Since it is fall and the leeks and the onions in the garden should be ready to start harvesting and it is also apple season I thought it might be nice to offer a recipe that uses both. This recipe is from Tassajara and their brilliant cookbook from way back in 1973. For those not familiar with Tassajara it is a now a world famous Zen study center near San Francisco and while it is most famous in cooking circles for its Bread Book its cookbook is a very nice vegetarian guide to cooking. Like many aspects of Zen it is not so much a cookbook as a it is a guidebook. The recipes are not for you to follow but to test, reinvent and create from. It explains a lot and tells you some of the things to look out for but it also leaves you plenty of room for discovery and things to discover on your own. As it says on the back cover:
"Blessings. You are on your own. Together with everything."
Apple-Onion Stir Fry
You'll need some onions or leeks or some of each, apples, raisins or brown sugar or honey, vinegar or lemon juice, butter or oil, salt and pepper. That's it.
Slice the onions and/or leeks and slice or chunk the apples. About the same amount of each. Saute the onions/leeks in a small amount of oil or butter until they are golden brown or almost caramelized which should take about 10 -15 minutes. Add the apples and raisins(as many as you want, they are for sweetness or you can use brown sugar or honey), season mildly with vinegar or lemon juice, cover, and steam until the apples have softened a bit but not too long. Season with salt and pepper.
This is a nice warming dish and great for a cool fall day. If you cook it down a bit more then you can use it as a spread on some nice toasted whole meal bread.
No there are no exact measurements....if you are cooking for two then make enough for two or if you are cooking for 10 make enough for 10.
This recipe is adapted from the book Tassajara Cooking copyright 1973 by the Zeb Center, San Francisco
4 comments:
Mmmmmmm.....I do enjoy the Tassajara cookbooks...
I used the apple/onion idea to create a stuffed baked bell pepper: Quinos, caramelized onion, chunks of Gravenstein apple ( abundant in our area of Sonoma), raisins, lavender salt and Feta to spice the lot. mmmmm thanks for the inspiration.
Sounds lovely. I like the cheese idea and Feta's sharpness is a nice contrast to the sweetness of the apples and onions. I'll take this idea and see what comes out of it.
I don't drag it out often enough. Some great guidance is found there.
Post a Comment