TAMARIND APPLE SALAD

I'm not a fan of the hotel fruit salad, a jubilee of unseasonal and underripe cubes with little or no thought to structure and shape. And so when I set out to make a fruit salad it must have perspective, maturity, and reason. You'll never find a tumble of melons, citrus, berries, and grapes on my table. Our brunch was in close enough proximity to Passover that my brain subtly injected this reference to Charoset. Chopped apples, dates, and cashews, dressed with lemon and tamarind. It's a Southeast Asian take on my Jewish roots, and I'm eagerly awaiting a repeat performance. 

Ingredients

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• 3 Honeycrisp Apples
• 1 1/2 cups Raw Cashews, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups Dates, pitted and chopped
• 1/4 cup Tamarind Paste
• Juice of one Lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon Fresh Ground Black Pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon Ground Cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt

Business

1. Peel and chop the apples into small cubes. 
2. In a large bowl mix the apples, chopped cashews, and chopped dates until evenly distributed. 
3. In a separate bowl whisk together the remaining ingredients. If the sauce is too thick, add water one tablespoon at a time until it is easily whiskable. 
4. Pour the sauce over the fruit and nut mix, toss to combine.

APPLE COBBLER

Screw pie, I want cobbler. Cobbler is easy (I’m never one to turn down an easy date). I cook the apples in a skillet a bit with sugar and spices before pouring them into a baking dish, it speeds up their time in the oven. And for the crust? Whip out your food processor and dump in the ingredients for this biscuit dough. It comes together in a few minutes and is easy to scatter on top of the tender apples.

INGREDIENTS

    Apple Filling

• 6 Green Apples, peeled and sliced thinly
• Juice of one Lemon
• 1 cup Brown Sugar
• ¼ cup Coconut Oil
• 1 tablespoon Cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon Sea Salt
• ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg

   Biscuit Topping

• ¾ cup Brown Rice Flour
• ¾ cup Millet Flour
• ¼ cup Tapioca Flour
• ¼ cup Sugar
• 1 tablespoon Baking Powder
• ½ teaspoon Xanthan Gum
• 1 teaspoon Sea Salt
• 4 tablespoons Shortening
• ¾ cup Milk (a non-dairy alternative will work)

GET BUSY

1) In a medium saucepan, combine the apples, lemon juice, brown sugar, coconut oil, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Cook over medium heat until the  liquid is syrupy and the apples are soft but not mushy, about 20 minutes.

2) While the apples are cooking, heat your oven to 450 degrees.

3) In a food processor add the brown rice flour, millet flour, tapioca flour, sugar, baking powder, xanthan gum, salt and shortening. Pulse until it is the texture of sand.

4) With the food processor running, pour the milk in slowly. Pulse the dough until it forms a loose ball.

5) When the apples are ready, pour them into an 8×8 baking dish.

6) Sprinkle the dough over the apples, roughly, it doesn’t need to be even.

7) Put the dish in your oven for 13-15 minutes, or until the dough is lightly browned.

8) Remove from the oven, let cool for 5-10 minutes, then enjoy!