Fiber Fool

Last weekend both Ashley and Amanda were on their own. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to have a lunch. I’ve fed them at teas, but I don’t often have the chance to cook a meal for them. I still didn’t really cook a meal as I had great help from Drew and Ashley brought some fantastic homemade bread. But it was a darn fine meal if I do say so myself and I’ll take some credit for organizing it :-)

We had some lovely mixed greens from Amanda with some of our tomatoes to make a nice simple salad, Drew made zucchini fritte and helped destem the basil as well as cooked the mini penne, I cut and chopped the basil and made the homemade pesto - chopped by hand of course! Oh, and I cannot forget the homemade butter Drew made that morning in the Kitchen Aid mixer.

It all went together so well and made a perfect autumn outdoor lunch. In fact, that was likely the last outdoor meal for the season. DH and I might sneak in another one or two ourselves, but I also need to get it sanded and oiled and ready to be in storage for the winter.

While the little man (wow, has his face started to thin out and look even more like his dad) napped we had some locally roasted coffee and an apple raspberry crisp that I kind of made up on the fly. The apples were from our tree. I have no idea of what variety they are since we did not plant the tree, but so far only a few have the slightest blush of red, they have a nice firm flesh, and they have become rather sweet in the last couple of weeks.

The crisp was a hit I think. We shared more of it with our friends Anne and Rod that evening and they really liked it as well. Ashley was asking me questions about how I made it so I told her I’d post the recipe. So, here it is…

Kristi’s Apple Raspberry Crisp*

For filling:

• 1 1/2 pounds apples, peeled and sliced thin
• 12 oz raspberries, fresh or frozen
• 1/4 C water + 1 packet of True Lime (you could use 1/4 C real lime juice, but our limes had turned)
• 3/4 C packed brown sugar
• 1/2 t ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t ground ginger
• 1/4 t fresh ground cardamom (contents of roughly 4-5 pods)
• 1/4 t fresh ground clove
• 1/3 C flour

For Crisp Topping:

• 3/4 C flour
• 1/3 C pecans, chopped
• 1/4 C sugar
• 6 T butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine all filling ingredients in a 3 quart glass baking dish and mix well. With a fork combine the topping ingredients until a crumble forms. Sprinkle evenly over the topping. Bake until the filling is bubbling on the edges, about 40 minutes. Let cool 30 - 60 minutes and serve slightly warm with ice cream.

Notes: As I mentioned, we used apples from our tree and I don’t know the variety. You want a nice crisp textured apple that will hold up to the baking and still retain it’s shape. Skip the Delicious varieties and try Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Braeburn, or Fuji. I haven’t gotten my hands on a Honeycrisp yet, but I suspect those would make a nice pairing with the tart raspberries as well.

The spices came more forward in the fully cooled version of the crisp, though we did eat it cool without ice cream. If you decide to forgo the ice cream in favor or au natural or just whipped cream you may wish to scale back the cardamom and clove just slightly, or to substitute pre-ground versions.

*Amber, this was loosely based on our “Fall Crack in a Bowl” that we ate last September. Remember that? I was hoping to recreate that, but no luck finding any rhubarb, fresh or frozen right now.