Here I Am

Apple Tree in Winter

Hi Victoria!

I just made the Zuni chicken. I think Olivia and my heads exploded; it was THE BEST CHICKEN I have eaten. Did marjoram and thyme and a smidge of rosemary and the cast iron skillet. Came out amazing. Thanks again for the great cookbook.

Christopher

I don't think Christopher will mind my sharing his email with you. If there's anything better than Zuni chicken, I don't know what it is.




Spring is (probably) going to arrive soon in the Northeast, and I will be especially glad to see it arrive this year. And once it does, summer




with all its fabulous garden bounty is not far behind.

In late August and early September, there are tomatoes bright red and bursting with flavor ready to be picked from the garden.




The last of the zucchini and cucumbers make their appearance, and you might even be able to find an eggplant or two if you look hard enough.





But even if the days are hot and sunny, and a gin and tonic on the porch at 5:00 o'clock is still a treat, there is an unmistakable sense that fall is bound to make its appearance sooner rather than later.

And nothing makes me realize that more than the apple tree.

All of a sudden it's laden with fruit, and the air is heady with its fragrance. In a little while the Italian prune plums will hit the farm stands. Before the pumpkins show up, there will be butternut squash and turnips. Pureed potatoes, heavy with cream, come to mind. And roast loin of pork, which I haven't thought about for three months, generally tops the list of what I want to make as soon as turning the oven on actually becomes an option.

And really, does anything sound better in the fall than homegrown, homemade applesauce?

I don't think so.

Up until now, I've made delicious applesauce from a Marion Cunningham recipe in The Fanny Farmer Cookbook, which is the book I turn to whenever I need a basic recipe. It's not that I don't like The Joy of Cooking. It was my first cookbook, after all, and I learned a lot of indispensable basics by reading it. But I have those under my belt now, and as I'm rarely planning to cook something as obscure as a possum, which is one reason to have Joy on the shelf, Fanny Farmer usually has what I'm looking for.

And applesauce was no exception.

But once again I'm discovering as I cook from Zuni, old habits are changing, and new recipes are becoming instant favorites.

This one is another keeper.

Roasted Applesauce
Vegetables, Savory Fruit Dishes, Pickles & Preserves, Page 260

This applesauce is not something you would want to eat on top of warm, treacle-y gingerbread, but it was definitely delicious with a thick Zuni pork chop, tomatoes in a light vinaigrette, Zuni creamed corn, and green and yellow wax beans fresh from the garden, cooked quickly in lots of salted water then tossed with butter.

And keeping me company, as usual, was my buddy, Sylvano.

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ADDENDUM

February 27, 2018

This recipe for Judy Rodgers' applesauce has now been turned into a Genius Recipe by FOOD52.