New Cookbook

So, I got a new cookbook. I LOVE new cookbooks. I love reading them and pouring/drooling over the pictures. Reading about the author's techniques and seeing what I would do differently in any given recipe.

This particular cookbook makes me long for my own garden and Parisian markets [which I will soon find myself in!]. I found it in a used bookstore and it talks about cooking within the seasons and gardening - long before it's recent popularity. [It was published in 1992] The "tag line" [if you will] is, "Fresh Garden Cooking In the French Style" - this cookbook was made for me. The author certainly knows how to pull at my heart strings. I love this cookbook. I have yet to make a single recipe from it - and I LOVE it.

The photos are amazing - not only of the recipes, but of french gardens as well and it's incredibly beautiful. The title: "Potager" - which in french means a "kitchen garden." This kitchen garden can take many different forms in France. Though, I hope to research this a little, first hand, while I'm there this summer.

The first recipe I'm going to make is out of the "Spring" chapter: "Savory Bread Pudding Layered with Asparagus, Fontina, and Mixed Spring Herbs." I'm sure spring will never have tasted better.

Anyone care to join me?

Applesauce

I have never made applesauce before - EVER. I'm not entirely sure how I overlooked it; but it's true.

Last week during my spring break I was looking around my kitchen for something to create. [I had also promised myself at this point that I was not going to be purchasing groceries until I'd used up a lot of what I already have.] SO - there was a bag of apples [from lord knows when] in the bottom of the crisper drawer. No one had touched them in ages; and I knew no one would. So, I decided to cut one in half to see what it looked like on the inside - because, quite frankly, the outside wasn't entirely appetizing. The inside was beautiful so I ate a piece to make sure it was ok and decided the best thing to do with the wrinkly old apples was to make applesauce.

I wasn't entirely sure where to start. I'd watched my mom make it so many times and thought it was so hard! [By the way - she makes killer applesauce] I turned to the internet and did a little research; read a dozen or so recipes and then went back to my kitchen.

Here's what I ended up with:

Applesauce that tastes like the filling in a McDonald's apple "pie" - but good for you! It was a little thicker than most applesauces I've had and smooth like velvet. Almost like pudding. [Thanks Mary and Steve for being my taste testers!]

Here's what I did:

8-10 apples [about 3-4 pounds] peeled, cored and cut into eights
a cup or so of water - and a splash more, maybe even a touch more than that.
1 Meyer lemon - we're adding the peel as well as the juice here so peel the outside trying not to get too much of the white part, then juice it.
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar [or so - depending on how sweet you like it, this probably isn't even necessary]
4 cinnamon sticks
1/2 tsp salt
some cloves, nutmeg, I put in a pinch of black pepper and ground ginger as well.

Put all of this into a pot over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir while the sugar dissolves for a couple of minutes. Turn heat to low and cover. Simmer for about 45 minutes.

Remove the lemon peel and cinnamon sticks. With a potato masher - mash it up. If you like it smoother, use a hand blender to puree it in the pot. Let it simmer over low for another 10 minutes or so. Done.

This was particularly delightful over vanilla ice cream.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...