If, like me, your body of reference for apples is the darkish pink, mealy tennis balls served to you in grade college, then it’s time to deal with your self to an apple-picking journey. Biting right into a contemporary, crisp, and juicy apple you simply plucked from the tree whereas standing within the crisp autumn air is nearly as distant from that cafeteria as you will get. I make it a ritual each fall, and it all the time renews my appreciation for this acquainted fruit—particularly once I go for much less frequent varieties like Macouns, Cortlands, Honey Crisps, Empires, and Japanese Yatakas, which are grown for taste and texture, not their skill to take a seat in a produce bin endlessly.
These aforementioned Yatakas impressed this dessert, dreamt up after scarfing down an apple whereas nonetheless on the orchard. It had the requisite honey-sweet taste, however with a calmly fermented brightness and heat nutty high quality. Fairly frankly, it was the very best apple I’ve ever eaten. But when I can by no means discover it once more in grocery shops, no less than I can mimic its taste by roasting different crisp, tart apples in honey and butter, after which whisking their cooking juices with toasted sesame seeds and a shot of Calvados. This “dressing” is then tossed again over the nice and cozy apples in order that they absorb its glory. A dollop of crème fraîche the apples into a correct dish, however actually, I’d eat these apples plain for breakfast, as a aspect dish for roast pork, or tossed in a blind-baked tart crust for a chic dessert.
