Thursday 7 November 2013

THE ACCUSING LOOK OF VEGETABLES.

I was brought up during the Second World War when our maxim was always  'waste not want not.'   Every scrap of garden produce was used, every crust of bread used to make a bread and butter (or more likely margarine) pudding, nothing but the vegetable peelings thrown away - and those to the pig.

The farmer was brought up like this too and still frowns upon waste (although it is more than he dare do to say so!) - all our unused food (and there is very little of it) goes into the feed trough for the hens.
So you can imagine that this year has been quite difficult because our garden and orchard produced an enormous crop of apples, both eaters, cookers and don't know whichers.   Also a huge crop of cooking onions.

The farmer has picked them  and put them into boxes and there they sit on the bench in the shed window.   Every time I go out into the yard they glare at me accusingly from the shed window. They don't quite knock on the window and call, 'Oy, it's time you used us!' but they might just as well, because I feel that.

I have made apple pies and put them in the freezer, I have made apple and blackberry and apple and raspberry crumbles and put them in the freezer, I have stewed apples, put them in plastic containers and put them in the freezer.   As yet I have made no noticeable inroad into any of the boxes.

When Margaret from Thousand Flower was here last week she told me another easy recipe and I tried it today.   Alright, it only used four onions and four apples, but I have to say it was delicious and I shall certainly use it again and again.   So - here it is, in case you too are overloaded with apples and onions.   And even if you aren't then there is no reason why you shouldn't buy some especially.   I served it with a casserole made with steak, potatoes, celeriac, carrots, peppers and swede in a rich gravy.  

All you need to do is peel and quarter equal quantities of apples (in my case they were eaters as I have so many) and onions and saute them slowly.  I used a knob of butter and a small amount of rapeseed oil for this.   When they were a nice golden brown I sprinkled a scant spoon of sugar over them to give them a bit of a glaze.  Believe me, they were fantastic.   Try it sometime.

17 comments:

John Going Gently said...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/91391864@N00/3939217991/

Willow said...

That really does sound very tasty, I am going to try it !

Heather said...

So simple, but it sounds delicious. I shall certainly try it.

mrsnesbitt said...

Will modify this and share it with my SW pals xxxx

Cloudia said...

Good on you !


Aloha

MorningAJ said...

Apples and onions? Something's saying chutney to me!

jill said...

That sounds good Pat,
hope you are well.xx

Gwil W said...

Pat, I always leave some apples exactly where they fall. After a while I get lots of lovely looking mushrooms presumably from the spores that grow on the rotting apples. I don't know what sort of mushrooms they are so I don't eat them. I wouldn't risk eating them anyway even if I knew what they were because of the Chernobyl fall out which was quite heavy in this part of Europe. Wild boar was banned from the table in Bavaria until recently and Italian cranberries were found to be radioactive when they arrived in Japan not long ago.

Share my Garden said...

I'm another war baby who doesn't like waste! I bought a juicer a few years ago to use the 'Discovery' eating apples that don't keep at all. I pick the fresh windfalls, a couple of buckets at a time, and make juice to drink and also to freeze.
This year the pear crop has been excellent and I'm scratching my head to think of different ways to use them.

Tom Stephenson said...

A great title, Weave.

Arija said...

Did you manage to take care of the produce of that huge veggie patch you showed us in the spring??
You could always make apple and satsuma plum sauce, makes a great substitute for cranberry sauce.
I realise plums are no longer in season but maybe keep it in mind for the year after next, it works best with unripe apples anyway. Apples crop heavily every second year so next year you won't have to feel guilty.

Frances said...

I've got no garden, but so love to visit your posts. Maybe, I will be able to make some of this very interesting recipe after my next visit to the big Union Square farmers market.

I am intrigues to think of what the flavor might be. How did you serve it?

xo

angryparsnip said...

Great title and recipe today.

cheers, parsnip

Edwina said...

Now I quite fancy that with some good bangers!

Share my Garden said...

And another thing - your lovely header photo reminds me that I used to make rose hip syrup when the children were small. Heavenly smell and colour!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks for contributing. I have the idea of adding some sausage (I bought some Lincolnshire this morning just for the purpose), cooking it all and then topping with a savoury crumble mix (flour, butter, seasoning, herbs and cheese) and browning well in the oven. I will report back on how it turns out.

thousandflower said...

I'm so glad you liked the apples and onions. It's a winter staple for us. This winter we don't have a great abundance of either but we'll cook it up now and again anyway.

We loved the meals you cooked for us during our visit and the sandwiches you made for us to eat on the train. We ate every crumb of them and the birthday cake and cheese and pears. Didn't waste a crumb. Thank you so very much.