Apple Overload Week! 🍎

easy ideas for apple-centric dishes :)

Hello! Happy Autumn Equinox to those of us in the northern hemisphere, and happy Spring Equinox to dear readers in the southern hemisphere! Many of us are experiencing apple season, so here are some ideas of easy things to whip up with this wonderful fruit.

Apple Grilled Cheese

It’s very satisfying to make a slightly elevated grilled cheese. I added thinly sliced apples, used smoked gouda for the cheese, and spread apple butter on the inside of the bread slices.

A little hack for making grilled cheese is to microwave the sandwich for 30 secs to a minute before you toast it 🤫 This softens up the apples and the cheese, so then your only job is to make sure your butter doesn’t burn when you fry the sandwich on the pan. I hope you love it!

Apple Galette (Sweet or Savory)

Galettes are sometimes known as “pie for lazy people.” Love it. Preheat your oven to 325 and lay out your pie crust of choice. (I used storebought.) You can even make mini galettes like in the picture above; with only one crust, we made a normal apple pie and a savory chicken-cheddar-apple galette 🤤

Preheat your oven to 375 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay out your pie crust and prepare your filling.

For the sweet galette: Slice some apples and toss them with butter, sugar, and your favorite fall spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, the works) and a little salt.
For the savory galette: Slice some apples and toss them with cooked chicken (I used rotisserie) and cheddar (I used shredded) and some herb spices and salt.

Here’s an in-process pic to show you how much you do not need to be a perfectionist here.

Then is a really satisfying, free-form part: fold the crust onto the edges to seal it all in. Maybe add a sprig of rosemary or some kind of garnish.

Brush the crust with an egg wash and bake for 40-ish minutes! So fun, right?

If you want an actual recipe that takes more than ten minutes to prepare, check out this savory apple galette.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Apple and Prosciutto

This meal idea adapted from NYT Cooking (paywall) teaches us a tasty, elegant new way to make an “icy, porky snow” of a garnish. Stack or roll up some prosciutto and freeze it, then shave it on top of your dish with a grater or zester. We also grated some Pecorino.

But first, for the simple dish: sauté apples and sliced or shredded brussel sprouts together with ghee or olive oil and salt and pepper until they’re to the color and crispiness that you like! Then garnish with your fancy shaved prosciutto and/or hard cheese and it’s officially a New York Times dish.

I was genuinely surprised by how much the family loved this and how filling it was.

Apple Roses

It’s much easier to watch the one-minute explanation below, but here’s a summary: thinly slice red apples and put them in a bowl that’s half-full of water and some lemon juice, then microwave it for three minutes to soften those apples. Preheat your oven to 375. Lay out puff pastry (or pie dough) into strips, and spread out jam or something sticky. Place the thin apple slices halfway down the strip, fold the bottom half upward over the slices, roll it up into a rose. Bake roses in a muffin tin until fully cooked; this recipe says 45 minutes.

Smoked Cinnamon Fancy Drink

Props to Carolina Gelen for showing us how easy it is to make a fall drink have a smoky taste: light a cinnamon stick until it’s smoking, then put it under your drink glass! After you fill the glass with your beverage(s) of choice, the burnt cinnamon stick makes a classy garnish, too.

Psssst, diluted apple cider is still totally great, so feel free to sneakily add some water to your kids drinks 🤫

Here’s what the glass-smoking process looks like:

Apple Taste Testing Party

And, finally, you know that I couldn’t resist a taste testing party! Buy 3+ different varieties of apples (your cashier at the grocery store will love you 😜) and ask your family members which ones they like best! It doesn’t have to be fussy; I put a couple spreads and some cheese on the plate with a super classy Post-it note in the center.

Maybe you could provide some oyster crackers and encourage the kids to “cleanse their palate” between tastings. You could do a whole candy apple bar in a muffin tin, too, but just asking your kids “Do you prefer Jonagold or Granny Smith?” makes for fun fall memories, too.

Obviously there are many different ways to work with this splendid fruit. I’d love to hear some of your favorite apple-y meal ideas in the comments ⬇️

Warmly,

Hope from Family Scripts