Apple Crisp

'Tis the season... to pick your own apples! If you are lucky enough to live near a fruit orchard, you know that local fruit that is in season tastes ten-times better than anything you can buy in a grocery market. It's not had long storage times in containers and in temperatures that nature didn't intend... and it hasn't had to journey from far distances or even from another country. And if you're really lucky, you'll find an orchard that has earth-friendly or organic growing practices. Although our orchard is not organic, they do try to spray minimally - mostly when the trees and bushes are in flower and before the fruit appears.

When choosing an apple to make crisps, pies, crumbles, or sweet breads and muffins, try to find a firm fleshed variety that is not initially sweet. Granny Smiths, Empires, Golden Delicious, Jonagolds, Honeycrisps, Cortland, and Braeburns are just a few that hold up well to baking. Today I'm using a mix of Honeycrisp and a variety called Pinata.

Honestly, I've always felt that many of the crisp recipes I've been given and tried have fallen flat. Either the crisp topping never "crisps" or the dish is all-over laking flavor, spice, or is overly sweet. I don't want to feel like I have to put ice-cream on my fruit crisps to make them edible (not a bad addition, but I don't want it to be the highlight of the dish!) I've combined a recipe that my mother had given me a long time ago and also taking some tips that AllRecipes.com has written on apple crisps. I think this recipe is a wonderful combination of flavor, a good balance of fruit and crispy topping, and can stand alone... with or without ice cream!

Apple Crisp

This recipe makes enough for a 9X13" pan, but is easy to cut in half in you want to use an 8X8.

Ingredients:

• 10 Cups of baking apples. Peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/4" thin sections.
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 Cup white sugar
• 1 TBSP all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 3 TBSP apple cider (or water)

Topping:

• 2 Cups quick-cooking oatmeal
• 1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 Cups packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 Cup (2 sticks) salted butter, room temp

Directions:

1. Peel, core, slice and cut your apples and place in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle with lemon juice.
2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Mix the white sugar, 1 TBSP flour, cinnamon and nutmeg together well. Sprinkle the mixture over the apple slices and toss to coat.
4. Coat your baking dish with spray, pour and spread out the apples evenly. Sprinkle the 3 TBSP of apple cider over the top.
5. In a small bowl, mix the oats, 2 cups flour, chopped pecans (opt), brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk together to mix. Cut in the room temperature butter with a pastry cutter or two forks until the topping appearing crumbly. Sprinkle it evenly over the top of the apples.
6. Bake for 45-50 minutes.

This is best served warm. When serving, spoon the great juice in the bottom of the pan over the top of the crisp topping - it has great flavor you don't want to miss out on! Great with ice cream, whipped cream, a little milk, or... just by itself!

"Wings" with Orange Chipotle BBQ Sauce

Confession: this isn't the recipe that I really wanted to be making tonight. You see, ever since I sat down for dinner at a Stone Harbor, NJ seafood shack called Quahogs and took a bite of their Pacu fish ribs (Yes... FISH ribs), I've been thinking about the meal ever since. Let me repeat... FISH ribs. They looked just like pork ribs, but were cut from the belly of a Brazilian fish that grows to be 60 pounds. Smothered with a delicious BBQ sauce and grilled lightly... the meat just fell off the bone. But I digress. I have to "call by Tuesday" if I want my Pacu by the weekend from my seafood guy at the local market.

Even though I couldn't get ahold of the Pacu fish this weekend, I decided I can first start to work on the wonderful Orange Chipotle BBQ sauce that the chef at Quahog's makes to marinate them in. I decided to make some wings for "game night". And although Penn State is losing to the big Alabama Tide as I write this, I am at least glad that the sauce is a winner so far. I'm not a huge fan of bony wings with no meat, so I went straight for the meatier chicken drumstick. My favorite brand of packaged fresh chicken right now is Bell and Evans. They have five chunky drumsticks (raised without antibiotics or growth hormones) packaged for less than $4. I used two packs and the sauce I made was plenty to accommodate them. So although I wasn't able to make my ribs - I'll just have to let it go until next weekend - it was good practice for me and a wonderful sauce for "wings" if you plan on making them.

Orange Chipotle BBQ Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Orange Juice
• 1 cup Ketchup
• 2 TBSP brown sugar
• 1 1/2 TBSP chipotle Tabasco sauce
• 1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
• 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp onion flakes
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• ---------------------------
• 1/4 cup honey

Directions:

• In a saucepan, reduce orange juice by half, stirring often, until is starts to thicken.
• Add the rest of the ingredients, except honey, and stir until it just starts to "pop", or boil.

Place drumsticks, or wings, in a gallon sized baggie and pour sauce over top. Let marinate for 3 hours (minimum) to overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray or butter a 9X13 baking dish and arrange wings (and all the marinade you can squeeze out of the bag) so that they lay in a single layer. Bake for 50-60 minutes, turning once and basting with sauce and 1/4 cup of honey about half way through. Another confession: I took these out early around 40 minutes thinking they'd be done (when picture was taken). I decided to put them back in for the extra time - for me 60 minutes - and I was glad I did. The sauce thickened and the meat didn't lose any moisture! It may be less time for those of you using a smaller drumstick or frozen wings.

This sauce was sweet, smokey, and tangy. Perfect for wings, or when you can get it from your trusty fish monger... Pacu fish ribs. ;0)