An Apple A Day...

When we lived in Wisconsin we had a beautiful old apple tree in our backyard that produced an insane amount of apples.  Like Strega Nona's pot, the supply of food from my tree was never ending.  For several weeks every Fall we would pick apples and make fantastic creations with our bounty.  My favorite by far though was always making apple sauce...

I am not a canner...I worry too much about food safety and was paranoid that I would not get it right and kill us all, so I almost always just made my applesauce for the refrigerator or freezer (except the one year when my expert canner friend offered to come over and help me...thank goodness for people who know things that I do not).

After trying a few different ways to make applesauce, I realized that my favorite is skin on, no sugar, touch of cinnamon, true perfection.

I love Texas, but I really miss my apples...

Elizabeth's Applesauce  

Ingredients:
However many apples you have (usually 3-5 pounds works best), cut from the core in a large dice
1-2 cups of water, you can always add more if needed
2 cinnamon sticks

Directions:
Place the apples into a large pot and pour in 1 cup of water.  The water should just cover the bottom of the pan around the apples.  If the water does not quite cover the bottom of the pan add an additional cup of water.  Bury the cinnamon sticks in the apples and place the pot over medium high heat.  When the mixture starts to bubble turn the heat down to medium low and simmer.

Cook the mixture until the apples are quite tender and then remove the pot from the heat and let it cool for 5-10 minutes.  When the mixture has cooled removed the cinnamon sticks and discard them.
Place an immersion blender into the applesauce and blend until you reach your desired consistency.  Spoon the applesauce in freezer safe jars and put them in the freezer until you are ready to use them.  (Make sure that you leave at least an inch of headspace for possible expansion during freezing.  They can also go straight into the refrigerator if you plan to eat it immediately...

But...

I feel that I would be remiss if I did not mention that the absolute best way to eat this applesauce is warm from the stovepot.  Try it, you won't regret it.

(NOTE: If you do not have an immersion blender you can use a potato masher, or you can put it into a regular blender.  If you put it into a regular blender you need to cool it for an additional 10-15 minutes and use caution as hot items in blenders can cause burns.)

Bored With Lobster...

This is a photo of me sometime in the 1980's at the ripe age of three or four looking thoroughly bored with lobster..

For those who grew up in any area of the country other than where I did (New England) this may be an unthinkable situation, but there were times where it was less expensive to buy lobster than steak...and I think that this must have been one of those times.

Additionally, I grew up spending many summers in Maine with my grandparents, and my grandmother felt it her duty to provide her guests with as much lobster as they wanted (which as you can imagine probably made her have a facial expression similar to mine at times).

So...let's get creative with the things that you can do with lobster...

Jamie Oliver has a recipe for lobster mac and cheese that will make your family and guests think that you got it from a fancy steak house.

You can make lobster pizza.  My grandmother did this once or twice and I have to admit that while interesting, it was not necessarily my favorite.  I do not remember my grandmother's having bacon on it, but this recipe from the New York Times includes that as a tasty additional treat.

This lobster risotto recipe from Williams-Sonoma will likely leave your mouth feeling like it has just experienced heaven.

...but I always fall back to the thing that has always left me with a smile...a simple, New England style Lobster Roll.  No extra filler.  A buttery bun.  Cains mayo.  Here is the recipe...


New England Lobster Roll

Ingredients:
1 lb. freshly picked lobster meat, chopped
Cains mayonnaise to taste
2 New England style hot dog rolls
2 Tbsp. Butter, softened

Directions:
Move your oven rack to the top position and turn the broiler on.

Place the picked lobster meat in a bowl and add a spoonful or two of Canes mayonnaise.  You want to lightly coat the meat, but you do not want the mayonnaise flavor to overpower the flavor of the lobster meat.

Butter both sides of two New England style hot dog rolls.  Place them under the broiler with one of the buttered sides up.  Watch the buns carefully and remove them when they start to brown.  Flip the buns and repeat the same thing with the other side of the bun.  Remove them from the oven when both sides have a nice buttery yellow center and crispy light-brown edge.

Place half of the meat in each of the two buns.

Stop here.  Do not do anything else to the food.  Except, of course, eat it.