Served with or without ice cream, this is a seriously addictive dessert.

SERVES 8 – 10 

The CARAMEL

4 tablespoons/58 grams light olive oil

¾ cups/175 grams granulated sugar

4 ounces (120 grams) soft cream cheese (see NOTE)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½  teaspoon salt (see NOTE)

THE FRUIT

1 small quince, halved, seeded and cut into 1 -inch chunks

5 medium apples, about 1 kilo, 2 green, the rest red—somewhat sweet—each seeded and cut into 1 ½ -inch pieces

½ cup crystalized ginger, minced

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon cinnamon

The TOPPING

1 cup rolled oats

½ cup whole-wheat breadcrumbs

½ cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¾ cup blond or brown sugar

Zest from 1 lemon

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup (120 grams) walnuts, coarsely chopped

½ cup light olive oil

½ cup orange juice

Vanilla Ice Cream, optional for serving

Heat the oven to 375F (180C)

Prepare the caramel: Add 2 tablespoons water and the oil to a 12-inch oven-safe skillet with high sides. Sprinkle the sugar in an even layer over the bottom of the pan. Turn the heat to medium-high. Cook the sugar without stirring until bubbles start to appear. Now swirl the pan very carefully to help the sugar brown evenly. Once the caramel is dark amber, after about 6 minutes or a bit more, remove from the heat.

Let the mixture cool for 1 minute and then add the cream cheese, stirring until fully combined (the mixture will bubble rapidly). Add the vanilla and the salt.

Prepare the fruit: In a large bowl, toss together the quince, apples and ginger, lemon juice, cornstarch, and cinnamon.

Make the topping: In a medium bowl, combine the oats, breadcrumbs, walnuts, brown sugar, lemon zest, and salt. Add the olive oil and orange juice and toss together until all the dry ingredients are evenly moistened.

Add the fruit to the caramel in the skillet and toss to combine. Sprinkle evenly with the topping.  

Bake until the caramel is bubbling in the center, the fruit is tender, and the topping is browned, 35 to 40 minutes.

Let cool slightly before serving.

NOTE:

Instead of the usual, imported, generic cream cheese, I like to make this crumble with our local cream cheese or fresh myzithra, which is much more flavorful, and somewhat salty, so I omit adding extra salt.   

The post Apple and Quince Crumble with Caramel appeared first on Aglaia's Table οn Kea Cyclades.

Fuji are grown in Greece the last few years and they are by far the best –and more expensive.  For this simple, plant-based (vegan) dessert I loosely follow my mothers recipe.

Unlike northern Europeans and Americans we don’t add butter to baked apples. I would serve these as dessert, but I know that some people would like to compliment game, poultry or hearty winter meats with baked apples.  

6-7 Servings

6-7 Fuji, or other firm-fleshed apples

4-5 dried figs

1 cup fig jam, or quince preserves

1/2 cup walnuts peeled

1 cup mixed sultanas and currants

2 pieces cinnamon stick, cut in half

½ -1 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 – 1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 cup or more Commandaria, Mavrodafni, Masala or other sweet wine, as needed

A good sprinkle of Mishmish spice mix (optional)

Honey or Maple syrup for drizzling

Plain Halva for serving, optional

Heat the oven to 392F (200 C).

With an apple corer, remove the pits from the apples.  With a peeler remove most of the skin in a spiral all around the fruit. Place in a pan that holds them snugly.

Cut the stem from the dried figs and quarter them. Place a piece of fig in the hole of each pitted apple, along with some of the jam, and squeeze in some currents and/of sultanas.

Spread the rest of the dried fruit, the jam, and the walnuts around the apples in the pan, and scatter the pieces of cinnamon. Sprinkle with the spices and douse the apples and all around them with the wine that should come to about half up the fruits. 

Bake for about 1 hour, dousing every now and then the apples with the juices from the pan.

 When they soften, turn off the heat and leave them in the oven for 15 minutes, keeping the oven door ajar.

Take out of the oven and pour again juices from the pan over the apples, then sprinkle generously with Mishmish, if using. Drizzlingthe fruit with some honey or maple syrup, if you like the apples sweeter. Cover with foil and let cool completely before serving. They taste better the next day and their flavor improves the next 2-3 days. They keep at least ten days, covered in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Accompany with halva, or if you are not vegan, with Greek manouri cheese or mastic ice cream.

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I caramelized some sugar, then laid the peach or apple segments on it and cooked for a few minutes, before covering with two layers of pastry and baking. 

I bought quite a few nectarines the other day, as we at end of October, far beyond peach season. Although they looked unripe, when cut, their flesh was overripe, almost rotten around the stone –probably because they were refrigerated for far too long.

Since they were not good to enjoy as part of my morning fruit-plate, I thought of using them to make an upside-down tart, using frozen, store-bought puff pastry as the crust.

I have had quite a lot of misses in the past trying to bake upside-down fruit tarts, but this time I used my new, very light, aluminum, non-stick Neoflam skillet which made it so easy to bake and invert the tart perfectly, for the very first time…

Serves 8-12

5 Nectarines, halved and pitted; each half cut into 3-4 segments, OR 3-4 apples (any kind), peeled and halved, then each piece cut into 3-4 segments (see NOTE)

2/3 cups sugar, divided

2 -3 rosemary sprigs 

1 cup golden raisins

2 pieces frozen puff pastry (500 grams, about 1 pound) thawed according to package instructions 

Vanilla, Mastic-scented ice cream, or whipped cream, to serve (optional)

Spread 1/2 cup sugar in a 10-inch (26 cm) non-stick  light pan and heat in medium high, spreading the sugar with 2 teaspoons water and tossing, every now and then with a wooden spatula for 15 minutes or more,  until the sugar caramelizes, turning a dark amber color.  

Preheat the oven to 400 F (220 C).

Remove the skillet from the heat, and wearing gloves, carefully arrange the nectarine or apple pieces over the caramelized sugar syrup. Sprinkle with rosemary leaves, scatter the raisins over the nectarines and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar, then cook in medium-high heat for 10 minutes. Cover the fruit with a piece of parchment paper and the lid, and cook another 10 minutes, until the nectarines or apples are quite soft. Remove from the heat.

Unroll the puff pastry and cover the fruit with one piece, pushing it with a spatula to go deep all around the fruit pieces. Sprinkle with the rest of the sugar and lay the second piece of pastry over. Use the pieces you cut off to make sure there is quite a bit of pastry around the sides of the skillet, and the fruit is well covered. Any leftover pastry can be added on top of the 2 layers. 

Place the skillet in a larger pan or baking sheet lined with parchment paper, to prevent any syrup spilling into your oven as the tart bakes. Spray the pastry with water, using a plant spritzer, and prick in several places with a sharp knife. Bake for about 30 minutes, in the middle of the oven, or until the pastry looks dark brown and well done.

Remove from the oven. Wearing gloves, and using thick oven-mittens invert the tart on a platter. If a couple of fruit have stuck in the pan, carefully remove them and place in the gaps on the tart.  

Let cool for 15-20 minutes, then cut to serve, accompanying with ice cream or whipped cream, if you like. 

NOTE: You can also use canned peaches. Drain and cut into segments. Canned peaches don’t need additional cooking, just warm-through in the caramelized sugar before covering with the puff pastry. 

The post Upside-down Nectarine, Peach, or Apple Tart appeared first on Aglaia's Table οn Kea Cyclades.

I tweaked the recipe, substituting olive oil for the butter, and also used my lemon liqueur instead of the amaretto the Tuscan recipe suggests.I made it in a rectangular pan, and as I took it out of the oven I glazed it with some marmalade diluted in more lemon liqueur…

For a 10X7 inch (25X18,5 cm) cake

5 eggs

2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light olive oil

2 ¼ cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons lemon zest

3 teaspoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons Lemon Liqueur
3 Granny Smith apples, julienned in a mandolin cutter –about 4 cups

2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated on the microplane (optional)
1-2 tablespoons light brown sugar

GLAZE

1 cup  marmalade

½ cup lemon liqueur 

Heat oven to 350F (180C).

Lightly oil a 10X7 inch (25X18,5 cm) pan lined with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar. Beat at medium speed for 4-5 minutes or more until pale, creamy, and thickened. Add the olive oil and lemon juice and beat 3 minutes more.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and lemon zest and set aside.

Turn the speed down; gradually add the flour mixture; scrape down sides of bowl after each addition.
Still beating on low speed, add the liqueur until blended.

With a spatula fold in 3 cups of the apples and the ginger, if using, into the batter.

Pour the batter into prepared pan; shake gently or use a spatula to smooth the surface of the batter.
Arrange the remaining apple pieces on top of the batter and sprinkle with the light brown sugar.

Place in center of hot oven and bake for about 70 minutes, until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan and the top is golden brown. It is done when it tests barely moist with a toothpick inserted in the center.

Remove from oven and prick the top with a fork. Mix the marmalade with the liqueur and pour the syrupy glaze over the cake. Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes to absorb the syrup, then invert on a plate, peel off the parchment paper, and let stand 10-15 minutes so that the syrup is equally distributed all over the cake.
Invert, again on a serving platter, let cool completely, and cut pieces to serve.

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