Autumn will be with us in an instant, and it’s my favourite time of year for cooking.
In fact, I’d say it’s probably my favourite time of year full stop.
I love it when the weather turns a little cooler, and the valley is filled with those beautiful autumnal colours: copper, caramel, orange, red and yellow.
There’s nothing like a crisp Autumn day, a few clouds in a super-clear blue sky, with the Pennines resplendent in the low sun, shining like gold.
For the cook, too, Autumn is a great time of year.
We can now start to use up the things we made with those summertime gluts of produce.
The pickles and preserves, the bags of frozen fruit, the jams and jellies.
Picked correctly, we should have pumpkins and squash to last for a few months - remember to always leave the stalk intact and a pumpkin or butternut squash will sit happily on the shelf in a cool place until you both decide it’s time for the chopping board.
I love autumn cooking; not quite as stodgy as full Winter dishes, but definitely on the heavier side, as out Summer appetites fade and begin demanding something a little more substantial at dinner time. Now the barbecue’s been cleaned and put away for another year, we can start roasting again.
Pot roasts, especially, are great at this time of year – we like to do a lovely slow-cooked leg of lamb with flageolet beans and the last of the greenhouse tomatoes, for instance.
Or perhaps a kleftiko, or baked joints of chicken with yoghurt and olives with crunchy rosemary potatoes, as an edible memory of the Summer.
Spices, too, start to make more of an appearance about now, so I’m using cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice a lot more in biscuits, cakes and even many savoury dishes.
Which brings us to this dish, a wonderful way of dealing with a surfeit of apples, something most people with more than a couple of trees will know all about.
As with squash, an apple, picked carefully with its stalk intact will last a good long time in the larder before you need to use it, but as the weather cools, the idea of a hot dessert starts to appeal, and this Normandy speciality is a lovely way to present the fruits of one’s orchard.
Stephen Jackson recipes
A douillon or, technically if one is using an apple, bourdelot, is a pipped fruit, often stuffed with dried fruit, or simply sugar and butter, and baked in a shell of puff pastry.
It has the feel of an apple pie or turnover, combining those brilliant flavours and textures of hot apple and flaky, buttery pastry to stunning effect.
Most recipes I looked at called for a raw apple to be used, but I thought that might still be a bit too tough after baking.
Instead, I thought I’d poach the apples in a dark caramel syrup before sealing them into their pastry coats, and it worked wonderfully – the crisp sugar-crusted pastry crackles open to reveal a soft, fragrant apple which in turn releases a little puddle of buttery sauce enlivened with a little prickle of salt.
We add some fresh apple, a scoop of good vanilla ice-cream and a sauce made from a reduction of cider, and there’s a terrific dessert that lifts the humble apple into orbit.
For the puff pastry:
450g plain flour
280g butter, diced and chilled
A pinch of salt
270ml ice-cold water
For the caramel:
500g unrefined golden caster sugar
250ml local cider
250ml water
One vanilla pod (optional)
A splash of Calvados
For the apples:
Four large Granny Smith (or tart dessert) apples, plus one extra for garnish
Two tbsps soft butter
A pinch of Maldon salt
Two tbsps dark muscovado sugar
For the cider sauce:
250ml local cider
Lemon juice
Ground arrowroot
Extras:
One egg yolk, beaten with a little milk
A little unrefined golden caster sugar
A few small bayleaves, for garnish
A tub of good vanilla ice-cream
A little lemon juice
Start by making the puff pastry:
In a food processor whizz the flour, salt and butter until it resembles fine bread crumbs.
Add enough iced water to bring the mixture together to make a soft but not sloppy dough.
Divide the dough into two equal halves.
Chill the dough for a few minutes if it’s a bit awkward to handle (this happens to me a lot, as I have warm hands).
Turn the first pastry piece on to a lightly floured work surface and shape into a rough square.
Roll the pastry out in one direction only, to form a long neatish rectangle approximately 12 inches by four.
Fold the ends over, top towards the centre, then bottom piece up and over the first fold, to form a neat square three layers high.
This represents the first turn.
Repeat the rolling process as before, gently stretching the pastry by pressing down with the rolling pin before starting to roll, and fold the ends over to form those three folds again.
Wrap the pastry in clingfilm or a freezer bag and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Once the pastry has rested follow the rolling and folding process twice more.
Repeat the whole process with the second ball of dough.
The pastry is now ready to be used.
Chill until needed.
To make the cider sauce:
Bring the cider to the boil in a saucepan and reduce by half.
Slake a little arrowroot (about a teaspoon) in the lemon juice, and whisk just enough into the bubbling cider to thicken the sauce a little.
Use your judgement, but remember the sauce will thicken further upon cooling.
Set aside to cool until you’re ready to plate up the douillons.
Now to make up the caramel and poach the apples;
Put half of the sugar and a splash of the water in a saucepan and gently heat until the sugar is completely dissolved.
Raise the heat and cook, swirling the pan occasionally, until you obtain a nice deep caramel.
Quickly add the cider, the remaining water and the rest of the sugar.
If you’re using the vanilla pod here, split it and pop in the pan, along with a splash of Calvados.
Lower the heat to a very gentle simmer.
Peel and core the apples, then carefully score them all around horizontally with a small sharp knife.
Drop them into the caramel, and cook until tender, turning occasionally to get the caramel all the way into each apple.
Remove from the caramel and chill until completely cold.
Reserve the apple poaching liquor – it will freeze for future use.
To make up the douillons:
Roll out the pastry to 3mm thickness, and cut out four circles roughly twice the diameter of the apples.
Mash the soft butter with the dark muscovado sugar and a pinch of salt, and carefully spoon this into the holes in the apples.
Carefully wrap each apple, bringing the pastry together, pinching it to seal tightly, and cutting off any excess.
Shape on a flat surface with your hands to neaten.
Beat the egg yolk with a splash of milk and brush the apples all over.
Then cut thin strips of puff pastry and wrap neatly around the apples, and glaze with the egg once more.
Roll the apples in caster sugar and place on a tray lined with baking parchment.
Pop in the freezer for 30 minutes and heat the oven to 200ºC / Gas 6.
Bake the apples for about 20 minutes, or until nicely golden and crisp.
As they cook, prepare the garnish apples, by peeling the remaining Granny Smith and finely dicing the flesh.
Toss in a splash of lemon juice and refrigerate until required.
Remove the finished douillons from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes, then gently place a baby bayleaf in each apple and set on a serving plate.
Garnish with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, some of the diced apple and a drizzle of the cider syrup.
