autumn sweets: salted honey caramel apples

This Halloween I wanted to make something special for our friends. We had a few scary movies planned but I wanted to make an autumn treat. When I saw 101 Cookbook's recipe for caramel apples, I was instantly won over. The ingredients were simple: honey, cream, salt, apples. The previous weekend, I picked up several kinds of apples at a local orchard and I had some local blueberry honey from a previous farm visit. Local heavy cream was easy to find and I figured adding in some imported french fleur de sel wouldn't ruin my almost all-local sweets. I also decided to toast and roughly chop some almonds which not only would provide a nice crunch and counter balance the sweetness, but would also provide some traction to prevent the caramel from sticking to my baking sheet. The resulting apples were beautiful and delicious. I should note, that if you don't like honey, don't make these as as the honey flavour is definitely there, even with a mild-tasting honey.

For the apples, I used Granny Smith's and Cox Orange Pippins which are both very crisp apples with a nice bit of tartness. I purchased the lollipop sticks at a local kitchen shop in Chinatown and got to work on the caramel. It was easy going and while I do have a candy thermometer, I really rely more on the old fashioned cold water test for figuring out which stage my caramel has reached. I can never get my candy thermometer to reach the "hard ball" stage but using my fingers to gauge a bit of caramel dropped in ice water never fails. For me it took about 30-35 minutes to reach caramel perfection. I was afraid that the caramel would slide off the apples, but luckily that didn't happen!

After dipping the apples in the caramel, I had extra caramel leftover, so I spread some out on my silpat mat, adding in some roasted almonds and some fleur de sel and let cool in the refrigerator. Once it was cool and ready to cut, I sliced the caramel into squares and wrapped the golden nuggets in waxed paper.

salted honey caramel apples
(adapted from 101 Cookbooks)
8 tart, crisp apples
8 lollipop or popsicle sticks
1 3/4 c heavy cream
1 3/4 c mild-flavoured honey
2-3 t fleur de sel
1/3 c chopped roasted almonds

Pierce apples with a stick and set aside.

In a large heavy-bottomed pot, heat the cream and salt until small bubbles appear. Whisk in the honey and bring to a boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. You want to bring the mixture to a constant steady boil, so turn down the heat to medium or medium-high. If you are using a candy thermometer, you should reach 250-290F or do the cold water test. It should take 20 - 35 minutes to reach this stage. Look for a rich, golden caramel colour and the mixture should look heavy. The caramel reached as high as 250F and I let it boil away at that temperature for 5 minutes or so, testing always in cold water to make sure I had the correct consistency. Take caramel off the stove and carefully dip each apple in the caramel mixture, setting the finished apples on lightly oiled waxed paper or a silpat mat covered in chopped almonds. Place in fridge to set and then wrap each apple in waxed paper.

If you have any leftover caramel, pour the remaining caramel onto a well oiled sheet or silpat mat and sprinkle with almonds and fleur de sel. Refrigerate until cool and cut into squares, wrapping each square in waxed paper.

eat fish and be merry

Last night I wasn't in the mood to cook. It's been a busy week catching up on all the work that had piled up since I went back to Ontario and I had inadvertently skipped lunch which left me at dinner time feeling all woozy and tired. Just thinking about dinner — let alone getting up the energy to make it happen seemed like too damn much. But being the frugal girl that I am, I didn't want to order in take-out since we're in "Get-Ready-Set-Europe!" savings mode. Instead, I did what most modern cooks do. I went online to epicurious and typed in a couple things I had in my fridge and out popped a couple super simple recipes.

The fish recipe seemed too simple to be good, but I read all the comments and decided to give it a go and I'm glad I did. How can you go wrong with crispy roasted rosemary scented potatoes and fish? I added parsley in addition to the rosemary since my balcony garden has been brimming with these 2 herbs and I just used cod since that's what I had on hand. The original recipe called for bread crumbs so I subbed in panko crumbs instead, but next time, I'll skip the breadcrumbs altogether (and I've omitted them from the recipe below). Trust me they added nothing. But what to do with the super fresh local wax beans I had just purchased? I could have just steamed them, but instead I decided to tamper with another epicurious recipe, using limes instead of lemons and adding the juice for extra zest. Yum!

This entire meal was so fresh tasting and simple to prepare. Add a pint or two of ice cold beers and it's pretty easy to forget that I was on the brink of calling for take-out. These recipes saved my day. Really.


baked fish with potatoes & rosemary
1 lb new baby potatoes, halved if needed
3 T olive oil
1 handful of fresh rosemary
1 handful of fresh parsley
4 whole garlic cloves, peeled
Fleur de sel
Black pepper
4 white fish fillets

1. Preheat to 400°F. Place the potatos in large baking dish, pour 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over them, add most of the rosemary & parsley (saving some for later), all the garlic cloves, and salt, and pepper. Toss thoroughly. Put the dish in the preheated oven. After 20 minutes, turn the potatoes over and put back in the oven. Cook until the potatoes feel tender when tested with a fork, another 15 minutes or so.

2. Remove the dish from the oven. Push the potatoes to the sides, making room in the center for the fish fillets to lie flat.

3. Rinse and pat dry the fish fillets, laying them flat in the dish. Scatter the remaining parlsey & rosemary over the fish, add salt and pepper, and the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the fillet. Return the dish to the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on how thick your fillets are. Plate and serve with Lime & Honey Wax Beans and a couple of cold ones.

lime & honey wax beans
1 lb wax (yellow) beans, trimmed
1 T honey
zest and juice from 1 lime
salt

Cook beans in a pot of boiling salted water until just tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water to prevent further cooking. Immediately toss with honey, zest and juice, and salt in a large bowl.

the common cold

It's been a week of extremes and craziness. We had a small electrical fire due to a hack wiring job from a previous tenant. We found a new place to live for April. I've been baking and cooking up a storm. And now I've got my once-a-year cold. My head has grown 3 sizes too big and Kleenex and honey and lemon tea have been close company. This afternoon I'll switch things up to include a fresh ginger and honey tea just cuz I'm crazy like that. Other home remedies are welcome. A real post when I'm feeling better.