Chef Forum banner

November Cooking Challenge!

7K views 80 replies 15 participants last post by  chrislehrer 
#1 ·
Okay, folks, here's the deal.

In the USA, November is a very awkward month for complicated home cooking, because of Thanksgiving. Now in previous years, we've had mushrooms, comfort food, leftovers, food from TV or movies, and soup. I figure there's a theme there: this is all stuff that we want to eat and make when we're NOT making Thanksgiving dinner.

This year, I thought I'd approach sideways. You can include a Thanksgiving thing, but not anything obvious like turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and whatnot. And I also wanted something that you could potentially deal with very quickly, with minimal planning, since we have a somewhat foreshortened month for this challenge.

Hints…

I live in semi-rural New England, and my wife is from Vermont, pushing the rural New England territory pretty far. At this time of year, there's one thing that leaps out at me. It's something that can be savory or sweet; it can be served at Thanksgiving but people will eat it at other meals happily; it's good for you; it's insanely open to all kinds of wild brilliance while at the same time responding beautifully to the most old-fashioned approaches.

And so… the theme for November 2018 is…

APPLES


The usual rules apply:
- The challenge begins on the 1st [4th!!!] of every month and the last entry must be made by the last day of the month.
- You may post multiple entries.
- All entries must be cooked during the month of the challenge.
- If you use a documented recipe, please cite your source.
- Entries should include the name of your dish and a picture of the final product. Sharing personal recipes and pictures of the process are not mandatory but extremely helpful.
- The winner is chosen by the person who posted the challenge, and is announced after the last day of submissions. The decision is final and falls entirely at the discretion of the challenger.
- Submitting an entry makes you eligible to win. If you do not wish to be considered for the win you may still participate in the challenge, but make your wishes known to the challenger.

The winner's bounty includes praise, virtual high-fives, and the responsibility of posting the next month's challenge. That entails choosing a theme, posting a Challenge thread that includes the guidelines, checking in on the submissions regularly during the month, and promptly choosing a winner at the end of the challenge.

Let the apple-cooking begin!
 
See less See more
1
#2 ·
Nice one Chris!
Looking forward to the entries.
All apples here are imported, but at least I can get them ;)

Is it pure apples, or are things like apple cider allowed as well (I was contemplating pork chops stewed in apple cider)?
 
#9 ·
My mother was raised on a farm in southern Michigan, and we would often go visit the farm. During fall we'd often stop by this one place that had fresh, unfiltered apple cider for sale. My dad would buy 5 - 6 gallons of it. One of them would stay in the kitchen where it would be quickly consumed by us kids, there were 6 of us.

The other jugs would get stashed in the basement, basically forgotten by the kids. But I worked on my model cars and stuff in the basement, and every week or two my dad would come down and take a small taste from one of the jugs. I was on the order of 10 years old during those years, and I had no idea what my dad was up to when he took such a small taste from the jugs. Now as an adult I know what it was he was doing with the jugs stashed away, why he would fuss about with them. It was probably pretty good stuff once fermented for a while.

mjb.
 
#10 ·
We have a couple of places around me that sell unpasteurized cider. What I really enjoy about it is tasting how the cider changes throughout the season, depending on what apples are available when. I find that I, generally, don't care for early season cider. It tends to be thin, and rather boring compared with later season stuff with has a much rounder mouthfeel, and a much more complex flavor.
 
#12 ·
That's a bummer! Here, in Wisconsin, we've had an "ok" season. Not great, but certainly not even close to our worst season. The summer was cool and rainy-hottest weather really seemed to come in June, and our Fall has been mild, but rainy
 
#16 ·
this isn't the best pic as I took it in hindsight after the event. still waiting on pics to come back from it, but it is a brown sugar and cinnamon panna cotta with apple gelee, apple blossoms, and ginger snap tuille. The blossoms really packed a punch and made apple the star of the show.
 

Attachments

#17 · (Edited)
OK - I like apples!! Last night I made an old favorite, but with a nice twist. I sauteed red cabbage with bacon, small German bratwursts and Macintosh apples. This is usually a side with kielbasa, but I added the brats and it was our main dish. Fry some bacon, remove to drain, add sliced/shredded cabbage, salt, pepper and sautee. Meanwhile I par cooked the brats in a pan then deglazed with cabernet and poached some apple in till tender then added that to the cabbage. Finally I did another apple and added that near the end to play off the crunch of any thicker cabbage bits and the snap of the brats. For a side I did some crispy small potatoes. Unfortunately no plating pics, but we tore into that meal and I'll post one when I have leftover. I urge y'all to try it - hey it's GF too.


 
#21 ·
My first response was also disagreement with apples in risotto. But then apples and cheese is a classic combination. Like fondue. And I also like apples with Tajin type seasoning so does this mean I should attempt apple nachos?

At a minimum I can see trying a tajin dusted apple in my next fondue to find out.
 
#25 ·
Food Tableware Table Ingredient Cutting board
Here's my offering for the monthly challenge. I call it "The Raspapple Piglet." Its a grilled sandwich served hot that features roast pork, saute'd apples, melty smoked gouda and raspberry preserves served on homemade ciabatta roles. The apples can't be seen very well in the photographs, but, they're there. :)

This sandwich was inspired by a sandwich that I had in a pub in Upstate New York over 20 years ago. I'm not sure if the place is still there or if its is, if they still serve the sandwich. But, they called it the "Rasbanero" or something like that.

The recipe is simple. Roast a delicious pork loin. Eat it. Take the leftovers, toss them around in a pan with some toasted sesame oil, salt and pepper. Deglaze the pan with a cup of apple cider and a few drops of apple cider vinegar or Balsamic vinegar (optional). Let the cider reduce to about 1/3 to 1/2 volume. Remove from the heat. Add a pinch of cinnamon and several thin apple slices (no more than 1/8 inch thick). Heat the apple slices in the reduced cider until they just begin to soften. Remove the apples from the pan and set aside the apples and the liquid.

Meanwhile, slice the rolls in half and grill both side using melted butter. A panini press is really useful here. After the rolls are grilled, place thin slices of smoked gouda on half of the rolls and place in a 400'f oven until the gouda is melty but, not runny. Remove from the oven. Meanwhile, slather the other half of the roll with the raspberry preserves, sliced apples and drizzle the reduced cider over it. Add the roast pork to the half of the rolls that have the melted gouda and combine both halves. Return the sandwich to the oven for a minute or two just to evenly heat the sandwich through.

Serve hot.

Enjoy!
 
#26 ·
I brined some mixed beans the other night and had a fair amount left over along with the cooking liquid. I took some nice thick pork chops, seasoned with salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme and smoked paprika. I braised that in apple cider along with some apples. When they were done I cubed them up and added to a mirepoix I made earlier with lardon, sausage, the beans and their liquid. I put the lid on it and into the oven for a couple of hours. Made some biscuits and it was perfect for a crisp fall day.


 
#27 ·
Food Ingredient Recipe Cuisine Dish

This photo is from 2016 so it isn't eligible for the challenge.
Broiled Cortland Apples with Seychel Pears.
I cut the fruit in half and brushed lightly with vegetable oil.
The pears I dusted with garam masala and Adobo. The apples I dusted with Adobo and a blend of 1/3 each white sugar, ground cumin and ground cinnamon. I broiled the pears and apples separately till lightly browned then tossed together at the last minute.
 
#28 ·
Halfway through the month, and I thought for sure we'd see at least one apple pie by now. I've added one of my all time favorite scenes from any cooking shows I've ever watched.

I am planning on 3 dishes, 2 of which involve bacon. I may have mismeasured the salt and cure, the bit of pork belly that I want to turn into bacon isn't getting as firm as it should be by now, over a week in the bag. We'll see what happens. Of course, I was going to smoke it over APPLE wood.

The third dish involves duck, which for some reason has been on my mind lately. Think I'll work on that one in the next few days.

mjb.

 
#29 ·
I thought for sure we'd see at least one apple pie by now.
Maybe we all thought it was too obvious. I had an apple tart assembled yesterday ready for final baking - I did the blind baking and added frangipane, jam and apples (artistically arranged).

I have a broken rib at the moment so bending is tricky. Anyway, I leaned over to pop it in the oven and managed to drop it. It went face down on the kitchen floor splattering the filling and shattering the pastry. I will try again when I have got over it!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top