Friday, December 9, 2011

Oh what a day... 15: Apple Crumble

This day turned out to be quite a doozy.  It started out innocent enough.  I had a follow up scheduled with my GI and when the office number came up on my phone I thought for sure they were calling to reschedule.  *Sigh*  So I pick up the phone and as it turned out they had a cancellation and asked if I could come in earlier.   Sure!  That never happens for me.  Over all the appointment went well.  I discussed with her my thoughts of trying to find out if I have food allergies/sensitivities other than gluten.  I asked her opinion on going on an elimination diet to try to find trigger foods.  She was of the opinion the safest way to go would be to keep a very detailed food journal.  She felt that my already limited diet taken to another level may leave me malnourished.  No one wants that, so this is the plan we are going with.  Starting January 1.  I refuse to find out I'm allergic/sensitive to dairy, sugar, or chocolate for Christmas.  I want to eat, drink, and be merry for at least a little while longer.
At lunch Sydneys eye started running and quickly became very inflamed with sticky discharge.  I looked at her. I looked at Jeff.  I said "Well, Syd has pink eye."  went and picked up my phone and called the pediatrician.  By 2:15 we were seen and had a prescription for antibiotics.  Poor little kiddo looks so miserable.  The next few days are not going to be any fun for her.  Hopefully we can keep her little sister out of her face enough over the next few days that she doesn't come down with it too.

For dinner I decided to roast a chicken.  If nothing else we'll have something to pick on this weekend while we hang out with our goopy eyed girl.

Roasted Chicken

1 whole chicken
1 lemon - cut in half
5 cloves of garlic
kosher salt
olive oil
Preheat Oven to 450



  1. Wash the chicken - make sure you remove the package of innards and discard
  2. Pat the chicken dry and place in a roasting pan.
  3. Liberally salt the inside of the chicken.  Stuff the chicken with both lemon halves and garlic cloves.
  4. Coat the outside of the chicken with olive oil.
  5. Liberally salt outside of chicken.
  6. Place in preheated oven uncovered for 15 minutes.
  7. Remove chicken from oven - tent with foil and return to oven
  8. Reduce heat to 400 and cook for another hour and 15 minutes or until juices run clear.
I decided to make a pan gravy with the juices.  I had never attempted this before and I'm sure there are tastier things to do with it but this is what I came up with for my first try.

Pan Gravy

Remove roasted chicken to a platter and place roasting pan on large burner over medium heat.  Add 2 Tbs cornstarch and whisk until smooth.  Add 1/2 cup water and continue to whisk.  Serve over chicken.  Serve over anything really.  Everything is better with a little gravy.

Dessert - Apple Crumble.  I just have to say... my house smells AMAZING right now.  This is an adaptation of Mellisa d'Arabian's apple crumble recipe.

Apple Crumble

Apple Filling:
5 rome apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbs granulated sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
Crumble Topping:
2/3 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt
1 stick unsalted butter

Vanilla-Cardamom Caramel Sauce:
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 Tbs butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp gf vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. To make apple filling:  In a small bowl, toss apple slices with lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, and salt.  Set aside.
  3. To make the crumble topping:  In another bowl, mix the flour, brown sugar, oats, and salt with a fork until uniform.  In a baking dish, melt the butter in the microwave until about half melts, 15-20 seconds on high (depends on your microwave).  Pour the liquid butter into the flour mixture and incorporate with a fork.  Leave the excess butter in the baking dish.
  4. Arrange the apple slices in the dish.
  5. Top with the crumble mixture.  Bake until the apples are cooked through and the topping is golden, about 45 minutes.
To make the Vanilla-Cardamom Caramel Sauce:
  1. In a medium-heavy saucepan, mix the water and sugar and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Allow the mixture to boil, without stirring.  - Swirl the pan if needed.  Boil until the mixture is a pale golden brown - approx 7 minutes. - Do NOT walk away.  Sugar burns very quickly.
  2. Remove the pan from the heat, and stirring vigorously add the butter and cream.  The mixture will bubble.
  3. Add the ground cardamom and stir to incorporate.
  4. Return the pan to the heat and bring the mixture to a boil and then remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.
  5. Stir in the vanilla extract.
  6. Drizzle over crumble.

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