the warm potato mixture. Was nice but a bit flat considering the ingredients. It just needed something to perk it up. Will need to think about what that might be.
The crab cakes were a mixture of crab, lemon juice, herbs, diced granny Smith apples, Panko bread crumbs and salt and pepper. I think an egg would have been a good addition and helped to hold the cake together. They did fall apart when sauteing them. The flavors were great and at $15 for 12 ounces, I would have eaten them anyway.
The star of the table was Apple Bread Pudding Cake. Apple sauce (made on Saturday from the Apple Fest apples), lemon zest, cinnamon and dried cranberries (the recipe called for raisins, but I don't care for them so I substituted the cranberries) I also substituted the cinnamon raisin bread with Cinnabon Cinnamon bread slices and dipped the slices in milk, egg yolks and melted butter. The dipped bread slices are layered with the applesauce mixture and baked. When the egg mixture is set the top is spread with apricot preserves and the egg whites are whipped with a bit of sugar and spread over the top put back in the oven until the meringue is browned and lovely. I can see this as a brunch dish or a morning meal before preparing a big holiday menu.
All in all a pretty successful apple celebration. Have a great week and will think about what to do next weekend.
Sounds like the successes made up for the disappointments. How about adding bacon to the potato salad? Might give it a little something. Just a thought. My girls would have appreciated your substitution of dried cranberries for the raisins. They are not fans either.
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