Cooking Club: Glazed Chicken with Apple Salad

Amy writes:

The first meeting of my school's cooking club was today, and the student-chefs-in-charge this year are focusing on 30-minute recipes. Today's recipe was one from Pampered Chef, and can be found in various places online, including here. Our market did not have watercress, so teacher-chef-in-charge (Dave) substituted escarole, the bitterness of which balanced nicely with the sweet salad dressing. Speaking of dressing, who would have thought to use jelly in salad dressing? Certainly not I. 

The results: Did we make it in 30 minutes? Yes, in fact, just under. Then we enjoyed it, sharing some future serving suggestions, such as adding walnuts or Craisins. But all of us thought it was an easy, tasty, healthy meal and we'd all make it again. Success!

Onyx Moonshine Apple Cake

The other day, Amy's co-worker, also named Amy, brought it the most deliciously moist and tasty apple cake. Joanne (another self-professed foodie) pronounced it better than her mom's. (We're kind of hoping Mrs. K doesn't read our blog. If she does...sorry!) But anyway, yes, it was that good. Good enough for us to beg for the recipe, which Amy D. gave us tout de suite (she's a French teacher, so we owed her that)!

As luck would have it, our friends at Onyx had a tasting at the Coventry Farmers Market the other day, where they were sampling a delightful concoction of apples, cinnamon and brown sugar mixed with Onyx moonshine and apple cider. Then they offered us the leftover apples. Yeah...the boozy leftover apples. "Certainly the two of you could do make something with these!?!" they said. Hollah.

Yes, amidst this amazing planetary alignment (okay, maybe not that important) - we had the apples and the recipe, and as far as we were concerned, "Thunderbirds are go!" It was moonshine-apple-cake-baking-time!

We made Amy D's apple cake with those boozy apples and included the recipe below. Feel free to make it with plain old apples, if you must. But it won't be quite as good, just so you know. (wink wink)

Onyx Moonshine Apple Cake

Cake Ingredients:

5 medium apples, peeled and diced (feel free to soak them in Onyx Moonshine for a day or so, if you dare)

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

Topping: 

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine all cake ingredients in a large bowl, and toss to coat apples. Place in a 9X13 pan that has been greased with butter or sprayed with cooking spray. In a separate bowl, combine topping ingredients and pat over top before placing in oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until bubbly. If desired, dust with confectioner's sugar before serving.

Chicken Tagine with Dried Fruits and Apples

Being a food blogger means being part of a community, and a few weeks ago, we lost a member of that community. Daniel Saraga, author of The Haggis and the Herring, died suddenly, leaving behind his family including his wife, Meredith and their three children. You can read his wife's beautiful eulogy of him here on his blog.

While we did not know Daniel, we knew of him through the Secret Recipe Club. Today, members of the club are revealing posts in which they recreated some of Daniel's recipes as a tribute to him, and we wanted to be a part of that. When we browsed through his extensive recipe list, it was difficult to choose one in particular because they all sounded so good, but we had a rough weekend ourselves, including a death in the family, and so we went with a recipe that we could make with items we already had in the house, and that was his Chicken Tajine with Apples.

Since we were determined not to not have to go out to the market, we borrowed a couple small apples from neighbors D and J, went without the almonds, and used chopped dried apricot paste rather than dried apricots, but we imagine the end result was very similar. As the tagine cooked, the house filled with the scent of sensual spices such as cinnamon and cumin. The chicken was moist and tender, and the sauce, punctuated with apples, dates and raisins, was teasingly exotic. As we sat down to eat, we toasted Daniel and wished our condolences to his family, as we do here with this post.

Chicken Tagine with Dried Fruits and Apples

slightly adapted from The Haggis and the Herring

Ingredients:

2 apples, cored, peeled, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
pinch kosher salt
1 pound chicken legs and/or thighs
1/4 cup olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 large shallot, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground ginger

2 cups chicken broth
pinch of saffron, infused in a tablespoon of hot water
2 tablespoons dried apricot paste, chopped

3/4 cup raisins
4 dates, pitted and chopped
1 cup couscous, prepared according to package directions

Core, peel and slice apples into thin wedges, toss in lemon juice and set aside. Combine cumin, chili powder, cinnamon, salt and pepper and sprinkle onto chicken. Heat oil on medium in the bottom of a tagine or large pot, and brown chicken on both sides. Remove chicken and set aside. Sprinkle onions, shallots and garlic with ground ginger and saute in the same pot for 2-3 minutes. Place chicken back in the pan and add broth, saffron, and chopped apricot paste. Bring to a boil and place cover on tagine or pot; let simmer on medium for 25-30 minutes. Add apples (with lemon juice), raisins, and dates, reduce to medium-low and let simmer for another 5-10 minutes. Serve over prepared couscous.

Apple, Raisin and Celery Seed Slaw (Secret Recipe Club)

It's "That Time of Year." We're both teachers in "real" life, so it's cram time  - finishing up curriculum, grading papers, writing and giving exams - not to mention chaperoning and/or attending proms, field trips, end-of-year ceremonies, SATs and graduations after school and on weekends. Add to that all the family stuff, like First Communions, baby showers, birthday parties, and barbecues, graduation parties, etc., and our social calendar is filled to the brim. We haven't been giving the blog enough of our attention already, and then bam! Suddenly we realize it's Secret Recipe Club time!

 

Thank goodness for the wide variety of recipes on our assigned blog for this month, Feast on the Cheap. Feast on the Cheap is a mother-daughter collaboration that offers readers plenty of recipes to choose from, with prices per serving included, figuring in the cost of each ingredient and based on a "well-stocked" pantry (for which they offer suggestions). Their pictures are gorgeous, and their Recipe Index is an excellent source for ideas. We've bookmarked this one, and so should you!

We would have had a very difficult time choosing a recipe, except for the fact that this particular recipe had to suit a purpose. It had to be something that would feed a crowd and would be kid-pleasing, for we were going to take it to the birthday party D and J were throwing for their 3-year-old daughter. And, unfortunately, they had plenty of desserts, so we couldn't go that route.

Which brings us to our choice: Apple, Raisin, and Celery Seed Slaw, which costs a mere $0.85 cents per serving, went well with burgers, and pleased both kids and adults alike. At once both sweet and savory, slightly tart and delightfully crunchy, this slaw was a hit. We followed the recipe exactly, so we'll save the typing and direct you to go HERE, where you can also see a photo of the finished product, which (in our chaotic mindset) we neglected to take. Oops!!!

 

Squared Cider Doughnuts: Secret Recipe Club

It's a beautiful fall weekend here in Connecticut and we are in apple mode. Unfortunately, we haven't had any free time to go apple picking ourselves, but bestie Joanne's industrious mother somehow managed to get a few bushels gratis and gave a dozen to Joanne to share with us. Thank you so much, Mrs. K! Chris is loving his annual apple pie!

Anyway, seeing all those apples made us hungry the cider doughnuts we missed by not going picking. But it just so happened that our assigned blog for this month's Secret Recipe Club had the perfect recipe for them. That blog is Veronica's Cornucopia! Veronica's blog is awesome - filled with all types of recipes from sweet to savory, as well as inspiring stories ("Thankful Thursdays") and interesting projects "The Postcard Project"). We very much enjoyed browsing Veronica's Cornucopia, but those "Easy Apple Cider Doughnuts" of hers really got us going. As promised, they were 1) easy, 2) tasty, and 3) the perfect fall treat!!! And we had plenty to share with the neighbors because we got 24 doughnuts (plus doughnut holes!) from following Veronica's recipe.

The most important ingredient

Make, knead and roll the dough

Cut out doughnuts and punch out the holes

We didn't adapt the recipe whatsoever except for making our doughnuts square because all we had on hand for cutting them was a square biscuit cutter. Here is a nice tip for cutting out the doughnut holes - use the top end of a baster (without the suction thingy)! It is just the right size and the doughy circles pop right out with a light tap.

Fry them up

Coat them in cinnamon sugar while they're hot

Squared Cider Doughnuts

"Easy Apple Cider Doughnuts"

recipe from Veronica's Cornucopia
Makes 24 doughnuts plus 24 doughnut holes

Ingredients:

canola oil for frying

1 egg

1 1/4 cup sugar, divided

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup apple cider
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
2 cups baking mix (we used Bisquick)

Preheat oil in a large pot, skillet or deep fryer to 375 degrees, checking the temperature often using a candy thermometer. Whisk together egg, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, cider and vanilla. Using a wooden spoon, stir in flour and baking mix. On floured surface, with floured hands, knead dough several times and roll to 1/2-inch thick.  Cut with a donut or biscuit cutter, and make holes in the center of each. Carefully drop into hot oil. Working in batches of six, cook until golden brown, flip, and cook other side until golden brown. Adjust the heat on the burner as necessary to keep the temperature steady at 375.  Drain on sheets of newspaper or paper towels. Mix together remaining 1 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon; while doughnuts are still hot, coat in cinnamon-sugar. Eat while still warm!

Wordless Weekender: Slightly Burned Apple Pie

Slow-Cooker Pork with Apples and Onions

Another storm. Another snow day. (Not that we're complaining). A perfect day for a slow-cooked meal, so we give you pork with apples and onions. This recipe is almost too simple - layer the ingredients in the slow cooker and leave it alone for 3 hours. Then eat it. Amazing! And it made the house smell like apples! We served it with chunky mashed potatoes. Let it snow!

Ingredients:

1 Braeburn apple, peeled and sliced

2 pork sirloin chops, cut in half

salt and pepper to taste

1 Cortland apple, peeled and sliced

2 teaspoons Red Monkey Stone Ground Spicy Mustard (you could use plain ground mustard, but this one adds a nice kick)

6 pearl onions, peeled

4 cippolini onions, peeled

1 1/2 cups apple cider

1 sprig fresh rosemary

In a 3-quart slow-cooker, layer the ingredients in the order they are listed. Cook on high for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, allowing the slow-cooker to do all the work while you browse A Couple in the Kitchen. Enjoy!!!

Pieces of pork layered between apple slices then seasoned

Thrown in some onions

Apple cider adds extra apple flavor

Pork loves rosemary