a different kind of potato salad

I've reached what I consider a sort of culinary milestone: This week, I cooked beans myself for the first time in my life. Of all possible kitchen achievements, this one is low on the skill-level spectrum, but it's one about which I'm nevertheless sort of proud.

At the time, though, the hungry part of me (which was very hungry) thought, This is a huge pain in the ass. And compared to opening up a can and, presto, having your beans ready to rock, cooking them yourself really is less convenient. But dried-then-cooked beans are cheaper than canned, not swimming in salty liquid, and you can control their relative firmness or mushiness by how long you cook them. In no way am I suggesting that my relationship with canned beans is over; it's not. But when I have the time and the forethought to soak and cook my own, I think I will.

Everything that Mark says about this salad is true. Except for the addition of some leftover brown rice, I followed his recipe to the letter, so I'm not going to bother posting it. Lazy, but true.

apple crisp

On a recent warm but windy afternoon, some friends and I went apple picking. Though we have plenty good options for such an adorably autumnal pursuit here in south Jersey, we wanted to make an adventure out of it and so chose to visit a farm in nearby Bucks County. On that day, the farm was holding some kind of family festival centered around pumpkin picking, a corn maze and other fall activities. But apple picking seemed more like a sideshow than the main event; after some head scratching and asking for directions, we stumbled upon a small clearing (well off the main road and literally in someone's back yard) with no more than 10 or 12 neat rows of apple trees. Each tree bore a sign indicating the type of apple it yielded--among them were jonagold, fuji, gala, cameo and golden delicious--but, sadly, most were already completely picked. Consequently, our bounty was small. But still delicious, and not so small that some sort of apple baking couldn't be done.

In fact, by the time the apples were sliced, we realized that we had far more than the crisp recipe called for. So we greased another pan and made a second! The one ingredient we didn't double--because of our health-minded impulses, and maybe because we didn't have enough to double it--was the butter, so some parts of the top were not so crunchy as others. This wasn't altogether unpleasant, so if the one thing holding you back from this recipe is butter (and you don't mind a crisp whose topping isn't uniformy crisp-y), don't let it.


Apple crisp
Adapted from How to Cook Everything (natch)
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Time: 30-40 minutes for baking, plus however long it takes you to peel, core and slice your apples and measure out the other ingredients

6 c. peeled, cored, sliced apples
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2/3 c. brown sugar, or to taste
1/2 c. rolled oats (we used quick oats, which were fine, but I longed for a more substantial texture that rolled oats would provide)
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
Dash salt
5 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into bits, plus butter for greasing pan

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Toss apples with half the cinnamon, the lemon juice and 1 Tbsp. of the sugar, and spread it in a lightly buttered 8-inch square or 9-inch round baking pan.

2. Let the cold butter soften a bit, while you combine all remaining dry ingredients in a bowl. Work in butter using fingertips, a pastry blender or a fork. [OR, do this step using your food processor: Combine remaining dry ingredients and butter in the container of a food processor. Pulse a few times, then process a few seconds more until everything is well incorporated by not uniform.]

3. Spread topping over apples and bake 30-40 minutes, until topping is browned and apples are tender. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

serving suggestion:
warm apple crisp with AmeriCone Dream ice cream!