Apple Cake
I really like apples. On a sort of principle level. In reality, handling them makes my hands itch and when I eat apples my throat closes up and I suffer a major anxiety attack.
It’s a real pity that I’m so allergic to them, because my sister has a garden full of apple trees and more apples than she knows what to do with. But since cooked apples are fine, I have this excellent excuse to add sugar and cinnamon and bake them in the oven, or put them in a pie – or make this old family recipe!
The recipe is a bit odd, because the actual cake contains neither butter nor eggs. The story behind it is that my great-grandmother, who was a cook, made this up during the war (WWII) when she had no eggs and just a little butter but plenty of sugar. I call it “apple cake” rather than “apple pie” because the result is very much like a very moist, heavy sort of sponge cake. It doesn’t need custard or ice cream or cream and it tastes even better cold.
2,5 dl sugar (1 cup)
6 dl flour (2.5 cups)
3 dl milk (1.3 cups)
5 teaspoons baking powder5-8 apples (depending on size)
sugar, cinnamon
butter according to taste (I’d say about 150 g but the more the tastier)
- Peel and slice apples very thinly (remove the seeds and such first of course).
- Mix sugar, flour and baking powder. Pour the milk a little at the time while stirring. Stir until smooth. It’s going to be not quite like dough, but a lot stickier than when you make ordinary sponge cake or muffins.
- Prepare an oven-pan (a really large one, I used one that was about 35×30 cm – about 11×14 inches) with butter and breadcrumbs. Pour the mixture into the dish.
- Cover it with layer of apple slices.
- Pour some sugar and cinnamon on them.
- Put on another layer of apples. Add more sugar and cinnamon.
- Finish by pouring the melted butter evenly over the cake.
- Bake in 225 °C (450 °F) for app 20 min
Lazy days…
I have barely cooked at all this week. Mostly it’s been restaurants and ready-made stuff. But I’ve (mostly) kept my vegetarian diet. Apart from some sushi the other day…
Anyway, I have found a new addiction.
Vegetarian hot dogs.
I swear I can not get enough of them.
Hopefully I’ll get around to baking an apple cake (“pie” isn’t the right word for what I’m thinking of) tomorrow, because I visited my sister and picked a bagful of apples the other day. If I do, I’ll post the recipe.
OMG! Ice cream!
Ever since I moved into my apartment a while back, I’ve had this problem.
I haven’t had a freezer.
I had a fridge, but no freezer. So that’s meant no ice for my drinks, no frozen, easily heated cinnamon buns and – worst of all – no ice cream.
But all that is about to change because today my dad helped me get my brand new beatiful freezer home. It’s not quite cold yet, but tomorrow I’ll be able to stuff it with every flavour Häagen Dazs and Ben&Jerry ever made.
I can’t wait!
Yes, my life is sort of pathetic and for dinner today I had some tofu left-overs and ramen noodles. Only I got bored half-way though and just stopped eating. That would never happen with Cookie Dough Swirl!
Indian baked rice
I cheated yesterday. I tried the chicken Korma. Admittedly, just one piece but still. Chicken is not a vegetable. But rice is OK. And therefore I will ignore the chicken Korma and post the recipe for my favourite way to make basmati rice – baking it in the oven.
basmati rice (enough to serve six)
butter
salt
aluminium foil!
- Heat the oven to 150 °C (300 °F).
- Wash and drain the rice.
- Fill a pot with water and bring to boil. Add some salt.
- Put in the rice and let it cook for five minutes, than drain it, getting rid of all the water. Put the rice in an ovenproof dish. Click plenty of butter (like 4-5 tbs) over it. Cover the dish with aluminium foil, taking care to make sure that it fits snugly and seal as thoroughly as possible (it’s supposed to steam cook in there).
- Put in oven for app 45 minutes. If it’s not done by then, give it a few minutes more.
This way of preparing rice makes it crispy and fluffy at the same time, with a slightly buttery taste. It’s really very, very good!
Uninspired Mediterranean pita
When I made this I was inspired by a friend who used to do this with spicy sausages – mix them with scrambled eggs and serve in pita bread. She would add thyme to the eggs, but since the tofu came already full of herbs and pine nuts I didn’t feel that any additional herbs were necessary.
100 g tofu rossi (flavoured with tomatoes, herbs and pine nuts)
2 eggs
yogurt (of Greek/Turkish variety, with 8 – 10 % fat)
garlic
lettuce
pita bread (4)
salt, pepper, sweet chili sauce
- Mix yougurth, garlic and salt and pepper. Put in the fridge for about ten minutes.
- Meanwhile, dice and fry the tofu. Then scramble the eggs and mix it all, adding salty and pepper. Just to spice it up, I put some sweet chili sauce on top, but I guess that’s optional.
- Put the tofu/eggs mix in a pita bread. Add lettuce. Top with garlic yoghurt.
Fringe benefits
Normally at work, I always go out for lunch. Main reason is, otherwise I have to eat with the Parents. Mind you, I don’t hate people with children. I have lots of friends with children who are perfectly nice. But there are some people who can never talk about anything else but their children, who will always put you down because you are not a mother and who seem to have been born about eighty years old.
Having started this massive cooking, I’m saving money by packing a little lunch box, microwaving the soggy remains of yesterday’s dinner and eating them in the delightful company of my colleagues. Aka the Parents.
The other day one of them suddenly said: “But what if the children turn into that kind of rocker, you know, who wear black and dye their hair and listen to noisy music? You never know what might happen. They might get a tattoo!”
That made my day.
