When we lived down South we were surrounded by beautiful orchards, the bonus in the autumn being we got to forage from the drops and I had no end of lovely apples and pears to do things with. We knew we would miss that so our first year back up here in Chester we planted our own fruit trees at the back of the garden.  This year our Cox's Pippin tree gave us a bumper crop and I hear the gorgeous growing season we have just had has resulted in bumper apple crops all over the UK.

I just love cooking with and eating apples, and when you have grown them yourself it somehow makes it an even better experience!



When I was searching for a simple recipe to help to use up some of our lovely apples the other day I came across this fabulous recipe at the Jamie Oliver Magazine Recipe page.   I love Jamie's recipes.   Next to Nigel Slater, he is one of my cooking idols.  Seriously.   When he first came out with his magazine, I was one of the first to subscribe and I have been a loyal and faithful subscriber ever since.  In fact this year, I haven't been able to renew any of my magazine subscriptions because of the cost . . . except for his.  His is the only one I have kept on, which says a lot about how I feel about his ideology and his recipes.  I am saving up for his latest cookbook, fingers crossed.  Maybe Santa will be good to me this year.



Back to the recipe.  I don't think you would need to use the actual apple recipe specified.  Any good, firm eating apple would serve this purpose. A Granny Smith would probably work equally as well.



It uses simple ingredients . . . apples, butter, sugar, cinnamon . . . things most of us have in our kitchens at any given time.  And it's easy and quick to throw together, which makes it the perfect recipe for entertaining, especially at this time of year with Halloween and Bonfire night coming up over the next few weeks.  The beauty of this recipe is that it's seasonal, simple and can easily expand according to however many people you are feeding, which makes it the perfect dessert for sharing with your friends!

 

Speaking of which, have you checked out the Halloween/Bonfire night pages on Jamie Oliver   There are all sorts of ideas there and I have bookmarked more than a few.  Tasty offerings such as Toffee Apple Tart, Neeps & Tatties, frosted Butternut Squash Muffins. A lotta, lotta scrumminess there.



These tasty apples went down a real treat today . . . and I know this is a recipe I will make again and again.   I love the simplicity of it.  You get a lot of wonderful flavour for very little effort.  I do hope you will give it a go and that you'll check out some of the other recipes too.

 

Oh, I do so love autumn and the wonderful food and tastes that it brings to our table!  It's small wonder that it is my favourite time of year, taste wise . . . but then again . . . I say that about all the seasons!  I am just a glutton I guess!




Peel, core and slice each apple into eight wedges, tossing them with lemon juice to help prevent them from turning colour.  Heat some of your clarified butter in a heavy based skillet.  (The size will depend on how many you are doing.  Two apples fit just nicely into my 8 inch pan.)  Once the butter begins to foam lightly add the apple wedges in a single layer.  When the undersides of the apples just begin to turn golden, flip them over and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.  They will begin to caramlize quite quickly.   Lift them into a dish and then pour some of the liquid of your choice into the pan.  It will bubble up and deglaze the pan.  For two apples I used about 60ml or 1/4 cup.  Pour this over the apples and serve warm with some creme fraiche.  Delicious!

I picked up a cauliflower earlier this week with a particular recipe in mind, but ended up not making it, and so today I found myself with a cauliflower that I needed to use post haste.  I spent quite a while perusing Pinterest looking for something interesting to make with it to no avail.



I have made cauliflower cheese soup in the past and it was pretty tasty.   I wanted to make a soup, but I didn't want to make the same old same old.



And then I started to think about how people who are low carbing interchange potatoes and cauliflower a lot with each other, although . . . to be perfectly honest I don't see where the similarities are as both taste completely different from each other.  But to each their own . . .



And that's when I had the brilliant idea to make a cauliflower chowder!  Boy oh boy, talk about being inspired!  This ended up being the most delicious pot of soup I have ever made!  I kid you not!  Adding some Black Pepper Boursin Cheese was genius, pure genius.  It worked beautifully!



I wish that I had taste and smell options on this blog because you would be literally blown away by this soup.  It's rich, and so . . . SO . . . SOOOOO . . . delicious!!  I can't say that enough.  I think I have found a new favourite.  It's not that easy to make soup look interesting, but . . . meh, I tried.



Todd had his with bread, which is so British.  I had mine with crackers, which is so North American.  OF course I crumbled my crackers over top of my soup, which my ex boss would have said was "common."   But then again . . . I am a simple girl.  No pretence here.

Cabbage is a real favourite vegetable around here. Filled with vitamin C and loads of other vitamins and anti-oxidents, it's very, very good for you. It's also quite low in calories, so it's a great diet food as well. (I'm quite sure most of you will have heard of the cabbage soup diet!)

A lot of people don't like the smell of it cooking, but I am afraid I'm a wierdo. The smell of cooking cabbage sets my tastebuds to tingling in anticipation. It's one of my all time favourite smells!




My mother always made the most delicious cabbage rolls. She cooked them in her largest aluminum wearever cook pot. She'd layer them in the pot along with big chunks of carrot and potato, and huge wedges of cabbage. She had no secret sauce, simply a large tin of tomatoes . . . the flavours of all the vegetables made for a really rich broth and intense flavours. We all loved them! They were a real treat!

As many times as I have made them myself, mine never quite taste as good as the memory of hers. They are one of the things I always look forward to eating the most when we go home to visit . . . along with her homemade pea soup, her beef stew and a big pot of her homemade baked beans . . .



My mom also makes the world's absolute best coleslaw. She slices the cabbage very thinly by hand, and then chops it up really fine along with carrot, cucumber, celery and onion. Her dressing is a bit of this and a bit of that . . . I don't think she ever makes it the same way twice, but no matter . . . it's always really, really good.



My mother's father used to make his own sauerkraut.   He made it according to folklore and the moon, and it was always just wonderful. In fact, the juice from the raw kraut has been used in my family for many years to cure various ailments and sicknesses. It is a taste I love, both raw and cooked.

My mother always cooked it along with ham hocks and served it up with big piles of mashed potatoes. I always liked to slather my potatoes with lots of butter, and then stir the kraut into them. It was sooo very tasty to me . . .



I guess you could say that cabbage is like the ultimate comfort food for me, fresh or pickled. It evokes so many lovely childhood memories.

I discovered this particular recipe several years ago in a cookery book by Tamasin Day-Lewis, entitled, Tamasin's Weekend Food. It has since become a real favourite of ours.

The mixture of the cabbage and the sausage meat creates a magical taste combination that is unbeatable . . . the long slow cooking breaks the cabbage down until it is almost buttery . . . the juices of the cabbage and sausage melding together into a melting deliciousness that is just the best flavour in the world.



We like to serve this with mashed potatoes, but baked potatoes are equally as good.

This is just good cookin . . . plain and simple . . . extraordinary flavours . .. a wonderful taste treat for a cold and wet late autumn afternoon . . . 

This is one of those recipes which only serves to prove that delicious needn't be complicated!




*Stuffed Cabbage Trou Style*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

I got this tasty recipe a few years back via a cookery book by Tamasin Day-Lewis, who got hers from Jane Grigson. With so many great cooks involved, how could it fail to be delicious! Simple ingredients, but the flavour is spectacular.

3 to 41/2 pounds of cabbage, cut into thin strips
1 1/2 pounds of good quality, free range sausages
salt and pepper to taste
butter



Pre-heat the oven to 150*C/300*F. Generously butter a large casserole dish. Set aside. Cut a piece of greaseproof paper to fit the top and set this aside as well.

Place the sliced cabbage into a large pot of salted water and bring to the boil. Cook for five minutes, then drain well. Run cold water over it to stop it from cooking any further and drain well again.

Remove the skins from the sausages and discard.

Layer 1/3 of the cooked cabbage in the casserole dish. Season well with salt and pepper. Top with 1/2 of the sausage meat, pressing it out to fit over the cabbage. Top with another 1/3 of the cabbage. Season again and then top with the remaining sausage meat, pressing it out as before. Top with the last of the cabbage, season again and then dot with some butter. Cover tightly with a layer of greaseproof and the the lid of the casserole dish. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until the cabbage is meltingly tender. Serve, sliced into wedges with your choice of side dishes. We like buttery mashed potatoes and steamed beans with this. Delicious!

I hated squash when I was a child.  I am not sure what it was about it that I didn't like, perhaps the texture, or maybe the way my mother prepared it.  Twas always boiled to death and mashed . . . B-O-R-I-N-G  Sorry mum!  I have learned as an adult that if you roast it either in the oven, or in a pan  . . . you bring all the gorgeousness that this lovely vegetable has to offer you, to the surface!  It is Boring no more.  Just look at those beautifully caramelized edges . . . and that lovely colour against the spring onions!!!



Now I am venturing out into the unknown here by adding some tomatoes to the mix, but stay with me people . . . I know what I am doing!!

 

I've added a nice layer of greated strong cheddar cheese on top.  Everything tastes better with cheese, don't you think?  And bacon . . . but there's no bacon in this mix.  Just cheese gilding the top of that lovely caramlized squash, pan roasted tomatoes and spring onions .  . .



 About half an hour later and it's ready to come out of the oven . . . just look at that gloriously gorgeous  taste tempting cheese crust!  I can't wait to dig in!!



The cheese has melted down into all of those lovely crevices . . . oozing beneath and covering every lucious nugget of squash . . .



I'm a greedy gus and I love the crusty edges of anything baked with cheese . . . they are my favourite bits . . .

 Now we're talking!!   Just look at that moist bejeweled gloriousness . . . simply waiting for me to dig my fork into it . . . I can almost taste it now . . .

This went down a real treat as a simple supper on a cold and rainy autumn day, served up with a nice crusty loaf to soak up all those gorgeous juices.  Fabulous darling . . . just fabulous.

  

*Butternut Squash Baked with Tomatoes & Cheese*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

One of my favourite autumn bakes.  We love butternut squash.  It may sound an unusual combination, but trust me when I say it works.

2 pounds of butternut squash
2 TBS butter
2 TBS oil
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
a package of spring onions, sliced, including both the white and light green portions (8 to 10)
1 400g tin of chopped plum tomatoes, drained and rinsed (1 14-oz tin)
1/2 tsp dried thyme
4 ounces of strong cheddar cheese, grated ( 1 cup)

Preheat the oven to 160*C/325*F/ gas mark 3.  Butter a shallow 8 by 10 inch gratin dish.  Set aside.

Peel the squash and discard the skin and seeds.  Cut the flesh into bite sized pieces.  Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet until the butter begins to foam.  Add the squash.  Cook, stirring occasionally until golden brown in places.  Season with some salt and black pepper and then transfer this to the prepared gratin dish.

Add the onions to the same skillet and gently cook until softened.  Season as required and spoon these over top of the squash.

Dump your drained and rinsed tomatoes into the same skillet.  Add the thyme and season to taste.  Cook and stir until they are quite dry with no excess liquid.  Scatter these over top of the onions and squash.  Top all with the cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes, uncovered.  Turn the temperature up to 200*C/40)*F/ gas mark 6, and bake for a further 10 minutes, just until the cheese begins to brown.  Serve immediately.

 

This delicious pudding is proof that you can create something totally indulgent and irresistible with just a few simple ingredients.

 

All you need is fruit, day old bread, softened butter, and some sugar.
Simple ingredients that everyone has in their home.  Put together in a simple way.  Anyone can make it, no real skill is involved.

 

So simple and easy to do that even a child could do it with supervision.  If you can butter bread . . . you can make this.



Softened and sweetened fruit, layered between buttered slices of bread . . . dusted with demerara sugar for extra crunch and sweetness . . .

 

Then baked until the bread is golden brown and crisply moreish . . .

 

Serve warm with lashings of cream or custard.

 

This is not a keeper, unless you are a fan of soggy bread, but that is so not a problem as you will have no leftovers.  Trust me on this.



 *Blackberry & Apple Charlotte*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

The best blackberries for pudding and desserts are the ones you pick early in the season.  This is when they are the juiciest.  Older berries have a lot of seeds.  I always pick mine early and then freeze them so that I can make delicious pudding such as this simple one all the way through the winter!  Other berries such as black currants are nice done this way as well.

2 large cooking apples (Bramley)
caster sugar to taste
340g of blackberries (fresh or frozen, about 3/4 pound)
150g of softened butter (2/3 cup)
6 to 8 medium thick slices of day old bread, crusts removed
demerara sugar to sprinkle

 

Peel, core and roughly chop the apples.  Put them into a large saucepan along with 1 TBS of water.  Place over low heat.  Cook gently for about 10 minutes, until the apples are softened, but not collapsed into applesauce.   Add sugar to taste, then gently fold in the blackberries.  Remove from the heat and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. 

Butter the slices of bread well on one side.  Using 2/3 of the bread, line a 2 pint pie dish, placing them butter side down and cutting them to fit.  Spread the apple and blackberry mix over this.  Cut the remaining bread into rectangles and place on top of the fruit, buttered side up, covering it completely.  Sprinkle with demerara sugar.

Bake in the heated oven for 45 minutes, or until the bread topping is golden brown and crisp.  Serve immediately with "lashings" of cream or warm custard!

Simple desserts like this make the Toddster a very happy man.  That makes me a very happy woman.  Win/Win!

I just adore all the fresh local produce that we find in the shops at this time of year . . . lovely cabbages, red, white and savoy . . . beautiful carrots, and onions . . . potatoes, beetroot, parsnips, beans, cauliflower, leeks, etc.  There is no end to it all . . . that makes me a very happy camper.  I love to eat seasonally and everything tastes so very delicious when it's fresh and local.



I love to showcase these fabulous fresh ingredients in any way that I can and incorporate them into our meals on a regular basis.  I have to confess that you cannot get a much nicer bake . . . than a vegetable gratin . . .



This one that I am sharing with you today is especially nice . . . using  not only potatoes and onions . . . but cabbage and bacon as well . . .  and not one . . . but TWO lovely cheeses.

 

First a nice freshly  grated chunk of wonderful Parmesan cheese.  True Parmigiano-Reggiano has a beautiful complex flavor that goes very nicely in dishes like this.  It brings to the table a slightly nutty/fruity flavor along with a strong savory undertone . . . a wonderful addition.



Then there is an abundant amount of taleggio cheese, which is a washed rind and smear ripened Italian cheese with a strong aroma, but fruity mild taste.  It's beautiful melting qualities are perfectly showcased in this lovely dish.



Let's not forget the back bacon . . . which lends a light smokey flavor, which is quite delightful when enjoyed along side of the cheeses and those tender vegetables.

 

Mind you . . . there's not much that can't be beautifully enhanced with the addition of bacon and cheese don't you think???  Nom Nom!  A simple supper with complex and robust flavors.  I like that very much.



*Cheesy Bacon, Potato & Cabbage Gratin*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

Wholesome, hearty and delicious autumn fare.  A novel way of using autumn produce that will please the whole family.

4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
3 TBS extra virgin olive oil
185g back bacon, diced (6.5 ounces)
1 large onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1/4 tsp chili flakes (or to taste)
675g of savoy cabbage, trimmed, quartered and cut into a chunky dice (1 1/2 pounds)
55g freshly grated Parmesan cheese (2 ounces)
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
butter for buttering the  pan
225g of taleggio cheese, diced (8 ounces)

 

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to the boil.  Add the potato and bring back to the boil.  Cover and cook for exactly 5 minutes, or until just barely tender.  Drain well and then place in a large bowl.

Heat the oil in a large skillet.  Add the bacon and fry until the bacon begins to color.  Lower the heat and add the onions, garlic, thyme and chili flakes.  Cook gently, stirring occasionally, until the onion has softened.

Wash the cabbage pieces.  Tip a third of it into the pan while it is still wet.  Cook, stirring and adding more cabbage as it wilts in the pan, until you have added all of the cabbage and adding a bit of water as necessary to help keep the cabbage from sticking to the pan.  Once the cabbage is completely wilted, remove the pan from the heat and dump this mixture into the bowl with the potatoes.  Toss gently together.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Tip in half of the Parmesan cheese.

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6.  Butter a 9 inch square glass baking dish, at least 2 inches deep.

Layer half of the cabbage and potato mixture into the pan.  Dot with half of the taleggio cheese.  Cover with the remaining cabbage and potato mixture.  Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese and dot with the remaining taleggio.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the vegetables are piping hot and the cheese is bubbling and flecked golden brown.

A little pickle on the side and some buttered bread and we were in heaven . . .