A cheat day today so the following is an idea I have discovered that my son loves!
When we moved into our rented farmhouse, along with the aga, we inherited a classic cottage garden. When my husband showed me round it was looking ready for the winter and to my inexperienced eyes I saw lots of plants and trees that I didn't have a clue what they were. I spotted an area which I thought would make a lovely vegetable patch, something we could never have aspired to in our previous house. My husband urged me to continue looking around the garden and to my pleasant surprise, a vegetable patch was already in existence.
My most exciting discover here in the early spring were two rhubarb plants growing well. As spring and then summer came we quickly realised that we were lucky enough to have two different varieties of eating apple, a bramley apple tree, a pear tree and a yellow plum tree. The simple pleasure of being able to walk up to a tree in the garden and pick a fruit to eat is incredible and I feel honoured that my son is growing up with such a wonderful space around him. However, this is soon tempered by the fact that there are lots of apples on the trees and just letting them fall to the ground seems a waste. It is nice to see the blackbirds enjoying a few of the windfalls, and even the drunk wasps are good fun but I wanted to think of ways to keep the apples for eating other than slicing them and putting them in the freezer.
I had been given aga tips books and one of these talked about drying mushrooms and apples. I thought about this and really didn't fancy having a string of apples hanging above my aga. So I decided to try cooking them in the bottom oven, the end result is a lovely crisp snack that keeps well in an air tight container. It does need time and attention and I have lost a couple of batches when I've forgotten they are in the aga and need turning regularly, but it is worth the effort when you have a bit of time.
Recipe - Apple crisps
Large shallow oven tray
4 large eating apples
- Peel and core the apples
- Thinly slice the apples (I use a mandolin on a 5mm blade)
- Spread apple slices out on tin.
- Put into a low heat oven, about 140°C. After 1 hour, turn the slices over and return to the oven. Try to turn the apples a couple of times, the apples will need about 4 hours cooking time. You will know they are ready when they start to turn golden brown and do not feel moist to touch.
- Once they are cooked, take out of oven and leave to cool. Put into a clean and sterilised jar and enjoy!
