The Big Apple

For many of us, food is an integral part of childhood and a source of many memories. The foods we eat are often a reflection of who we are and where we come from. Growing up in the heart of central New York in a modest one-level country house, my family was surrounded on all sides by acres of cornfields and dairy farms. Tucked away in our family albums are pictures of me (and of my three sisters) tearing the husk off an ear of corn before I’d even learned to walk. Dinners in our home usually consisted of very simple middle-class American food: a cut of chicken or beef, potatoes served one of ten ways, and some fresh farm produce served with plenty of butter.

In the summers, as a child, it was a daily ritual for me to go out to the raspberry bushes in my back yard and pick as many berries as I pleased. Moving to an urban area has changed my perspective quite a bit. Now I go to Whole Foods and spend five dollars to get a handful of the same berries. I often find myself nostalgic for the quality, inexpensive staples that were always in our home.

In the autumn, if you drive for a half a mile out of my hometown in any direction you’ll find a roadside stand with bags of crisp apples and jugs of tangy cider. The orange maples that cover every curve of hill and valley in Madison County during this time of year are often decorated with tin sap buckets. My dad used to (and still does) fix us the richest french toast, dripping in pure maple syrup from these very trees. It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I tasted the thick, corn-syrupy goo that is Mrs. Butterworth’s, and realized how lucky we were to grow up with fresh food right at our fingertips.

Most people have a certain dish that is significant to them in some way. My blog will explore the relationship that people have with the food they grow, cook and eat and will share the recipes that accompany their stories.

Personally I enjoy cooking a little bit of everything. I’m always trying to branch out and experiment with new recipes, but there is something beautifully simplistic about country cooking: the smell of bacon on a Saturday morning, apples baking with cinnamon in the oven, or a dab of butter, melting in the pan.

My first recipe, maple apple crisp, is a recipe that resembles my country roots. Enjoy!


Maple Apple Crisp

Ingredients

5 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored, and sliced
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2) Toss apples with maple syrup and place in an 8x8 inch baking dish. Mix flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a separate bowl. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle mixture evenly over apples.
3) Bake for 35 minutes, until topping is golden brown.
4) Top with Breyer’s vanilla ice cream.