Inspiration, oh inspiration. Where for art thou, inspiration?

Shakespeare bastardised; my only excuse is 'why reinvent the wheel?'... You all have my sincere apologies.

But, for some reason, my inspiration has left me today, my muse has abandoned me, no revelation has come and I am feeling bereft. My usual solution for this (as it does happen every now and then) is to rifle through my cookbooks and ferret around on the internet as reading recipes is a sure-fire way of getting the juices running. Today they have run scared as recipes for Frumenty (something Shakespeare will, most likely, have eaten) or Hardtack are just not stimulating enough.

My determination to write and cook today was rapidly evaporating when I remembered that today I have to do something with a surplus of apples or risk throwing them. As I haven't come to terms yet with what's for tea tonight, I will have to do something with the apples that can be part of tea (pork chops with apple) or part of 'afters' (apple with vanilla ice cream and custard) or maybe even something for breakfast tomorrow morning (apples with pancakes). Note to self: get some pork chops.

I am going to make Spiced Apples. Or, more precisely, I am going to make apple pie without the vessel as that will be replaced by either pork, ice cream and custard or pancakes... Slightly sweet and sticky, gently spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and maybe even some star anise.

Spiced Apple

Ingredients:

• Apples, as much as you have and the variety you have available
• A mix of apples is favourable as they all bring their own characteristics to the table (literally)
• Per 500 gram apples:
• Butter (I prefer salted)
• (soft brown) sugar to taste
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon (to taste)
• 1 level teaspoon nutmeg (to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves (to taste)
• 1 level teaspoon ground or fresh ginger (to taste)
• 2 star anise (optional) (to taste)

Method:

1. Clean the apples, peel (optional), remove the core and cut into pieces (cubes, wedges or slices, as you prefer). Place the apples in a bowl of water with some lemon juice to prevent from browning too much whilst cutting the rest of the apples, if you have a lot
2. (Drain the apple pieces). Coat the apples in the spices
3. Melt the butter in a heavy frying pan
4. Add the sugar (and star anise, if using) and let melt
5. Add the apples, let them soften and caramelise

Some recipes just don't come easier than that...

Variations and serving suggestions:

• Use a mix of baking/cooking and eating apples; this will give an interesting result in flavour and texture
• Use a different type of sugar/sweetener (such as granulated, demerara, honey or maple syrup) to alter the flavour (and colour) slightly
• Squeeze in a little lemon juice if the mixture is too sweet for your liking or use less sugar/sweetener if you are using very sweet apples
• Add in a tablespoon (per 500 gram apple) of sultanas or other dried berries such as cranberries or barberries for an extra burst of fruity flavour
• Replace the apples with pears, the cooking instructions stay the same
• For tea:
• Serve with pan fried pork chops, venison, (wild) boar or rabbit
• For afters:
• Serve with (home made) vanilla ice cream and/or custard
• For breakfast/brunch:
• Fold into pancake batter or spoon on top of pancakes or three-in-a-pan (Scottish pancakes)
• For a treat:
• Use as a filling (before cooking) for apple (or pear) pie
• Mix the spices through some flour and coat the apples in the flour mix. Prepare a cake batter and mix the apples through. Pour into a cake tin and bake as normal (this also works well with pears)

Enjoy