Really good!

You guys pulled a trick on me!  When I posted last week’s poll on rhubarb, nobody even mentioned that it would be absolutely impossible to find rhubarb in June!  After going to a few different stores and checking in at a farmer’s market, I learned that the rhubarb season is approximately 10 seconds long.

So you see, it’s impossible to make the dish that I wanted to make as an appetizer.  But I got as close as humanly possible.

It turns out that for this specific recipe you can sub apples for rhubarb, leave everything else the same, and it’s very delicious.  So if you happen to have rhubarb, go for it.  If you don’t, you can use a few apples!

Chutney on Toast (Adapted from an old Bon Appetit Recipe)
Enough for 15 large toasts

- 1/2 Cup sugar
- 1/3 Cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 Cup orange juice
- 1/4 Teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 inch of fresh ginger, grated
- 2 apples, peeled, cored and diced (OR 2 1/2 Cups chopped rhubarb)
- 1/4 Cup dried currants
- 2 scallions minced (not the green parts)
- Baguette, sliced and toasted
- 5-6 ounces blue cheese

Making the Chutney. In terms of chutney making, this is actually a really easy one.  Some chutneys require lots of cooking time, but this one is just a few minutes of chopping and cooking.  Really easy to throw together!

Basic stuff!

Start by combining the first five ingredients in the list in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.  Stir it until the sugar melts.  Should just take a minute or two.

While you’re waiting for that to happen (or before you start it if you’re a slow-poke), peel, core and chop your apples.  Rhubarb would be even easier prep I guess.

Not exactly rhubarb...

Next, just add all your apples into your sugar mixture.  The apples won’t be covered by the mixture, but give them a good stir.  As they heat up, they’ll cook down and also give off some of their own liquid.

Don't worry about the liquid covering...

Meanwhile, get these bonus ingredients ready.  These just add a nice punch of flavor and texture to the finished chutney.  You could use raisins if you don’t have any currants, but if you do, give them a quick chop first.

You could use raisins also...

Add your currants and chopped scallions to the chutney along with a pinch of salt and let it simmer for maybe 5 minutes until the apples are soft.  Mine was a bit liquidy, but that’s just fine.

Yum.

Cooling it down.  The original recipe said to cool the chutney for at least an hour before using it, but I was hungry so I just stuck mine in the freezer for about 10 minutes.  Mine was still warm to the touch when I ate it which I thought was kind of nice.  If you let it cool all the way down it’ll obviously get thicker but you’ll have to WAIT!

The Toasts.  You could serve this with any number of crackers or toasts.  You want something pretty sturdy though.  The chutney is pretty thick and with the cheese added in, I recommend just making some thick toasts using a baguette.

Slice them on a diagonal like so…

Sliced bread!

That allows for maximum surface area!  Cook these at 400 degrees on a baking sheet for about 5 minutes until they are nice and toasty.

Perfect toasting.

Also, get your blue cheese ready.  If you can, try to hunt out a creamier blue cheese.  You want one that’s kind of spreadable.  Don’t buy the blue cheese crumbles that are pre-crumbled and try to spread it on a toast.  Just get a small block of the stuff.

I love blue cheese so much.  If, for some reason, you don’t like blue cheese, you could use goat cheese I think but it wouldn’t be as good.

My favorite cheese.

You want a good-sized schmear of cheese on each toast.

And yes, schmear is a technical term.  It means this much:

A schmear.

When adding the chutney to the toasts, use a spoon and try to drain off any extra liquid so you just get the apples and other non-liquid stuff.  If you get too much liquid it’ll just make your toasts soggy and, dude, nobody likes soggy toasts.

Respect the ring!

The apples were sweet and spicy and the blue cheese is creamy and delicious.

I honestly think I could’ve eaten 20 of these in one sitting.  This would be an awesome dish as an appetizer for a dinner party!

You see, revisiting things usually makes them awesome.

It'll add a year onto your life.

The salad is pretty simple really but there are a few things that I think are really important.  For starters, the dressing is awesome.  Rather than an intense mayonnaise dressing that the traditional version has, this version has a light buttermilk dressing (with just a touch of mayo).  Second, the chicken needs to be spiced up nicely.  It gives some great texture and protein to the dish.  If I was doing  a veg version I think I’d grill some mushrooms?

The Waldorf Revisited (Adapted from the May 2010 Body and Soul)
Serves four.

- 1 large head of bibb lettuce or butter lettuce
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 2 apples, peeled cored and diced
- 1 Cup of almonds, chopped
- 4 large ribs of celery, chopped
- 2 chicken breasts, I like the skin on
- Olive oil
- Salt and Pepper
- Red Pepper Flakes

Buttermilk Dressing:
- 3/4 Cup buttermilk
- 1/4 Cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 lemon, juice only
- 2 Tablespoons chives, minced
- 2 Tablespoons parsley, minced
- Salt and pepper

Making The Dressing. Betsy and I really liked this dressing and I think I might start rotating into my normal salad dressing rotation.  It’s not too heavy but very flavorful.  You’ll need these things.

Fantastic dressing.

The only things that you really need to chop is the chives and the parsley. Make sure to mince both pretty finely though.  You don’t want a huge piece of parsley in the dressing.

Go heavy on the chives.

Then just whisk all the ingredients together.  If you want it a bit thicker, add another Tablespoon or so of mayo.  Also feel free to add more of the herbs and taste for salt and pepper obviously.  It’s a kind of runny dressing, but it’s very flavorful actually.  It even gets better on day two.

It'll be pretty runny.

Cooking the Chicken.  This salad was flavorful enough that I didn’t feel the need to have a full chicken breast on mine.  Betsy and I split a chicken breast and it was more than enough which is why the recipe says two breasts for four people.  If you have big meat eaters though, then you could do a breast a person I guess.

I marinated mine in a few Tablespoons of olive oil and big pinches of salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.  I only let it marinate for about 30 minutes before cooking it.

Don't be afraid of skin people.

If you happen to have a grill, by all means throw this on the grill.  I don’t have one unfortunately so I cooked mine on high heat in my cast iron skillet for about 5 minutes per side to get it nice and brown and then I finished it in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Turned out perfect.

Grilled would be good also.

Putting the Salad together. While your chicken is cooking, you can prep all your other stuff which is pretty straightforward.  If you can get your hands on some nice fresh butter lettuce or bibb lettuce, it’ll kick this salad up a notch.  Otherwise you can use whatever you normally use for salads.

But seriously, if you’ve never tried butter lettuce, it’s kind of amazing.

Butter lettuce rocks.

Wash your lettuce and dice it up.  The same goes for all the other veggies.  You could definitely sub in your favorite nut for almonds if you wanted, but they worked great if you have some on hand.  Just give them a rough chop and you’ll be all set.  Then pile the veggies high and deep.

Almonds or some kind of nut are important.

Add your apple right before serving so it doesn’t turn brown and dress the salad immediately.  Feel free to go pretty heavy on the dressing.  You don’t want pools of dressing or anything, but using a heavy drizzle is just fine.

All dressed up.

Back to the chicken. If you aren’t used to grilling or cooking chicken, it’s very important to let the chicken rest for five minutes at least before slicing it up.  That gives the juices a chance to redistribute throughout the meat.  Then you can slice up your breast into nice strips.

Enough for 4 people.

Pile the chicken right on top of the salad and you have yourself a very healthy and delicious salad-based meal.  If you were so inclined, you could also serve it with some hearty bread.

Yum.

Betsy and I liked this salad so much that we happily ate it two days in a row.  It was very flavorful and just left me feeling healthy but still full.

Honestly, it was one of the best salads I’ve had in awhile.  I mean just look at those colors!

I highly recommend you visit this revisited salad.

I wanted something warming but I wasn’t really in the mood for something hot. Does that make sense?

I came up with this port punch that very easy to throw together and is very tasty.

Im-PORT-ant

This could also be called Cheater’s Sangria.  It tastes a lot like sangria which makes sense since Port is red wine that’s been fortified with Brandy.  Most sangrias (including the white variety) are beefed up with brandy or rum or some other kind of hard liquor, but if you use port than that extra booze is already included!

Port Punch

- 1 bottle (750ml) Port
- 1 apple, diced
- 1 orange, segmented and chopped
- 1 lime, juice only
- Grapes (optional)
- Orange juice
- Ginger ale

I kept the fruit kind of minimal for this version because, frankly, it’s all I had!  You could go crazy though with pears, berries, grapes, etc.

Basics...

When prepping your fruit, try to just get out the segments from the orange.  You don’t want the white casing part which will be kind of bitter in the final drink and also hard to chew.

If you take a sharp paring knife and slice down each side of the segment, you should be able to just pop each segment out.

You just want the pulpy stuff.

Also, peel and core your apple and then dice it up into tiny chunks.  Add all that fruit to a bowl along with your lime juice.

Fruit in a bowl.

Then add your port!

Action shot!

Now you could just let this marinate for an hour or two, but the longer the better.  I let mine sit overnight in the fridge and it was great!

Finishing the Punch. When you’re ready to serve, you just need some ice, OJ and ginger ale.

After a night soaking...

I decided to mix mine up a cup at a time, but if you’re serving a crowd you could definitely mix up a big punch bowl and then just ladle the punch into glasses with ice.

The ratio is:

- 2 parts port mixture
- 1 part OJ
- 1 part ginger ale

Tasty!

The orange juice and lime juice do a great job of cutting the sweetness of the Port and the ginger ale gives it some good bubbles.

This'll lift your spirits!

I was kind of worried when I started making this mainly because Port is one of my most favorite drinks.  The idea of wasting a bottle of it on a bad drink was scary to me!  Luckily, this stuff turned out great.  It tastes basically like sangria without the need for all the individual liquors!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to the largest snow storm in DC history…

I changed my tune because I recently happened to have all the fixings for some muesli so I thought I’d whip some up before I left for work one day.  I very loosely followed a recipe from Bon Appétit, but there is barely a need for a recipe.

This was my resulting bowl of health!

Kind of a humble thing.

You know why I think this stuff rocks and is perfect for a weekday breakfast?  You don’t have to watch it!  It’s not like normal oatmeal or eggs where you have to hover over the stove.  Just throw some things in a bowl and then come back in a few minutes after a shower or something and breakfast is ready!

Basic Fruit and Honey Muesli
Serves 2

- 1 1/4 Cup rolled oats
- 3/4 Cup milk
- 3/4 Cup lowfat yogurt
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla
- 3/4 Cup orange juice
- 1/3 Cup honey (or adjust for your sweetness desires)
- 1 apple, peeled, cored, chopped
- 1/2 cup dried fruit (cranberries, blueberries, raisins, etc.)
- Pinch of salt
- Sunflower seeds or some other nut (optional topping)

Preparing the Oats -  To make a good muesli, you’ll need these things.  You could leave out the vanilla if you were in a crunch, but it adds a wonderful flavor to the bowl.

Oats are cheap! Vanilla... not so much.

Basically, just toss your oats, yogurt, milk, and vanilla in a bowl!  Stir it up really well.  It will look pretty liquidy, but your oats will absorb a good amount of liquid.

Not pictured: My skeptical glances.

Let this sit for at least 5 minutes, but you could let it sit longer if you’re doing something else.  This was mine after about 5 minutes.  All the milk was basically absorbed and the oats were pretty soft.

Just after 5 minutes!

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, mix together your orange juice and honey to make sure the honey is completely dissolved.  Then add your apples and dried fruit.  You could sub out any fruit that you want honestly.

Kind of like sangria!

Let that sit for about 5 minutes to let the apples absorb some flavor and then toss everything together!

Kind of a mess.

The longer this sits the softer the oats will get and the less moisture there will be.  I let mine sit for another 5 minutes or so before digging in!

The sunflower seeds add some good texture to the dish.  Totally optional though.

Coffee is the drink of choice.

Quick, simple, and healthy.  And also delicious!  Ok.  Maybe not cheesy omelet delicious, but a different kind of delicious.  The kind that leaves you feeling ready to tackle the day ahead.

Try this next time instead of your normal oatmeal.  I think you’ll be happily suprised.

And for me, there’s nothing like a good plate of stuffing.  It’s the perfect side in so many ways.  Since I usually brine or deep fry my turkey, I never actually stuff the bird with the stuffing.  Instead, I always bake it separately.

My friend worked out a recipe last year that I continue to use and still say is one of the best I’ve ever tried.  This year though, I decided to add some roasted chestnuts to it.

Very hard to beat this.

I posted on chestnuts in ravioli form a few weeks ago and there are some more detailed photos on how to prepare them in that post.  You can also buy them jarred.  Here’s the thing about the chestnuts in this version of the stuffing though: they are subtle.

Like almost invisible.

There are so many competing flavors going on (which trust me is a good thing) that the chestnuts get a bit lost.  They do add some nice texture to the dish, but if you want a really big chestnut flavor to shine, you might consider doubling the chestnuts in the below recipe and eliminating the sausage.

After much test-tasting I decided that the sausage is what masked the chestnut flavors.

Chestnut Stuffing
Enough for a 9×13 Pan

Breading:
- 1/2 loaf white bread, cubed
- 1/2 loaf wheat bread, cubed
Note: You can totally just use one or the other, but I like the mixing.

Sausage Base:
- 1 pound pork sausage. Spicy is good, but not essential
- 1/2 large onion, diced

Aromatics:
- 1 Cup celery, chopped (about 3 stalks)
- 1 Tablespoon fresh sage, minced
- 2 Teaspoons fresh rosemary, minced
- 1 Teaspoon fresh thyme, minced

Other Flavorings:
- 1 Golden delicious apple, cored, peeled, and cubed
- 1 pound roasted chestnuts (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1 Cup dried cranberries
- 1/3 Cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 Cups turkey or chicken stock (this varies depending on your breading. More on this later)
- 1/3 Cup melted butter
- Salt and pepper

Prepping ingredients:  The chestnuts are definitely the hardest part of this recipe.  As for the other stuff, cube your bread up into relatively large pieces and toast it in a 300 degree oven until it’s super-crispy and dry.  You don’t want it burned, but it should be crunchy like a crouton.

This should take about 20-30 minutes.  Give it a quick stir halfway through just to make sure it’s cooking/drying evenly.

A white and wheat bread mix is good.

Then you can prep the stuff for your sausage mixture.  This includes your sausage and onions.  While you are at it you can chop up the aromatics also.

Sausage is optional I guess.

For the chestnuts, cut an X on all of them and roast them (you can do it at the same time you are toasting your bread) for about 20 minutes or until the shell peels back nicely on each chestnut.

This is a picture pre-roast.  For more details on the chestnuts, check out the ravioli recipe.

Chestnuts roasting on a metal sheet...

When they are roasted, I halve each nut and then handle each half basically like a clove of garlic.  Gently smash it with the side of a knife, the chestnut will pop right out.  Do that for each one and you’ll have a big bowl of wonderful.

A good amount of chestnuts.

Cooking the sausage.  Take the casings off your sausage and get it started cooking over medium-high heat in a large skillet.  If your sausage is on the leaner side, you might need to add a tablespoon or two of oil just to help it out.

After it cooks for a few minutes and starts to brown, add your diced onion to the pan.

When the sausage is completely cooked and the onion is translucent, add your celery to the party and cook for just a few more minutes.

Toss all of this stuff in a bowl with your roasted chestnuts!

Just four ingredients, but a lot of flavor.

Bringing it all together. Add your other aromatics (herbs) and flavor ingredients to the sausage mixture and then toss that all together with your bread mixture.

Stir it together well to make sure the bread soaks up as much moisture as possible from the sausage and onion.

Then add your stock and butter to the party.

Add your stock in 1/2 cup batches and stir well after each batch.  You want each bread cube to be well soaked, but there shouldn’t be any liquid left at the bottom of the pan.  I probably used about 2.5 Cups of stock for my version and then mix in the melted butter last.

Also, add a big pinch of salt and pepper to the party.  There’s no harm in giving this a taste at this point although it will be kind of room temperature.  You are basically just tasting for salt and pepper levels.

Just remember, if it’s good now, it’ll be great later.

Warning: This will smell amazing.

Baking the stuffing. Pour your stuffing mixture in a 9X13 pan.  You can really pack it in.

Ready for the oven.

Bake this at 350 degrees for a total of an hour.  Bake it covered with foil for 30 minutes and then uncovered for 30 minutes.

And the trick to baking it is to make sure you give it a good stir every 15 minutes.  This will prevent the bottom from getting too soggy and make sure everything cooks really evenly.  I forgot to give mine a stir on one version that I made (I’ve made this twice in the past two weeks) and it was a noticeable difference.

Also, you may need to bake it for longer than an hour.  Adding 15 minutes isn’t the end of the world.  The end product should be moist, but not soggy and have some browned chunks throughout.

Betsy and I ate more of this than I can admit in public.

The above picture was actually of the version that I forgot to stir throughout the baking and you can see how some parts are super-crispy and some are a bit more soggy.  But guess what, it was still delicious!  It’s the best stuffing I’ve ever had, this just wasn’t the best version of the best stuffing I’ve ever had.  Ya follow me?

So, in review:

- If you are going to be making a stuffing outside of the bird, this is one of the best I’ve ever had in my life (I’ve never actually stuffed it in the bird although I’m sure you could).

- If you want a real chestnut flavor, I’d axe the sausage and increase the chestnuts in the above recipe.

- If you don’t care about chestnuts, just leave them out.  The stuffing is great without them. (Sorry chestnuts, but it’s true.)

- Stir the stuffing while baking to ensure amazingness.

When a baked apple is done right, it is pretty heavenly.  I mean, come on:

Breakfast!

As I see it there are only two problems you can run into in the baked apple world: 1) You used the wrong kind of apple.  That’s pretty easy to avoid though.  Golden Delicious bake up really nicely.  Or you can check out this chart for other good varieties.

Problem number two is that you cook them too long.  The apple should be soft, but not mushy.  You should be able to easily cut it with a butter knife (in my opinion), but it should be almost melt-in-your-mouth tender.

Master those two (pretty simple problems) and you’ll end up with a great result.

I like to stuff mine with something that has some texture which is why I used granola.  You could use rolled oats if you wanted or any kind of nut really.  Go crazy with it!

Baked Breakfast Apples (breakfast because of the granola you see.)

- 2 Good baking apples, again, the chart.
- 1/3 Cup granola
- 1/4 brown sugar
- 1/4 Teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 2 Teaspoons butter, divided
- Optional spices: nutmeg, allspice, etc.

Helpful Equipment:
- Apple Corer

Before you get started, preheat that oven to 350 degrees.

Coring the apples. An apple corer is one of those tools that I’ve never acquired because I would only use it like once a year.  Ok.  If I had one, I would definitely use it more than that.  But in any event, I just use a paring knife and a spoon and it works great.

If you’re using a corer, just be sure not to cut all the way through your apple or else your filling will all melt out!  That’s not so much of a worry if you use a paring knife/spoon combo.  Just cut a good sized whole in the stem side of the apple like so.

Who needs a corer?

And then get your spoon and scrape out the bottom and edges until there are no seeds left in the apple.  It takes like 30 seconds per apple.  No big deal people.

Mixing the filling. Mix up all your filling in a large bowl (every ingredient expect the butter and apples)!  I loved the granola.  It had a great texture coupled with the soft apple.

You could use store bought granola... I guess.

Oh. And don’t forget your cinnamon!

Don't forget the spices Dude.

You can really stuff these guys pretty full.  I used all of my filling.

These can hold a surprising amount of stuffing.

Cooking the apples. Set your stuffed apples in a baking dish with about a cup of water.  Also add a teaspoon (about) of butter on top of each apple.

This is extremely important!  Because as the butter melts it makes kind of a delicious caramel sauce with the brown sugar on the inside.

Oh no I didn't! Oh yes I did!

Then bake them for 30 minutes, and then you’ll have these wonderfully tender and fragrant apples.

After 30 long minutes.

Whatever you do, resist eating this right away unless  second degree burns in your mouth is your idea of a good start to the day.

After five minutes though, you can slice into them.  The butter will be melted in with the granola and brown sugar and the apple will be tender, but not mush.  It’s really good stuff.

So good.

So I’ll be honest.  Betsy and I actually had these for dessert one night.  But I don’t see the problem with eating it for breakfast.  If you served it with ice cream then the ice cream would melt and it would basically be like eating cereal.

Am I wrong?

Am I?!

I confirmed a few things last Saturday night:

1) Never, ever start a land war in Asia.  You will LOSE THE GAME.

2) Sangria is really good.  Especially white sangria in the summer.

3) The sangria recipe below is not intended for two people unless you don’t mind being bedridden the next day.

Here's to a good night!

The thing I don’t like about some white sangrias is that they end up being really sweet.  If you look up other recipes, a fair number of them have simple syrup in them which I don’t really like to add to mine.  I think it makes it too sweet and less boozy and who wants that?

So let’s make some the real way.

White Sangria

- 1 bottle white wine. I used a pinot grigio.
- 1/2 Cup Citron vodka
- 1/2 Cup Peach brandy
- 1 peach, peeled, diced
- 1 apple, peeled, diced
- 2 plums, diced (skin is cool)
- Handful of grapes, halved
- 1/4 Cup orange juice
- Sparkling water (club soda)

Prepping the fruit. There’s a lot of fruit in this recipe.  I like to pretend that I’m being healthy while getting drunk.  I think you should do the same.

Healthy!

I peeled the peach and apple just because the skin on those can be kind of cumbersome. I got a bit lucky with my apple peelings.  I couldn’t replicate this if you paid me:

First try.

For this recipe, chop your fruit into about 1/4 inch cubes.  For the record, you don’t need to use all the fruit I used.  I just really like to eat the fruit when it is all booze filled.  Call me crazy but I find it delicious.

If you do you all the fruit that I did, you’ll end up with a bowl like this.

Fruit.

So some sangria recipes call for simple syrup which is basically sugar and water.  For this recipe I substituted that for peach brandy which is sweet enough but has peach flavor and alcohol.  Basically it’s an all around win.

Instead of adding lemon or lime juice, I added some citron vodka which gives the sangria a necessary bite.

Fruit next to booze.

Now it would be fine to mix all these things together and let them mingle for an hour or two.  If you want your fruit to be really tasty though, mix your vodka and peach brandy with your fruit and let that sit for about 30 minutes.  You could let it sit for an hour or two though without a problem.

Fruit in the booze.

After that, basically just mix your fruit mixture, your white wine, and orange juice in a large picture.

In each glass add a few ice cubes, pour in some of your sangria mixture and then top with a splash of club soda or sparkling water.

Whatever you do, don’t drink this (and eat all the fruit) between two people.  It’s seriously a bad idea.

Hangover in a pitcher.

In all reality though, this is an amazing sangria recipe.  I highly recommend it.

Feel free to substitute liberally for fruit additions and white wine varieties.

If you have some good suggestions, leave a comment!

It's like apple pie for breakfast.

It might look unassuming, but there is tons of flavor packed into that little slice. With French toast on the bottom, warm, soft apples in the center and topped with a delicious caramel glaze. There are also little dried cranberry and walnut gems throughout the whole deal. It’s not so hard to make though. Let’s get into it.

Baked Breakfast Apples with French Toast Crust (From Florence’s “Stirring the Pot“)
(Makes 8 servings. 90 minute prep time.)

French Toast
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk (I used 2%)
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 Teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- 1/2 of a loaf of Challah bread. (I couldn’t find this so I used normal wheat bread. I’m sure the slightly sweet Challah bread would be MUCH better.)

Filling
- 1/2 stick unsalted butter (I used salted. So sue me.)
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons dried cranberries
- 2 Tablespoons chopped pecans
- 1/2 Teaspoon cinnamon
- 6 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into eighths.

Preheat your oven to 350 and then combine all of your wet ingredients for the French toast in a large bowl. Add the cinnamon and salt and mix really well.

French Toast is easy stuff.

Next prep your apples. Peel them, cut out the core, and slice into eighths much like an apple pie. If you have an apple corer more power to ya.

6 apples is enough for a breakfast pie.

We aren’t going to use them just yet. To prevent the dreaded apple browning, I recommend adding a dash of lemon juice and tossing the apples in it. It will prevent browning and it doesn’t noticeably change the flavor in the end result.

Keep your apples fresh man.

Now it is time to bust out your cast iron skillet or similar oven safe pan. The cast iron skillet was made for this dish. I’m not really sure how you would make it without something you could transfer from stovetop to oven, but you might be more creative than me.

Assuming you do have a pan that can go from stovetop to oven, throw in your butter and sugar and let it start to simmer on medium. Watch this closely. You don’t want the caramel to burn. It will start to bubble and then stir it for a few minutes and let it thicken and brown a bit.

Making caramel.

Once all the sugar is well dissolved and it is browning, take it off the heat and sprinkle on your cranberries, walnuts, and cinnamon. I was very worried about this recipe at this point. My fear was that when I put this in the oven, the caramel would burn. Turns out I’m just a worrier. There was no problem at all.

I was worried about this recipe at this point.

Then take all your apples that are sliced and arrange them decoratively in the pan. The important part is to have a flat surface to lay your French toast crust. This configuration worked great.

This is almost too pretty for my liking.

Then take whatever bread you are using and dunk it in the French toast mixture. Let it soak up a good amount of juice on both sides.

Make sure your bread is soaked.

Again, decoratively layer those bad boys on top of your apples. You want to make sure there are not any holes. Other than that it doesn’t matter what configuration you use. This layer method worked great for me though. One in the direct middle and then overlapping pieces around the edge.

I started to feel good at this point.

This whole dish goes in the oven for 55 to 60 minutes at 350. You want your toast browned and crispy and your apples soft. If I make this again (I probably will), I would cook it for a bit less time. I went for 60 minutes and the apples were a bit too soggy. Still delicious but I would go for 50-55 minutes next time.

Your call though depending on how soft you like your apples and how crispy you like your toast.

Looks like bent toast.

The moment of truth. You have to flip this whole dish upside down. I was scared to death of this part. I didn’t think that caramel sauce would come out and everything would just be stuck to the inside of the pan. This did not happen. All of the butter in the bottom let it slide right out.

I put a baking sheet over the top of the dish, put a hand on each side of the pot. So each hand was holding the baking sheet firmly onto the pan. Then take a deep breath and FLIP.

I let mine sit for 10 seconds while I caught my breath. Then lifted off the pan to find:

Flipping this thing scared me.

Looks perfect! Slice this with a knife or pizza cutter and serve it up like pie. The caramel sauce almost acts as a syrup and the apples provide a bit of tang. Pretty delicious if you have the time to make it.

He brought me this:

Marquis: Macheesmo thanks you.

I now make this stuffing every year for Thanksgiving and sometimes in February for my birthday. It is that good. It has everything I look for in a stuffing: Nice bread, awesome meatiness, tons of spices, and some fruit and other good stuff. Oh. And lots of butter.

Ironically, one thing I have never done with this stuffing is actually stuffed it inside anything (say, a turkey). It is always just so beautiful in the pan that I prefer to make it this way. I don’t see why you couldn’t stuff it, but I don’t.

Mr. Marquis’s Majestic, Magic, Marvelous Stuffing
(Serves 15-20. The version I made for this post is actually halved from the below recipe.)
Breading:
- 1/4 loaf cubed whole wheat bread
- 1 loaf cubed white bread
Sausage Mixture:
- 2 pounds ground pork sausage (I like spicy)
- 1 large chopped onion
Aromatics:
- 1.5 cups chopped celery
- 5 Teaspoons fresh sage
- 1 Tablespoon fresh rosemary
- 1 Teaspoon Fresh thyme
Other business:
- 2 Golden Delicious Apples cored, peeled, chopped.
- 1.5 cups dried cranberries
- 2/3 cups minced fresh parsley
- 3 cups turkey or chicken stock (Note: this varies based on your bread. You might need more.)
- 1/2 cup melted butter

So basically, you make the recipe in the exact order above. First thing, cube up all your bread and stick it in a preheated 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. You want these cubes pretty toasty. Keep an eye on them though – burnt bread stuffing is not what we are making.

Half store bought, half homemade.

Meanwhile, take your sausage and onion and start it up in a large skillet. As you can see from my photo, steam will be a by-product. What you can’t see from this photo is that this steam smells like heaven.

Simple, but delicious.

While that is simmering away, chop up your aromatics listed above and get them ready. You can do this in advance if you want, but I like to multi-task. If you are following my timeline, CHECK ON YOUR BREAD NOW.

Thanksgiving in a bowl.

Then add your aromatics to your sausage mixture and cook for just 3 minutes to combine. Photographing steam was my project for the day.

I could just eat this with a spoon.

CHECK YOUR BREAD AGAIN. It is probably about done. Now you can chop up all of your other stuff which is basically just apples and parsley.

The fruit part of the show.

Now get the biggest bowl you have. You might have to do this in two batches if you make the actual recipe. Keep in mind that my version here is halved. Anyway, put your bread in a bowl.

If you are an observant Macheesmo reader, you will know I only have one bowl.

Then add that amazing sausage mixture that has been simmering away.

Action shot!

Then add your fruits and parsley.

Now we are talking.

Finally, add your stock and melted butter. The bread should be very moist, but you don’t want any liquid left. All of the liquid should be absorbed. If you add to much, don’t worry about it, just add on another 15 minutes or so to the cooking time. Spread it out in a 9 by 13 baking pan. If you are making a full batch of this stuff, you will want two or need to make it in two batches.

Ready for the oven.

Bake this at 350 degrees, covered for 30 minutes, and then uncovered for 30 minutes. Stir this stuff every 15 minutes. As I said, if after an hour the bread is still too moist, just cook for another 15. I actually had to add on 15 minutes to this batch.

This is seriously the best stuffing I've ever had.

So that’s it. While I would love it if you passed this post on to others, I also understand if you want to horde it so you can forever impress your friends, family, and lover(s) with it. And if you are Mr. Marquis, then I apologize, because I just posted your perfect recipe on the Internets.

Thanks for the advice Mom.

Now let me say that I’ve tried pie crusts before and have had minimal success. My Mom knew the facts. It is hard to get it right. I have had many failed attempts prior to this one, but trust me it is worth trying. And if you get it wrong – it’s cool – you still have pie.

One problem with pie crust recipes (and almost all baking recipes) is that there are a freakin’ million versions. How do I know which one to use without making all of them?! The short answer is that you won’t know. There are just so many factors. What might work for me in my sea level swamp-like climate in DC that would never work for someone in Denver. My recommendation is to think of the recipe as a guide. I used the recipe here as my guide as Elise is very consistent with her success and awesomeness. I did change one thing though which was the amount of water I had to add. This was my version:

The Crust

2.5 cups flour (plus some for rollin’)
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
A pinch of salt
A pinch of sugar
6-8 Tablespoons water

Cut up the butter into little cubes and stick it in the freezer for at least an hour. You want it frozen. The key to good dough, I learned this time around, is keeping everything very cold. That keeps the butter in chunks and therefore creates an awesome flaky crust.

Take out the butter after an hour and put it in a food processor with the dry ingredients and pulse. I don’t have a large food processor so I had to work in two batches. If you don’t have a food processor you will have to wait a bit for the butter to melt before you can blend it with the other ingredients. Or you could maybe chop it up with a knife. Get creative. You will end up with this.

The key is in the coldness. The chunks are butter.

Add your water next, one tablespoon at a time. I have no idea how much it will take but you don’t want to add too much. So go slow, Dude. If you can pick up a handful and squish it and it stays in a ball you are done. You do not need a lot of water to get to that point. When your dough is at that point, split it into two balls, wrap them in saran wrap, and back in the freezer. You want that butter to re-solidify. You can leave them in the freezer for infinity or at least one hour.

Next grab your apples. You will want 6 or 7 if they are smaller. I like to peel them with a knife or peeler like:

Do this six or seven times.

Then quarter them:

Quarter these bad boys.

Then slice out the seeds and slice them in to four or five slices per quarter.

Cut out the seeds and slice them thin.

So for The Filling we are adding:

6 cups (more or less) sliced apples
1 Tablespoon lemon juice. I add this as I chop the apples so they don’t turn brown.
1 cup sugar
1 Teaspoon cinnamon (or a pinch more. Be adventurous.)
1/4 Teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg.
2 Tablespoons flour.
Any dried fruits or nuts (optional)

This is a solid filling. Could add some nuts/fruit.

Back to the dough! Look in the freezer, you have two frozen rocks of butter and flour.

Frozen dough.

And welcome to the hardest part of our dough journey. It is getting this frozen rock to flatten out thinly and evenly into a 9” pie pan. I’m not going to lie. It requires patience. Start slow and work from the center out. The dough will crack around the edges. If it doesn’t then you messed up and it is too wet. Try to go slow though and pinch the cracks together. They shouldn’t get too bad. This is the start.

This part is hard work.

I like to use my hands at first to press it out, but eventually you are going to want to roll it. Again roll slowly with even pressure. You are going to get some cracking again. That is character and it is fine.

It's slow going, but worth it.

Eventually you will get it to the right size which is probably 13-15 inches in diameter. Gently lift it and place it in your pie dish. Fill with the awesome filling and top with squares of butter. More butter you ask? Yes more butter. At this point you might as well. Notice the cracks around the bottom of my pie dough. Notice how my pie was still amazing. Don’t worry about it if you have some cracks around the edges.

Notice the butter. You want that.

Did I mention that you have to do this painful rolling situation twice? Well, you do. When you are done with the second layer pile it on carefully and roll over the edges. Pinch them together using either your fingers or a fork or something.

You could try a lattice top if you are not tired yet. I was.

You want to bake this at 375 for an hour total. This is important. I didn’t take a photo of it because I forgot. You want to put aluminum foil around the edges so they don’t burn. You don’t have to cover the whole pie, just around the outsides. After 40 minutes of baking take off the foil for an even browning. After one hour cool it on a rack of some sort and there ya go!

Oh my god

A slice of pie.

There is something about apple pie that is so soothing. It is rich and sweet and the crust is a bit salty and flaky. When you have that first slice you will forget the bit of work that went into it. It isn’t really that bad and seriously half the fun is making it. Have a beer and just relax. You will end up with a great pie.

For once, I’m going to disagree with my Mom. Don’t go buy a pie crust. It isn’t that hard. Give it a shot and you will be happily rewarded.

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