Once upon a time, not so long ago, I was a girl who did not cook. Not unless it was a very special occasion. Why? I don't know ... I never saw any use for it. I didn't know it was fun. I have lived in a succession of quite small apartments that came with equally small kitchens. In two of the cases the kitchen was merely one side of the living room. In another the kitchen was the size and shape of a small hallway. Not the greatest setting for culinary wizardry.
So now that I have learned the calming effects of chopping, mincing, boiling and sauteing, the relaxation that comes from the mindless, repetitive tasks of prep work, I am like a cooking madwoman. But because I am also in learning mode, in addition to all of the fabulous molecularly gastronomic wonders that would blow your mind too much to put on this blog, I also have to take a certain amount of time to go back to my basic cooking textbook, "The American Woman Cookbook" and learn some basic dishes that most people don't make themselves anymore because we are so accustomed to buying them that we forget that they are things that can be homemade.
So, with the first Gala apples of the season on special at the farmer's market for $1/pound, I decided to make my own applesauce.
The method I used is as follows:
Wash, pare , quarter, and core sour, juicy apples. Place them in a large pot with just enough water to keep them from burning and boil until tender. Add sugar to taste and boil a few minutes longer. Serve hot or cold.
For my version, I used half white sugar and half brown. I also threw in a cinnamon stick, some cloves, and some lemon juice. Once the apples were done cooking, I took out the cinnamon stick and ran the whole shebang through a food mill to get the nice smooth consistency of fancy store bought applesauce. Then I stuck it in a jar and stuck it in the fridge because I like my applesauce cold.
And did it work? It totally worked! It tasted really good. It was like the fancy boughten kind, but even better because the spices really came through and made it better than I would have imagined applesauce to be. It really highlighted the difference between homemade and mass produced. It's a small difference, but when the homemade is homemade by YOU, for the first time, it turns into a huge difference. And yeah, maybe I am a little inordinately proud of my applesauce but. It's applesauce! That I made myself! I think it deserves a prize.
Which is why I had four scoops of Scoops gelato this weekend.
So now that I have learned the calming effects of chopping, mincing, boiling and sauteing, the relaxation that comes from the mindless, repetitive tasks of prep work, I am like a cooking madwoman. But because I am also in learning mode, in addition to all of the fabulous molecularly gastronomic wonders that would blow your mind too much to put on this blog, I also have to take a certain amount of time to go back to my basic cooking textbook, "The American Woman Cookbook" and learn some basic dishes that most people don't make themselves anymore because we are so accustomed to buying them that we forget that they are things that can be homemade.
So, with the first Gala apples of the season on special at the farmer's market for $1/pound, I decided to make my own applesauce.
The method I used is as follows:
Wash, pare , quarter, and core sour, juicy apples. Place them in a large pot with just enough water to keep them from burning and boil until tender. Add sugar to taste and boil a few minutes longer. Serve hot or cold.
For my version, I used half white sugar and half brown. I also threw in a cinnamon stick, some cloves, and some lemon juice. Once the apples were done cooking, I took out the cinnamon stick and ran the whole shebang through a food mill to get the nice smooth consistency of fancy store bought applesauce. Then I stuck it in a jar and stuck it in the fridge because I like my applesauce cold.
And did it work? It totally worked! It tasted really good. It was like the fancy boughten kind, but even better because the spices really came through and made it better than I would have imagined applesauce to be. It really highlighted the difference between homemade and mass produced. It's a small difference, but when the homemade is homemade by YOU, for the first time, it turns into a huge difference. And yeah, maybe I am a little inordinately proud of my applesauce but. It's applesauce! That I made myself! I think it deserves a prize.
Which is why I had four scoops of Scoops gelato this weekend.
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Comments
As penance, you must go eat eight scoops.
btw, KT, I updated my blog... and you're my new favorite person for posting on it the other day. i've got my page views up in the double digits now!
dhp:I believe I ate my applesauce with a sandwich, actually. Although what I really wanted to eat it with was potato pancakes, but I didn't have any. I'm not much of a pork chop girl.
I noticed that you have an avid fan on your blog. Lucky you!