velvet lily pads

We had the great fortune of getting a big bad of organic Pink Lady apples at the West Side Market for one dollar. A few were a bit bruised, but they were perfect for cooking with. Every time I take one out, I think "A dollar!" in my head, so happy am I of this great luck. I've been thinking of lots of delicious apple recipes, but as it turns out so far I've ended up making only one apple recipe twice because it was so delicious the first time. Dutch Babies are a tradition in Devin's family where they are baked plain and then topped with a delicious sauce of fruit, butter, and sugar. I came across this recipe with apples and had to try it. Typically it is made in a cast iron skillet, but we don't have one of those, so I just use a glass pie plate. You could also divide it up into individual portions using a muffin tin. The batter is almost identical to Yorkshire Pudding batter and I follow the rules of my English grandmother here- all ingredients at room temperature.

Apple Dutch Baby

2 apples peeled, cored and sliced
1 1/2 Tablespoon butter
1/3 C. sugar or honey (or more to taste and tartness of apples)
cinnamon to taste
3 lg eggs
3/4 C. milk
3/4 C. flour
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a skillet saute apples, butter, sugar,cinnamon until apples begin to soften.

Whisk together eggs and milk. Add to flour and salt and mix together.

If you are using a cast iron skillet you can just pour the batter right over the apples and pop it into the oven. If you aren't I like to melt a little butter in the pan I am using and place it in the oven for 3-5 minutes to heat up. Then I add the apple mixture and top with the batter.

Bake for 20 minutes.
Top with powdered sugar and cinnamon if desired.

I wish I had a picture for you, but it's most delicious when it's right out of the oven and disappears quickly, so...



I've been reading Abigail Thomas' memoir A Three Dog Life. The essays chronicle her life after her husband is in a terrible accident chasing after the dog in Manhattan traffic. After the accident, he lives in an assisted living facility existing in the most present tenses, unable to recall time after a few moments. I just wanted to share one of my favorite parts of the book, aside from when he calls dog's ears "velvet lily pads" which is so lovely and perfect.

Thomas is writing about the assisted living center's art studio where many of the residents spend time working on projects and finding new life through art. She tells this brief story: "There was a young man who had arrived at the Northeast Center angry and belligerent, as inclined to take a swing at you as not. He began showing up in Bill's studio and started to paint. Bill watched him become an artist, and gradually he stopped being at the mercy of his rages. He got well enough to leave the center and move to a group home. This is what he said to Bill before he left: "What is art, anyway, except not pounding on walls."