Best apple recipes 🍎, a magical condiment, essential kitchen tool
Issue No. 5: My top sweet & savory apple recipes, a magical condiment, and an essential kitchen tool you never knew you needed
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Now on to this week’s dish…
Apple recipes you’ll want to make on repeat 🍎🍏
The New York Times recently published an article touting the many health benefits of apples. They’re great for your gut, containing a more beneficial bacteria than most fruits and vegetables. They’re heart healthy, proven in studies to reduce cholesterol levels with regular consumption over time. They even reduce chronic inflammation that’s associated with a greater risk of certain diseases. “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” indeed!
With an abundance of apples right now, along with the Times article and the recent Rosh Hashanah holiday (for which apples symbolize hope for a sweet new year ahead), it felt like an opportune moment to share some of my all-time favorite apple recipes. I hope you enjoy them and make them over and over again like I do.
Best breakfast: Bircher Muesli, Susan Spungen. Bircher Muesli is a morning dish made with oats soaked in liquid, usually milk, yogurt or fruit juice mixed with grated apples, and often served with fruit and nuts. I like that it’s homey, yet healthy and nutrient-rich. Susan Spungen’s recipe incorporates grated apples into a Greek yogurt, oat, and chia seed base, with the apples lending a subtle sweetness to the dish. Top the muesli with sliced fresh or dried fruits, chopped nuts or nut butters, or honey. The recipe isn’t available online, but here’s a similar version with flaxseed instead of chia seeds.
Best cake: Big Apple Crumb Cake, Smitten Kitchen. This classic crumb cake / coffee cake features cinnamon-y apple slices layered between cake and crumb. It accompanies me to many a pot luck meal, most recently a Rosh Hashanah dinner. I’ve made this cake with peaches too, and it’s equally excellent. Recipe here
Best pie: Apple Pie Bars, Ina Garten. My hot take: Don’t get me wrong, I like traditional apple pies just fine, but these apple pie bars are way more approachable. The flavors and textures are identical to pie (the “bar” is essentially a piecrust-like dough topped with spiced cooked apples and more crust pieces). They’re less fussy and more portable. For those who prefer pie a la mode, serving them with ice cream is perfectly acceptable. And of course, you already know that any Ina recipe will be great. Recipe here
Runner Up: Fried Apple Pie Pockets, Bravetart. (These nostalgically taste just like McDonald’s!)
Best savory dish: Roasted Sausages with Caramelized Shallots & Apples, Lidey Heuck, New York Times Cooking. This rustic sheet pan meal exemplifies everything that’s wonderful about fall. I’ve always been a fan of caramelized onions and shallots (all alliums really), but caramelizing apples are a sweet surprise that cut the richness of the sausage. I make this recipe as soon as the temperature starts to drop, often using sweet Italian turkey or chicken sausage. Recipe here
Best applesauce: Applesauce, Once Upon A Chef. This roasted applesauce is a mainstay in my house. I love its simplicity and that it’s made with only three ingredients (four, if you dust with cinnamon). The recipe recommends a mix of Macintosh and Golden Delicious Apples, but I’ve used Honey Crisp or Gala apples too. The applesauce is warm and comforting with well-balanced flavors- it doesn’t get much better than this. Recipe here
Best comfort food: Apple Fritters, The Pioneer Woman. I turn to these deep-fried doughnut balls filled with juicy chunks of apple when I’m feeling indulgent. The fritters are crispy on the outside, with a soft and cake-like interior, and bursting with apples in every bite. I skip the glaze, and, instead of dusting with powdered sugar, toss them in cinnamon sugar while still warm for an extra special fall treat. Recipe here
The magic of chili crisp
Chili crisp is a condiment like no other. After seeing how it can be used and why it’s so wonderful, you will probably ask yourself where it’s been all your life (and then go out and buy some). A staple in Chinese kitchens for centuries before finding its way to the U.S. and elsewhere, chili crisp is a crunchy, savory mix of dried chiles, aromatics like fried garlic or shallots, spices, other region-specific ingredients (like Sichuan peppercorns in the Sichuan province), and oil (often canola or sesame). It’s a super versatile condiment that can make almost any dish infinitely more interesting. While chili crisp packs a spicy, savory flavor punch, it’s the crispy texture that most people find so appealing. Just remember to use it sparingly—a little bit goes a long way!
Today, there are over one hundred chili crisp brands to choose from. My two favorites are Momofuku Chili Crisp and Fly By Jing Sichuan Chili Crisp. Trader Joe’s Crispy Chili Onion also has a strong following. If you’re feeling DIY, make your own at home with one of these great linked recipes from Bon Appétit or Kale Junkie.
Some of the most fun ways I’ve used chili crisp:
With eggs. Anyone remember the chili crisp feta eggs all over TikTok last year? Feta and chili crisp are melted in a skillet, topped with fried eggs, and then gloriously wrapped in an avocado-laden charred tortilla. At one point, I made this almost every day for a month. Here’s some recipe inspiration. It’s also amazing with scrambled eggs.
With rice. I recently made Kale Junkie’s Crispy Rice Salmon Cucumber Salad with Creamy Soy Dressing, which has crispy rice bits with chili crisp. I’m obsessed! Check out the recipe here and thank me later. If you’re feeling less fancy but extra, add it to plain or buttered rice.
Chili crispy rice close-up Part of a crumb coating for fish or chicken. Take your breaded chicken cutlets up a notch by mixing chili crisp with panko before frying. Caroline Chambers’ Sheet-Pan Chili Crisp Salmon and Snap Peas (recipe can be found on “What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking” Substack) incorporates chili crisp into the panko crust for the salmon AND the mayo-lime dipping sauce for double the yumminess.
Sheet-Pan Chili Crisp Salmon (chili-lime mayo not pictured) With pasta. Try the Chili Crisp Fettuccine Alfredo with Spinach from NYT Cooking to take a classic pasta dish from boring to brilliant. This dish single-handedly sold me on the condiment’s complexity and versatility. Recipe here.
The chili crisp possibilities are endless (pizza, chicken, tofu, veggies), but you just need to buy or make some and discover the magic for yourself (IYKYK). When you do try it, let me know what you think!
Game-changing kitchen gadget
Shout out to my favorite new kitchen gadget, the Thermapen One. A month ago, I attended a virtual food blogger conference where a few attendees were buzzing about this amazing thermometer, and so, naturally, I had to see what the hype was about. I’m so glad I did!
I’ve consistently had issues with previous meat thermometers, being inaccurate or unreliable. What makes the Thermapen One special is its speed and accuracy. Due to its ultra-sensitive micro-tip, you get an accurate reading one second after inserting the probe into your meat that’s within +/-0.5°F. I’ve had lots of fun using it to check the temperatures of my baked goods too. No more cakes and quick breads with moist middles! The thermometer effectively measures temperatures ranging from 32°F to 212°F, and its compact design (the probe folds neatly into the body) takes up very little room in a drawer. I’ve already gotten great use out of this gadget, and I’m excited for a future filled with perfectly cooked meats (and baked goods). https://www.thermoworks.com/thermapen-one/
TV dinners 📺 🍽️
As I continue to recover from my decadent summer and am eating out less, I’m pausing momentarily on 2024 Best Bites and trying something new. As a bit of a pop culture junkie (I especially love watching TV, often while dining solo), I thought I’d share some TV shows I’ve enjoyed recently. Be forewarned, these selections are not highly intellectual fare (if that’s your thing); however, they are entertaining and highly watchable.
The Perfect Couple (Netflix): Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber star as the heads of a wealthy Nantucket family in this mini-series based on Elin Hildebrand’s popular novel. When their son’s lavish nuptials are derailed by the murder of a wedding guest on their estate, everyone becomes a suspect. The “perfect” family unravels in spectacular fashion, as you try to figure out who did it.
Nobody Wants This (Netflix): a rom-com about an incredibly sweet, mildly complicated romance between a “hot” rabbi and an agnostic sex podcaster (Adam Brody of OC fame and Kristen Bell, respectively). Their chemistry is electric, and you find yourself routing for their relationship to succeed in the face of career and family challenges (and the dreaded “ick”!). I binge watched the entire series in less than 24 hours, and Season Two can’t come fast enough.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (Netflix): a docudrama about the infamous Menendez brothers, Lyle and Erik, who were convicted thirty years ago of murdering their rich parents in Beverly Hills and are currently serving a life sentence in prison. The performances are brilliant—Javier Bardem and Chloe Sevigny as the slain Menendez parents, Ari Graynor as Erik’s defense lawyer Leslie Abramson, and Nathan Lane as author Dominick Dunne (whose emotional investment in and attendance at the Menendez trial, following the murder of his own daughter, was heartbreaking to watch).
Tell Me Lies (Hulu): a soapy drama about a group of college students navigating toxic relationship drama. The main characters, Lucy (Emily Van Patten) and Stephen (Jackson White, Katey Sagal’s son), are a particularly tumultuous couple. So much so that Lucy cannot seem to escape Stephen years after they’ve broken up. The show makes you feel nostalgic for your college “glory days”, while bringing back memories of relationships you’d rather forget. It’s this emotional dichotomy that makes Tell Me Lies so much fun.
Presumed Innocent (Apple TV+): this mini-series based on Scott Turow’s bestselling courtroom thriller novel and movie came out over the summer, but if you haven’t seen it yet, you should. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Rusty Sabich, a district attorney whose life falls apart after being accused of murdering his mistress, a fellow law colleague. Without divulging too much for those who forgot the ending, the mini-series strays far enough from the book and movie to keep it suspenseful.
Thanks for reading this week’s dish! I’m devoting my next issuesome of my top meatless meals and resources.
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