Cuisine – Autumn apples

Delicious food has been my life. But as food prices soar, feeding the family well and providing regular healthy meals has become a major concern for most households. ‘The land of milk and honey’ is not quite the dream we all grew up with. Nasty weather events have kicked this year off to a faltering start, impacting almost everyone.

As a food writer who has been intricately involved with the food our nation consumes for many years, I am very worried. There’s never been a time when prolonged supply has been a threat to so many of the basic foods we buy, and the sky-high pricing has made so much out of reach for so many. I am worried about the future of our food and we all should be as, fresh food, not industrially produced, is at the heart of our nation’s economy.

Following the floods in our region and the disastrous Cyclone Gabrielle experience, we hear pleas and cries from our farmers and growers to support local producers where we can. That is something that we can all do. Whether we shop in the supermarket or local store, go to a farmers market, or buy from the farm stands dotted around the countryside in our region, we should make a conscious effort to choose New Zealand-grown food whenever we can, if it’s affordable. If everyone puts more thought and consideration into purchasing local, seasonal food, our producers will survive.

Having been so bold to state that, there’s no need for guilt when buying cheaper alternative imports if that’s what suits the budget. There has to be a trade balance and an export nation like ours shouldn’t scoff at all imports, unless there’s no nutritional value in the shopping basket. But any household should feel guilty if food is consistently wasted. Luckily, there’s much discussion and some great information on how to avoid or deal with waste in our communities. Websites giving advice on this are plentiful and some good folks are investing much of their lives to help repurpose unwanted food.

We all deserve a treat occasionally and fruit and vegetables all have a prime season. Feijoas, guavas, kiwifruit and tamarillos are ripening. Right now, the late summer fruits like apples and pears are plentiful and it’s good to see that despite the havoc experienced in our closest major fruit producing area, Hawke’s Bay is still supplying us and exporting wonderfully juicy crisp apples.

Homemade puddings are a great way to fill hungry bellies. Apples any way at all are perfect for this. Choose Braeburn apples if you can as they cook up to a lovely texture. An old-fashioned apple pie is easy to whip up, and apple crumble is probably one of the easiest and most popular puddings as the weather takes on a chilly air.

Despite the alarming price of eggs (if you can find them), this stewed apple pudding is a rare and rich easy dish to make for the family over the coming Easter weekend. Adding the yolks to the apple and rhubarb mixture makes a lovely almost custardy texture and the egg whites are whipped into a meringue to top the dish. Serve it warm and if there are any leftovers, serve them up with the breakfast muesli for a real treat.

Happy Easter!

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Golden apple and rhubarb pudding

4 large cooking apples, peeled and sliced thickly
2 sticks rhubarb, washed and sliced
2 tbsp water
50g butter
grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp soft brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 egg yolks
For the meringue:
3 egg whites
120g caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla essence

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Prepare the apples and rhubarb and place in a heavy saucepan with the water, butter, lemon zest and brown sugar. Heat the pan and allow the apples to cook very gently until almost soft, stirring gently occasionally. When the apples are soft and beginning to collapse, after about 25 minutes, remove from the heat, and cool slightly before stirring in the cinnamon and well-beaten egg yolks. Tip this mixture into a buttered pie dish.

Beat the egg whites until they hold firm peaks, add the sugar gradually with the vanilla, continuing to beat after each addition. Pile onto the stewed apples and rhubarb, covering completely and bake in the preheated oven until the meringue looks crisp and golden, for roughly 25 minutes.

Serve warm, accompanied by yogurt or whipped cream.

Serves 4-6