Fall at last !

It's a gray, rainy day here at the farm. After 90 degree plus temperatures, it's finally beginning to feel like fall !

Time to cook something warm and yummy for dessert. How about an old fashioned French apple pudding from Normandy ?

Marmelade de Pommes

4 T unsalted butter

2 pounds apples, peeled and thinly sliced

2 T lemon juice

2 T Calvados ( apple brandy from Normandy, don't substitute, leave it out if you don't have it )

1/2 c plus 2T sugar

2 large eggs

Heat oven to 350 degrees F and butter a 4 cup terrine mold.

In a heavy pot, melt the butter and add the apple slices, lemon juice, Calvados and sugar. If your apples are very sweet, you may want to adjust the amount of sugar.. Cover and cook the apples slowly, stirring once in a while, until they are soft and falling apart. If they are very juicy, uncover and boil away the liquid. Mash any large lumps with a fork and adjust the seasoning, adding lemon juice, Calvados or sugar , if needed. Basically, you have just made fancy apple sauce. Now it gets interesting :

Take the pot from the heat and cool just a bit. Stir the eggs a little to break up the yolks and add to the apple mixture. Beat to combine. Spoon the pudding into the prepared mold and smooth the top. Set the mold into a roasting pan and fill it halfway with boiling water.

Transfer this bain marie plus pudding to the oven and bake until the pudding is firm to the touch, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Serve warm or at room temperature, in slices. Pass the vanilla custard sauce separately. How about replacing the vanilla with Calvados in the sauce ? Sounds good to me.

Speaking of apples - this weekend there will be some crazy cider making going on here at the farm. T and friends have made a cider press and we are all curious whether the thing will work. Our trees are loaded down with apples and I am envisioning gallons of cider and possibly making some of our very own Calvados. Hope that's not illegal....