Its Sunday morning and rather than wandering around the Farmer’s Market there are Christmas decorations to take down. The baubles from the tree, the cards, the lights which hang loosely from the bay window. When it is finished and the tree stands bare in the corner there is always an initial feeling of sadness, that something special and wonderful has passed. The children seem to feel it most especially as it is usually accompanied by the hauling of their bodies back into school.
There is a need to reframe here. Rather than concentrating on the negative perspective of reality (Christmas is over and we’re back to work) we can choose to embrace the arrival of a new year with all of the inherent promise it offers. It seems that anything is possible in these early days of January and to stand for a few moments and acknowledge the relentless arrival of a new day and new opportunity is so uplifting. Things change because we choose to change them, and so it is in the kitchen too.
Having missed a browse around the stalls at the market I turned attention to lunch. I could find some apples and a bit of old bread. They seemed unlikely bedfellows for lunch but this is January and anything is possible.
Peeling and coring the apples I pop them in a pan with a couple of spoons of sugar and a squirt of honey. A splash of water and the leaves from three or four sprigs of thyme. Simmered gently for 15 minutes whilst I make some strong coffee they emerge softening but still with some shape and bite. The honey and thyme adding a perfume that adds immeasurably to the sweetness of the fruit.
In a little loaf tin (you can use a small cake tin or even a pie dish) I butter some slices of brown bread. I happen to have walnut bread which is a real treat and I slather the butter on generously. I line the bottom of the tin and tip the sweet and honey apple over the top. I arrange another layer of the buttered walnut bread on top and sprinkle liberally with some sugar. Into a hot oven (Gas 6 or 200 c) for 20 minutes until the dish emerges golden and crisp on top with the sweet soft fruit through the middle. The nuttiness of the bread a wonderful counterpoint.
Although based on the idea of an Apple Charlotte my dish is named after my own daughter. So lunch is a pudding and I’ve given it a new name. If ever there was evidence that we can make our days what we want them to be then this is surely it. We eat it greedily unadulterated. Somehow the room where the decorations were doesn’t look so bad after all.
Ingredients
750g (roughly..use what you have) Apples
10 slices of brown bread (if it has fruit or nuts in it, so much the better)
Butter
A few sprigs of thyme
Sugar to taste (more if you use cooking apples. I didn’t)
A tablespoon of honey
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