Cranberry-Apple Chutney

This sucker's so simple, it'll make you smack ya mama!

I made this on the fly on Easter. I grilled chicken breasts and pork tenderloins outside even though it was cold. I decided that I wanted to offer something else to go along with the pork since I'd only dry rubbed it. I came up with this.

• 1 medium sweet onion, thinly sliced
• 3 Tbl butter
• 1/2 C white vinegar
  1 to 1 1/2 C dried cranberries (fresh or frozen can also be used. I had dried on hand.)
• 1 - 2 apples - peeled and sliced. I used about 1 cup of DRIED apples from last year's harvest since I didn't have any fresh ones available, and the recipe was GREAT!)
  2 large navel oranges, JUICED- throw away everything else although you could throw in some of the zest if you're a real citrus-loving person.
• 1 C white grape juice
• Dash of cinnamon or nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1. Melt one tablespoon of butter in a pan and add the onions. Saute over medium heat until softened and translucent. Don't brown them.
2. Add the vinegar to the pan and stir for 2 minutes.
3. Add the cranberries and apples.
4. Pour in the orange and grape juices and stir well. Lower the heat and allow the mixture to simmer. The apples and cranberries will plump up while absorbing the liquid. (About 10 minutes)
5. Add the cinnamon and cayenne pepper.
6. Let the mixture simmer for about another 5-10 minutes and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter to the chutney. Mix well. The butter will provide a nice gloss to the sauce.
7. Serve along with grilled meat or fish. I served it with grilled pork tenderloin which had a simple dry rub of sea salt, cracked black pepper, and rosemary.

Apple Crumb Pie

Apple Crumb Pie
See that caramelized edge? Think apples swimming in caramel under that crumb topping. Let's get cooking, kids!


Here are your basic ingredients. Nothing out of the ordinary, right?

Ingredients:

1 store-bought pie crust, defrosted (See the NOTES below)

4-5 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced (chunky - not paper-thin)

1/3 C white sugar

2/3 C brown sugar, divided

1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp cinnamon (divided)

1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp nutmeg (divided)

2 tsp lemon juice

1/3 C + 1 Tbs all-purpose flour

2/3 C oatmeal

1 stick butter, softened


Directions:
1. Peel, core, and slice the apples. Simplest way to peel, core, and slice an apple: cut that sucker into fourth, slam your knife diagonally at the core to get it out, peel the remaining goodness, and slice, slice, slice. Is there undoubtedly going to be some wastage? Yeah. Will you be spending your entire day peeling and coring? Nope.

2. Combine the sliced apples with 1/3 C sugar, 1/3 C brown sugar, 1 Tbs flour, and 1/4 tsp EACH cinnamon and nutmeg. See that glossy sheen on the bowl? The apples are macerating in the sugars and beginning to create what will mimic some creamy caramel in the pie.

3. Let the apples sit while you go to work on the crumb topping.

4. If you're feeling like the kid needs to be put to work, let him mix the apples a little.

5. Prepare the crumb topping by combining 2/3 C oatmeal, 1/3 C AP flour, 1/8 tsp EACH cinnamon and nutmeg, and 1 stick of softened butter. Some people use a fork or pastry blender. At this point, I toss all utensils aside and mix everything with my sausage-like fingers. You should too; even if you don't have sausage-like fingers.

6. See? A few minutes of crumbling, and this is what you'll see in your stainless steel bowl as well!

7. Add the apples to the defrosted crust, top with the crumb topping, pressing it down a bit into the apples, and bake for 50-60 minutes.

Full recipe without the shots:

Apple Crumb Pie

Ingredients:
1 store-bought pie crust, defrosted (See the NOTES below)
4-5 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced (chunky - not paper-thin)
1/3 C white sugar
2/3 C brown sugar, divided
1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp cinnamon (divided)
1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp nutmeg (divided)
2 tsp lemon juice
1/3 C + 1 Tbs all-purpose flour
2/3 C oatmeal
1 stick butter, softened

Directions:

1. Peel, core, and slice the apples. Simplest way to peel, core, and slice an apple: cut that sucker into fourth, slam your knife diagonally at the core to get it out, peel the remaining goodness, and slice, slice, slice. Is there undoubtedly going to be some wastage? Yeah. Will you be spending your entire day peeling and coring? Nope.

2. Combine the sliced apples with 1/3 C sugar, 1/3 C brown sugar, 1 Tbs flour, and 1/4 tsp EACH cinnamon and nutmeg. The apples will macerate in the sugars, beginning to create what will mimic some creamy caramel in the pie.

3. Let the apples sit while you go to work on the crumb topping.

4. Prepare the crumb topping by combining 2/3 C oatmeal, 1/3 C AP flour, 1/8 tsp EACH cinnamon and nutmeg, and 1 stick of softened butter. Some people use a fork or pastry blender. At this point, I toss all utensils aside and mix everything with my sausage-like fingers. You should too; even if you don't have sausage-like fingers.

5. Add the apples to the defrosted crust, top with the crumb topping, pressing it down a bit into the apples, and bake for 50-60 minutes at 350 degrees.


Notes:

Crust: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know some purists out there won't like that I appear to be advocating for store-bought crust, however, when it means saving some times and/or presenting a recipe that will cause more people to MAKE their own pies than BUY their own pies, I'm ok with this. I do have a pretty good crust recipe you can easily make using some basic ingredients that are thrown into a Tupperware container and mixed by shaking the holy hell out of the container. I'll post it another time. If you're feeling all sorts of Pie Militant, feel free to make your own crust, my brothers and sisters!

Apples: I have made a myriad of apple pies using various apples, but I almost always come home to the Granny Smith when making a pie for someone else. I also do not slice the apples paper-thin because they tend to just disappear as they bake. I like a good chunky apple in my pie.

Butter: I have made this very same recipe using Smart Balance with very good results.

Brown sugar: I PACK it for the crumb topping but merely spoon it loosely when adding it to the apples. You can certainly play with the sugar amounts. I tend to just throw the sugar in when baking pies. When I made this most recent one, I forced myself to measure everything - which just goes against my nature when cooking anything other than bread.

Variations:
I made this same pie last week using peaches rather than apples.

Add chopped walnuts and golden raisins to the apple mixture to create a more rustic pie.

Serve the pie warm with some aged cheddar that's come to room temperature.

Whipped cream? If you must, please make your own. Please? I beg of you.

Feedback:
My Pack Mule and Butter loved the peach one I made last week. This very pie you see here was brought to a friend's house. While I didn't taste it, people said it was delicious goodness.