On the Subject of Few Ingredients -- Nigel Slater's Apple Crumble

A. is out of town. He left us for a translation seminar in Greece. For eleven days. The gorgeous Greek island, Paros, actually.

The dog.

I'm pretty much fine with it. Maybe a teeny tiny bit envious, but that's all. We miss him! But Fe. and I are having a pretty good time on our own.

I've had to get a little bit more creative with the entertainment for Fe., since it's all on me. Of course, I immediately turned to a cooking project. The surest way to entice Fe. into the kitchen is with the preparation of any kind of dessert. Cookies, ice cream, sorbet, these are all huge hits.

I had a substantial bag of apples in the fridge (thanks, M0!) that were long overdue for some attention. I was thinking, cobbler, crisp, or buckle and then I yanked Nigel Slater's Tender Volume II off the shelf, and quickly settled on crumble.

Have you seen Slater's Tender Volume I and II?

They are stunning editions that alphabetically catalog most vegetables (Volume I) and fruits (Volume II). They are essentially, as Slater himself says, cooks' guides to the vegetable and fruit garden. The photography is exquisite and Slater not only offers an abundance of enticing recipes for each crop, but adds helpful tips on seasonality, varietals, and how to include any given fruit or vegetable in your own garden. If you need to know how to prune gooseberries, Slater can help. If you're hankering for a tempting recipe for lamb with quinces, Slater is your man.

Really invaluable stuff.

Turns out if you are trying to entertain a toddler and cap off a lovely family dinner, Slater is again the guy you can trust. I saw his recipe for A Deeply Appley Apple Crumble and I was sold. I'm really digging recipes with just a very few ingredients. This crumble has four. We had everything in the pantry. We just needed to turn on the oven and peel some apples.

You should feel free to use any sort of apple. In my head I always assume that Granny Smith apples are the only apples for baking. This is malarkey. We used two week old (due to my laziness) Galas (I think) from a sweet friend's tree. The crumble was a winner. With the exceptional variety of apples available to us these days, I wouldn't hesitate to experiment with whatever I discover at the farmers' market.

The apples need peeling and coring and hacking into hunks. They are then tossed with sugar and lemon juice in a bowl. You empty the bowl into a hot sauté pan, stirring infrequently, to caramelize the apples. The caramelization process will have you in fits wanting to shovel the dangerously hot apples into your mouth. The toffee perfume is scrumptious. Fe. kept shouting, "I can smell it Mama! I can smell it!"

I have the British version of both volumes of Tender. I couldn't wait for the American additions. I'm not even sure if there is an American Tender Volume II. While my need for instant gratification was satisfied, the British editions do require a little extra work interpreting the recipes. For goodness sake, what is golden caster sugar? I've never seen that ingredient at the market. I used a combination of brown sugar and granulated sugar, which worked just fine, but I think a super-fine baking sugar would have been more on point.

Measurements also need translating, so a computer and a scale help tremendously. And Gas 4? I'm belatedly finding out that it is 375 degrees Fahrenheit not 350 degrees. I would have had more color a bit faster. Oh well, one learns.

The crumbly bits themselves are lovely buttery pebbles. I recommend using an exceptionally delicious high-fat butter for this, because you can really taste it. I still swear by Kerrygold Irish butter. The fun part is smooshing the butter into the flour and sugar with your fingertips. What child doesn't like to get there hands into the mix? Fe. absolutely adored this, although he was having trouble understanding exactly where the tips of his fingers were.

I considered warming the crumble before serving it, but it was a already sufficiently toasty in the house, so I served it at room temperature with heavy cream drizzled over. The simplicity of this dessert is its beauty. That so few ingredients can come together to create something so purely delicious is almost magic.

Slater mentions in the preamble to the recipe that the world doesn't necessarily need another apple crumble recipe. He may be right, but this is a damn good one.

Nigel Slater's Apple Crumble

For the filling:

850 grams cooking apples (30 ounces)

Juice of half a lemon

75 grams golden caster sugar (2.65 ounces)

30 grams butter (1 ounce)

For the crumble:

95 grams butter (3.35 ounces)

150 grams all purpose flour (5.3 ounces)

45 grams golden caster sugar (1.6 ounces)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Peel, core, and cut the apples into one inch hunks. Toss them into a large bowl with the lemon juice and sugar. Mix until the apples are well coated.

Melt the butter in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the apples and let cook, stirring very infrequently to promote caramelization. The apples should be golden brown in places.

Tip the apples into a baking dish, making sure to collect any pan juices.

Place the flour into a bowl and rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips. When the mixture looks like bread crumbs add the sugar and combine. Add one tablespoon of water and shake the mixture in the bowl to form different size crumbles. Turn the crumbles over the apples.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until golden.

Serves 4

Richard Olney's Pork Chops and Apples in Mustard Sauce

I was reading in the L.A. Weekly about Jonathan Gold's ten most battered cookbooks. And although he shares his top ten with us in a rather self-satisfied way, there is no denying he has quite a few gems in his top ten. In all honesty the few that I don't already own, I'm tempted to add to my collection, post haste.

Seeing Richard Olney's Simple French Cooking on the list filled me with pleasure. Simple French Cooking is one of the best French cookbooks around. I've had my copy for about fifteen years, and while it is unlikely that mine is as battered as Gold's, it is dog-eared and worn-out from frequent perusal and use. There was a point in my life when I'd carry it with me everywhere, simply to assure good reading at all times.

Olney brings to your kitchen the rustic cuisine of France. From hot onion omelets with vinegar to gratin of endives and bacon, to the more extreme, lambs' frivolities (that's testicles, folks) and calves' brains (Joseph, you should probably pick up a copy!), this essential French cook book truly teaches you French cooking.

One of the easier recipes that I have been preparing for years is Pork Chops and Apples in Mustard Sauce. It is a more sophisticated take on the classic American pork chop with a spoonful of applesauce. Beautifully browned pork chops are tucked into a bed of thinly sliced apples, and drizzled with white wine deglazed pan drippings. These are then cloaked in a thick mustard and heavy cream mixture.

Yes, the use of heavy cream is a bit decadent, but this recipe is the perfect reason to make an exception and allow a bit of extra fat into your life. The apples, mustard and cream form a luscious bed for the meaty chops.

One big recommendation -- use bone-in chops. Foolishly, I did not do so this last time. Big mistake! Meat -- especially pork -- is almost always more moist and more delicious when cooked on the bone. My boneless chops were just a hair overdone, and that is hugely disappointing when the preparation is so terrific.

I typically serve this over some sort of tiny pasta. I like the way the sauce coats the slippery noodles. This time around I served the chops with more vegetables and some roast potatoes -- also very good, but the amount of sauce produced sort of begs for a bed of something.

Pork Chops and Apples in Mustard Sauce

2 pounds apples, quartered, cored, peeled, sliced thinly

1 tablespoon butter

4 pork loin chops about 3/4 inch thick, pared of excess fat

Salt

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 cup heavy cream

About 1/3 cup Dijon mustard (to taste)

Pepper

Spread the apples in a lightly buttered gratin dish (large enough to hold the chops placed side by side without forcing) and bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the salted chops in a bit of butter over medium heat until nicely colored on each side, 7 or 8 minutes per side. Arrange the chops on the apples' surface, deglaze the pan with the white wine, reducing it by half, and dribble it over the surface.

Mix the cream and the mustard, adding the latter progressively and tasting. Salt lightly, pepper to taste, and pour the mixture over the chops and apples, shaking the dish gently to be certain the cream penetrates the bed of apples. Bake 15 minutes longer at the same temperature.

Serves 4