Recipe 36: Le Creuset Apple Crisp, guest starring the Ashalt Kitchen

The Asphalt Kitchen, working the grill at sundown.

Remember when I told you I had more recipes to post, and soon?  Probably not, because that was like...months and days and weeks and hours ago.  Oops.  October got crazy busy, and someone lost the motivation to actually take the time to write things up.  But here I am now!  It's me, snitches!  Here to learn you good how to make a delicious Dutch Oven Apple Crisp, one so good and warm and cozy you'll want to take it on the road with you to the (insert college or professional football team name here) tailgate next weekend, now that it's football season and all.

Grilled corn, roasted radishes and
peppers, caprese salad, bread, vino,
and apple crisp.  Our tailgate is
better than your tailgate!

In fact, this recipe is a mashup of blogs!  The Asphalt Kitchen and I got together and decided we wanted to do a Le Creuset recipe at a tailgate. Obvi, we needed to cook it on the grill, so we immediately ruled out Blue for his largeness.  Neither of us had done too much desert cooking, and we both are suckers for baked applely things, and, let's be honest, this one isn't rocket science.  We were sold!  We also realized that with the lid on, the apple crisp would lose its crispness due to the steaming effect, and thought it was a dish best cooked somewhat in advance, and heated to finish cooking in the moment.   Obvi again, if you don't have a tailgate to attend, you can just cook this at home and finish cooking it in the over, or toss it on a burner for the last ten minutes should you want to recreate.  In the interest of full disclosure, we have no idea where the recipe came from, except from the internets, and it may have been a combination of recipes, and we definitely also took some creative liberties.  Sorry original recipe creator!  If I were to do this again, which I probably will, I'd add in some raisins or dried cranberries.  Yum! I would also recommend this as a great breakfast treat served, with some Greek yogurt.  Double yum! And finally, as the Asphalt Kitchen notes, it's better to use an apple that won't turn entirely into mush with the cooking; aim for something crispy and slightly tart (unless you really like super sweet and mushy apple crisp).




Before I get into it, we had an abundance of farmshare veggies, so we roasted them up.  The recipe below is a bonus!

Dutch Oven Apple Crisp

Recipe after the jump:

Tidbits: WTF, Hunger Games Haymitch?

Oh hey you guys.  I was all excited to find the cast promo pics of the characters in the Hunger Games (hint, they are all there, just at the links to different websites; looks like they shared the love).  I was all "Oh Rue, how I would love to snatch you."  So cute.  But then I became super distracted by Woody Harrelson as Haymitch.  Because...WTF.  Behold:

 WHAT THE WHAT YOU GUYS.  

There are so many things wrong with this.  For one, Woody Harrelson with hair.  For two, WOODY HARRELSON WITH HAIR.  With a really, really, really, horrendous wig.  Who thought this was a good idea?  I would go over and feverishly search through our library copy except it is locked away in a display case about censorship (see what I did there?), but I'm pretty sure at no point is Haymitch referred to as tossing his long, silky, Fabio-like locks around.  

Again, I could be wrong.

But I think I'm feelin' pretty good about this being a case of the terribles.  And also about being right.

Woody Harrelson should not have long hair.

Tidbits - Book fashion

• So...a little book called The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo?  Maybe you were one of the one billion people on the planet not to read it.  Rebel.  You're a little like Lisbeth Salander, except maybe not as edgy.  BUT YOU CAN BE.  Because H+M is coming out with a line of clothes based on the movie.  I would look more, but don't subscribe to Women's Daily Wear.  Based on the Jezebel pic, it looks moody.  Do you think sales of eyeliner will jump?  They should include temporary dragon tattoos in this line. Then and only then will I consider a pair of pleather pants.
• A book I am excited for got itself a dress!  Behold:
  
  
  
  
  I am reserving judgment based on material it is printed on.  If it's shiny, heck no.  The fault is in the reflection of sticky fingers on the cover.  If it's more matte, I'm in!  Also, does the cover indicate that someone is dark and stormy, someone is happy cloudy, and they cross paths and do something with chalk, perhaps involving Shakespeare?  Calling it.

Tidbits: Really, Highsmith? Burned Rubber Scratch and Sniff

Highsmith, you've got to be kidding me.  You guys...they have a scratch and sniff bookmark that smells of burned rubber.  I still can't believe this is an actual, real scratch and sniff bookmark.  Because...really?  Who wants to smell burned rubber??  Other things kids fixate on that I hope I don't smell as bookmarks include:

• Garbage trucks
• Construction vehicles
• Dinosaurs
• Ballerina sweat

Anything I'm missing from this list?

Recipe 37: Swiss Chard Spanakopita (but really, Spanakocheater!)

This pan is toooooo small!

Yep.  I've been really behind on my recipe posts.  No denying that.  In fact, this one, a blatant cheat (more on that in a second) was made in August.  For a trip to the beach.  I know there's a wild Indian Summer on, but seriously.  Two months.  I'm off my game!  This recipe was a direct result of having too much farm share swiss chard and green onions.  It was a cheat because...you have no need for a Le Creuset if you actually follow the instructions, and say, have a large frying pan.  I probably could even have just used a wok.  But I'm a stinkin' cheater.  So I cheated and used Blue.  I think you can see why in the illustration to your right. 

This one is jusssst right.
And also the colors look nice together.
Always looking out for you, food porn.

I stuck to the original recipe, and the results were delicious.  I would recommend eating it relatively soon after making, and if you plan on cooling and saving for later (say for your planned picnic on the beach the next day), cool for a darn tootin' long time.  Else, the phyllo will absorb the moisture from the steamy chard and get all wilty and weird.  You can kind of fix this by popping it into the oven for a bit, but this doesn't work if, say, you are on the beach and didn't happen to put your oven in your beach bag.  I also did not follow the folding directions on the recipe.  I chose to do it more like a lasagna, making a point to make the bottom and top pieces alternatively more left or right oriented to created a burn barrier for the filling (if that makes any sense; I'm just lazy).  Using cooking spray is soooo much easier - I ran out halfway through and had to like...dip my little fingers in oil and smear it finger painting style all over the phyllo.  Not very elegant.  Either way, it's a great, healthy, tasty way to get rid of your abundance of swiss chard.  As per, I found it using MyRecipes.com and it comes from the December, 2003 issue of Cooking Light.