Challenge: Fall Fruits (WARNING: Tons of pics)

[Poppinfresh]

The objective: A full menu featuring fall fruits (apples, pears, quince). Kind of a poor man's Iron Chef thing I do with some buddies every now and again.

The eventual menu:

-Crusty Bread with Membrillo and Manchego
-Chilled Creamy Pear Soup
-Lamb Tenderloin with Pear Brandy Sauce, Braised Red Cabbage with Apple, and Poached Lady Apples
-Apple-Quince-Cherry Galettes
-A drink with no name
-Pequipple Sauce

Appetizer was simple. I just prepared crusty bread with membrillo (quince paste) and slivers of 2 year aged manchego cheese:

And finished:

And on to the main course. Start with:

2 cups white wine
2 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup apple vinegar
Allspice
Thyme
Cinnamon sticks
And of course the lady apples.

Toss it all into a pot and simmer for 40 minutes

While that's going, time to start getting the dough ready for the galettes. Start with 1/2c crushed and toasted walnuts:

Mixed with 1/4 tsp salt, 3 cups flour, 1/4 cup sucanat or brown sugar, 1/4 tsp pepper, 3/4 cup canola oil, and 1/2 cup milk...toss it in the fridge to chill/rise.

Continued...

 

[Poppinfresh]

Then hop over and start in on the soup since it needs time to chill. Peel and chop some Bartlett pears, and then toss em in a bowl with some apple cider vinegar so they don't turn brown:

Dice up an onion, then cook with some salt, thyme, prepared mustard, and an arrowroot slurry for a few minutes:

Then add vegetable broth, the reserved pears, and some celery chunks and boil lightly until the pears are soft. You can see the lady apples still poaching on the back burner:

Switching gears, work on the galette filling now. Start with 2 applies and a quince, all peeled up and cored pretty like. Zest and juice an orange. Cook the quince @ 400 for about 8 minutes with the orange stuff, 1/2t cardamom, 1/2t cinnamon, and 1T agave nectar. Then toss the cooked quince together with a little salt, 1 1/2t arrowroot, 3T sugar, the apples, and the dried sour cherries

Pears should be soft by now. Remove the celery and thyme, puree it, and then strain it. Add in the heavy cream (ooooo, preeettty), and simmer for a few minutes. Strain it again and then stuff it in the fridge to cool.

Julienne some basil, a red bell pepper and a yellow bell pepper. Ultimately will end up as garnish for the soup.

Continued...

 

[Poppinfresh]

Start working on the cabbage and apples. Small head of cabbage, 1 sliced red onion. Sautee with 1 cup apple juice, 1T apple cider vinegar, 1t salt, 1/4tcaraway seeds, and 1/2t fennel seeds for about 15 minutes. Add a sliced apple, and saute for another 15 minutes until slightly browned.

Take out the poached lady apples now. Just keep cooking the poaching liquid until it forms a nice glaze.

Finally, the piece de resistance. Lamb chops, given a nice coating of a minty fresh rub.

Sear the lamb on both sides with some grapeseed oil, and then add shallots, carrots and onions

Time to take the galette dough out of the fridge. These are ridiculously easy to make. Just roll out a roughly circle-ish piece of dough, spoon the filling on the center, and fold up the edges:

I had some leftover fruits, so I decided to make a pequipple sauce (my new phrase for the kitchen). It's just a funny take on apple sauce.

In addition to the whole fruit, there is just the juice and zest form the lemon and orange, 1/3 cup each brown sugar and refined sugar, 1 cup water, 2 cinnamon sticks, and a splash of vanilla extract. The nice thing about making apple-ish sauce is that it's stupid easy: put everything in a pot and cook until mushy. Takes about 45 minutes.

 

[Poppinfresh]

Of course, no meal is complete without a drink.

1 shot Vodka
1 shot sour apple schnapps
1 shot butterscotch schnapps
1 candied granny smith apple

Add the liquor to ice in a mixer. Stir and pour into a martini glass, decorate accordingly.

So this:

Plus this:

Equals this:

Final food products. Yeah I know, my plating sucks:

I'll write up formal recipe lists at some point for those who want them. It's sorta just a jumble right now.

 

[pdswife]

I love
1 shot sour apple schnapps
1 shot butterscotch schnapps ...tastes just like a caramal apple. Yummy!
I'll have to try it with the vodka!