Improving my baked apple recipe

In the Stonebow Inn Cookbook there is recipe for baked apples stuffed with our own granola mix. It’s pretty good, but does suffer from one problem common to most baked apple dishes – occasional implosion! I warn against temperature variations in the recipe – the result may be apple sauce in the dish at unexpected moments. This is all too common apparently, but the good folks at Cook’s Illustrated have taken on the problem and solved it! So here is the definitive baked apple version- I have tried it several times in the past month (and tested its limits with regard to temperature and loose handling) and it has come out just fantastic every which way. This is the apotheosis of baked apples.
Serves 4
4 Granny Smith Apples
3 T. unsalted butter, softened
3 T. light brown sugar
½ cup granola (preferably Stonebow Inn Premium!)
Little less than ½ cup Maple Syrup
Equal volume of Apple Juice or Apple Cider
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cut ½ inch top stem end off apples and trim base to allow apple to stand flat in the baking dish. Core the apples and peel them (see notes).
Put the granola, brown sugar and 2 T. softened butter into a medium bowl and blend it with your fingers (as if making a streusel topping mix). Set aside.
Melt the remaining butter in a large skillet; add apples, cut side down and brown them, about 3 minutes.
Flip the apples into a baking dish and fill the cavities with the granola/sugar/butter mix.
Top the apples with the reserved apple caps; add the maple syrup and apple juice to the baking dish. Transfer to the preheated oven, and bake for 35 -45 minutes, basting the apples every 10 minutes. Discard the caps (optional).
Plate the apples and spoon some of the thickened sauce over the tops before serving.
Notes:
Cook’s Illustrated hollows out the apples but does not cut all the way through the bottom; I do and it doesn’t seem to make any difference, except that you can then eat the whole thing!
You can fill the apples with a bunch of different fillings – figs and nuts, dried cherries and hazelnuts, raisins and walnuts, whatever. Be creative!
The science: why doesn’t the apple explode in this recipe? Apparently the key is in removing the peel! When an apple bakes it creates steam; if the peel is left on it forms an outer seal which prevents the steam from escaping; the steam rebounds into the cells of the apple and – well, boom. Peeling the apple allows the steam to escape through the side membranes. I know, I didn’t believe it either until I tried it.

Heritage-apple Pie

Apple pie is a Thanksgiving staple and I suspect there are as many recipes as there are apples in the world; this version by Grace Parisi appeared in Food and Wine magazine in November 2008. It’s good, and it uses a mix of traditional American orchard grown apples, hence the name. The notes on pastry crust techniques are gleaned from Shirley O. Corriher’s Cookwise.

8 servings
2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour (see notes), plus more for dusting
½ tsp salt
2 sticks plus 1 T. unsalted butter, cube
½ cup ice-water
2 large Granny Smith apples
2 large Pink Lady apples
2 large Golden Delicious apples
2 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup sugar
¼ tsp cinnamon

In a food processor, pulse 2 ½ cups of the flour with the salt. Add 2 sticks of cubed butter and pulse until mix forms small pea-sized lumps. Drizzle on the ice-water and pulse until evenly moistened crumbs form; don’t over mix (see notes). Turn out onto a cold surface and gently form mix into a ball; divide the dough in half, flatten into disks, wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Set a baking sheet on the bottom rack (this will catch any juice that drips from the pie during cooking).

Peel, core and slice the apples (or cut them into 1-inch chunks if you prefer). In a bowl, toss the apples with the lemon juice, sugar, ¼ cup flour and the cinnamon.

On a floured surface, roll a disk of the pastry dough to a 13-inch round; fit it into a deep 10-inch glass pie plate (see notes) and brush the overhang with water. Spoon the apple mix into the crust and top with the remaining 1 tablespoon of cubed butter. Roll out the second disk of dough to a 12-inch round and center it over the filling. Press the edges of the dough together and trim the overhang to 1-inch all round, fold the overlay under itself and crimp. Cut a few slits in the top crust to let steam escape.

Bake the pie in the center of the oven for approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes, until the crust is golden. If the crust begins to brown too much cover it with a pie-crust protector or strips of aluminum foil. Let the pie cool for at least 4 hours before serving.

Notes:
If you can’t find Pink Lady apples, any locally-grown variety can be substituted.

I’ve never been a great fan of the food-processor method of making pie dough –it is quicker but it is also easy to over mix the dough, producing a tough crust. Blending the butter in to the flour with your fingertips is not only viscerally satisfying but the heat of your hands helps soften the fat (butter in this case) to better coat the gluten-forming proteins in the flour thus restricting the formation of gluten - a key to producing a tender crust. Using a pastry cutter or two knives (I was never any good at THAT) is also an option.

For a really tender crust look for a low-protein flour, or combine two parts bleached all-purpose flour with and one part cake flour. Try substituting sour cream for the water (gluten-forming proteins cannot join without water).

Cook’s Illustrated and America’s Test Kitchen found that glass pie plate produce more even baking and a browner crust than ceramic or metal. (They also recommend baking pies on the bottom rack of the oven for a better result; the baking time would be less of course as the bottom of an oven can be as much as 50 degrees hotter than the middle.)

“Green” Skillets- not so green.

I get through a lot of skillets, especially non-stick ones. Wear and tear and scrubbing and washing take their toll. The September/October issue of Cook’s Illustrated carried an interesting article by Meredith Butcher describing tests the magazine had conducted on so-called “green” skillets now on the market. Unfortunately the results were not very good as you will see below.

So what’s wrong with regular non-stick - aka Teflon-coated? These pans and skillets use two controversial chemicals: PFOA and PFTE. While some “green” skillets have eliminated both from their coatings, some still us PTFE. What are they? PFOA, or perfluorooctanoic acid, is a processing agent widely used in manufacturing. It has been detected in water, food, wildlife and human blood samples. The EPA cites it for causing birth defects in laboratory animals and has urged companies to stop using it altogether by 2015. PFTE is polytetrafluoroethylene, a moisture repellent. Although inert, if it reaches temperatures above 660 degrees (say if you left an empty pan on the heat for a while) PFTE breaks down and releases toxic fumes that can kill birds (!) and cause flu like symptoms in people.

Cookware makers have launched a variety of nonstick pans claiming to be “green” and promising better performance: two of the new coatings (ceramic and silicone) have none of the chemicals described earlier, but a third, such as the Scanpan Professional, eliminates only PFOA. Performance and durability tests conducted by both Cook’s Illustrated and the Cookware Manufacturers Association showed that the “new” coatings did not stand up as well as traditional nonstick. Back to the drawing board people. Of course the original “green” skillet is still a favorite: the good old cast-iron skillet- chemical-free, inexpensive and lasts a lifetime with some care. It does need seasoning and is heavy however. I guess being green requires some commitment even in the kitchen.

If you have tried any of these new skillets, why not share your experience and opinion on them here?

Black Forest Baked Eggs

By request from Alice W, who enjoyed these during a stay at the inn during the summer and cannot wiat for the cookbook reprint to arrive before trying them at home. Go Alice!

6 servings

¾ lb. mushrooms (see notes), chopped
¼ c. shallots or Vidalia onion, chopped (optional)
2 T. unsalted butter

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 T. sour cream

1 T. finely chopped fresh tarragon or 1 tsp. dried

12 slices Black Forest ham (see notes)
12 large eggs
Parmesan cheese, finely shredded

Parsley, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 400-425 degrees. Cook the chopped mushrooms (and shallots if using) in the butter, with salt and pepper, in a large skillet over moderately high heat. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking, but cook until the mixture is quite dry and the mushrooms have given up their liquid. In a medium bowl, mix the mushrooms with the tarragon and sour cream.

Spray regular size muffin cups with cooking oil and fit one slice of ham into each cup to form a “nest” for the filling (ends will stick up and hang over the edges of the cups). Spoon a little of the mushroom mix into each cup and then crack an egg into each cup on top of the filling. Bake in the middle of the oven until the whites are cooked but the yolks are still soft, about 15 minutes (see notes). Carefully transfer two cooked ham and egg “cups” onto each serving plate (they will be very hot!). Garnish with parmesan and chopped parsley. Accompany with toast points o r toast “fingers” for dipping.

Notes: You can use any single variety of mushrooms, but I like to use a medley of shiitakes, baby Portobello’s and white button mushrooms. I like Boar’s Head Black Forest ham for this recipe. The difficult part is training the deli counter staff to cut the ham to the right thickness; you want it thin enough to be flexible, but with no holes or tears (or the egg white runs through and cooks under the ham instead of in it). Don’t be shy about asking to inspect a sample slice and memorize the setting on the slicer for next time. Also ask to see the ham before it is cut - the cooked ham is round or oval in shape and you don’t want pieces from the ends, they will be too small to fit in the muffin cups.

The tricky part of this recipe is in baking th eggs until the are set without burning the edges of the ham slices; it helps to cover the pan with a loose tent of foil, which reflects heat onto the top surface of the eggs and protects the ham at the same time. Finally, keep checking the eggs near the end of the cooking time; shake the muffin tray gently to see if the whites are set but the yolk is not hard- that’s the perfect time to plate the dish.

Stonebow Inn recipes published

Two events of note for the inn recently (well at least as far as food is concerned): the initial entry here in August about omelet technique was spotted by a staffer at BnBFinder.com and submitted (with photos we took of the step-by-step process) to RecipeLion.com, a large compilation food blog and recipe database. And we had our recipe for a frittata included in a new cookbook compilation by Pamela Lanier that is now available (through us if you like). It’s called Cinnamon Mornings & Savory Nights and we are featured on page 100 with a recipe for goat cheese, spinach and pancetta frittata using goat cheese from our near-neighbor Firefly Farms.

Cocoa Anyone?

Does anyone have a favorite cocoa or hot chocolate brand? I am looking for a new individual-portion cocoa or hot chocolate to put out for our guests to use. We used Cocoa Amore’s double-chocolate sachets for a couple of years and it is very good, but very thick and difficult to mix completely in a cup – it tends to leave sludge in the bottom. I’ve been trying Swiss Miss now that they offer milk chocolate and dark and mocha-cappuccino (didn’t like that one much) and also Nestle, but the packets are a bit utilitarian and not attractive in the baskets in the guest rooms. Anyone sampled Ghirardelli?

Stonebow Inn Cookbook, 2nd Edition

We are eagerly awaiting delivery of the second edition of the Stonebow Inn Cookbook, 150 of my favorite recipes (not just breakfast by the way). We will have them in good time to ship for Christmas, so if you don’t yet have a copy or would like to give one as a gift to a friend or loved one, just drop us an email and we will take care of it for you. Cathy is taking advance orders now, $20 a copy, free shipping for Christmas included. All copies are signed by yours truly (now I don’t want to see these on EBay in the New Year folks).

While I am blatantly advertising Stonebow Inn memorabilia I should mention that we have several goodies on offer that make great stocking-stuffers for the holidays- or how about bundling them together in a gift box for the cook in your life?

Stonebow Inn Granola: 1 lb bags are $6.00 each.
Stonebow Inn hand-made coffee mugs by Spruce Forest Artisan Village potter Lynn Lais are $20.00 each.
NEW: Stonebow Inn cook’s aprons are $20.00; sturdy white cotton full-length aprons with extra-long ties and our name embroidered tastefully on the bib.
We’ll even throw in a cute little teddy bear wearing his Stonebow Inn T-shirt - Awww.
As always email us at info@stonebowinn.com – but don’t put your credit card info in the email, we will call you for that.

By request: Hash Brown Egg Bake

Here’s a recent breakfast favorite that is not in the cookbook (although similar egg bakes are).

Hash Brown Egg Bake
1 28oz bag frozen shredded hash browns
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms
3-4 drained artichoke hearts
1/3 cup julienned sun-dried tomatoes
1 ½ cups shredded Gruyere cheese
1 ¼ cups of milk (whole or 2%)
½ cup half-and-half
9 large eggs
½ cup ricotta cheese
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
½ large yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced into rings (no seeds)

Stage one: preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Spray a 9” x 13” baking dish with cooking spray. Press the hash browns onto the bottom and sides of the dish to form a crust; drizzle with the melted butter. Bake for 20 minutes to dry out the hash brown crust. Let it cool (you can do this the night before and store the dish, covered with plastic wrap, in the fridge).

Stage two: preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cover the hash browns in the dish with a layer of grated cheese. Top with the sliced mushrooms, artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with the milk, half-and-half, mustard and ricotta cheese until combined. Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables in the baking dish. Top with the yellow bell pepper rings.

Cover the dish with foil and bake in the oven for 50 minutes; remove the foil and continue to bake until the center is set, about another 10-15 minutes. Let it cool for a few minutes before serving, sprinkled with chopped parsley. Good for brunch too.

Notes: The veggies in this baked dish can be varied to suit what you have or what you like; I sometimes leave out the mushrooms and substitute leeks and red bell pepper for instance. The foil helps reflect the heat and shortens the cooking time a little, but I find I need to remove it to finally “set” the top and center. Some people love the crust along the edges, if you don’t, slice it off before serving. As well as preparing the crust the night before, I do all my slicing and dicing then too and store the ingredients in the fridge; then it is just a case of assembling the dish and stirring the eggs and milk etc. next morning (when I am still brain-dead)!

I'm ba-aa-ack!

Well here we go again. Clearly my timing was poor in starting this blog as we were about to begin our busiest quarter of the year! I am always surprised by how long it takes to do everything (an inveterate list-maker, mine are always longer than the day in question).

A few weeks ago Cathy and I were able to sneak away from the inn to see a movie (rare event). Naturally we saw Julie & Julia and I was astonished and impressed, not so much that Julie completed the marathon cooking task as that she was then able to sit down every night and write about it in her blog! I am usually so beat by 9 PM that I can’t even read a chapter of a book before slipping into the arms of Morpheus.

Anyway, apologies to those who were hoping for a daily dose of Stonebow Inn recipes this past two months; I promise to do better through the winter months, cook’s honor.

Change to Comment Permissions

I have changed the settings today to allow all readers to post comments and feedback. You no longer need to register to do this. I had not realised that readers needed to have a Google or Facebook account (or one of several others that I have never heard of, being internet-challenged as I am) in order to post to the blog. Hopefully this will make it easier and more attractive for participation; however I will be monitoring the posts in case we get some spammers or pests.

Welcome to the Stonebow Inn cooking forum!

I thought it was high time I created a blog for the inn but I wanted it to have some usefulness and interactivity and not just be chit-chat (although I am sure there will be the occasional Elliott-the-cat update from time to time). In the end I decided to focus on all things food as that is such an emphasis of our activities here at the Stonebow Inn.

In addition we recently sold out of the first printing of The Stonebow Inn Cookbook and as there are no immediate plans for a reprint (at least not until the economy improves) this blog is an opportunity to post some of those recipes with my updates and corrections and comments. And of course I hope to receive feedback from you my readers as we try out recipes together. I will also be posting tips and techniques as I discover them and invite similar insights in return.

Each week we will feature a new recipe (or two) and dissect a recipe from my cookbook. Plus whatever else seems interesting. So, let's get cooking!

Omelet Technique

I once tried to calculate the number of eggs I have cracked since October 1, 2004 - the first day of our innkeeping odyssey here in the mountains of western Maryland - but I gave up at around 10,000. A good number of those have gone into the making of omelets, simple in conception and yet surprisingly tricky to pull off for a lot of people it seems.

Here is the method I learned (from Jacques Pepin no less), modified from my own experience. It will, with practice, give you a light tender omelet almost every time.

First though a word about organization. Your cooking experience will be a lot easier if you set up your mis-en-place (as the French say) before you start preparing ingredients. My typical work station for omelets for instance comprises two small stainless steel mixing bowls (as I usually make two omelets at once) a small cup measure containing water, a bottle of hot sauce, Canola Oil spray, a carton of eggs (naturally), a chopping board, whisk, medium spatula, small glass bowl, butter, grated cheese (either in a bowl or a plastic zip-top bag), salt and pepper and a plastic container with my chosen filling in it, in this case the mushroom-asparagus mix described below.

My microwave sits on the counter next to the stove and I have my non-stick 8" skillets ready to preheat on the gas burners (I have to use propane gas up here in the rural regions). If you have an omelet pan, well, good for you, I just use regular small skillets myself. Choose ones with a heavy base, the cheap thin ones heat too fast and burn the eggs too easily. NEVER put them in the dishwasher!

I always prepare my fillings the night before or well in advance of making the actual omelets; same for grating cheeses and finely chopping parsley (for garnish)

Mushroom-Asparagus Omelet

Filling: chopped mushrooms (I use a mix of thinly sliced Shiitakes, chopped baby Portobellos and chopped white mushrooms); fresh asparagus tips, washed well; grated Fontina or Fontinella cheese (not Cheddar, see notes below).

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet sprayed with canola oil and add the mushrooms; cook these well, until all the moisture has evaporated - this should be a fairly dry mix. Store or set aside.

TIP: I chop a large quantity of mushrooms and bag them in zip-top freezer bags and store them in the freezer compartment. Then they are available anytime. When you cook the frozen mushrooms (no need to defrost them first) they will render much more liquid. If there is a lot of liquid, drag the mushrooms to one side of the skillet, tip the skillet away from you so the liquid gathers in the far side, and using a pair of tongs to hold it, place a paper towel in the pan to soak up the liquid. Drop this carefully into the trash bin. Continue cooking until the remaining liquid evaporates.

Prepare the Asparagus tips by snapping off the base of each stalk; this will naturally remove the tougher base of each piece. Wash thoroughly (I chop the asparagus into half-inch pieces first and then rinse in a colander). bring water to a boil in a saucepan fitted with a steamer and cook the asparagus until crisp-tender (or however you like it). Drain, rinse with cold water and reserve

Making the omelets

I use 2 eggs per omelet. If you prefer a larger dish, use three. Crack the eggs into a small bowl, add a splash of water and a splash of hot sauce (not too much or your eggs will have a spongy texture- looks weird). Whisk lightly. You are not trying to beat air into the eggs here

Spray the skillet with oil, and add a piece of butter. The oil is to help release, the butter for mouth-feel. Preheat the skillet over a medium heat until the butter melts and the foam begins to die down. Put some of the mushrooms and asparagus in a small bowl and microwave for 15-20 seconds if they are cold - the idea is to have the filling at the same temperature as the eggs you are going to put them in. Pour the eggs into the skillet, there should be a very faint sizzle

Now for the important part: use your spatula to stir and lift the eggs as though you are making scrambled eggs. The omelet should be basically scrambled eggs enclosed in a thin envelope of cooked egg. When the eggs are almost set, tip the skillet to run the uncooked egg mixture around the edges of the pan, place your mushroom-asparagus filling on one side of the omelet - do not overfill it or it will be difficult to fold- and top with a little of the grated cheese. Use your spatula to carefully flip/fold the other half of the omelet over the top of the filling. Turn off the heat and let it sit for a few seconds while you get your plate. Slide the omelet onto a pre-warmed plate (if it is sticking use the spatula to ease it loose). Sprinkle with finely chopped parsley and serve with toast and bacon or whatever you like.

Troubleshooting:
My omelet has brown speckles on the outside and is tough, what happened?The pan was too hot.

The cheese filling is running out of the omelet, what happened?

Either too much cheese or the wrong kind of cheese. Cheddar for instance does not melt well, but separates - I only use it in baked egg dishes.

My omelet is kind of orangy and has a spongy texture, what happened?

Too much hot sauce in the eggs- if you like it spicy, add more hot sauce after serving the omelet.