Apple Crisp

Mark Bittman: Any apple slice will soften with long enough cooking, but some apple varieties won't soften quite enough, while others will turn nearly to mush. What you want are apple slices that will retain their shape while becoming tender while also tasting terrific.

What sorts of apple are you looking for? Granny Smiths hold up well to heat, but they're essentially tasteless. McIntosh apples will taste great, but fall apart in the oven.

Best for this recipe are Cortlands (which are also the easiest to find), but Idareds or Paula Reds are also good choices.

Of course, for those who have had enough apples for this year already, pears can make a wonderful crisp as well.

If you choose to use pears instead of apples, however, be aware that unripe pears are unlikely to become tender in the time it takes the topping to brown. You must begin with pears that have started to soften, or their texture will remain unpleasantly firm, even after you have cooked the crisp to a . . . well, a crisp.

APPLE CRISP

Time: About 1 hour

6 cups peeled, cored, sliced apples or ripe pears, 2 to 3 pounds

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, or more to taste

1/2 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons

5 tablespoons butter, plus more for greasing the pan

3/4 cup oats

1/2 cup walnuts or pecans.

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Toss fruit with half the cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar, and spread it in a lightly buttered 8-inch square or 9-inch round baking pan.

2. Combine remaining cinnamon and sugar in container of a food processor with butter, oats and nuts; pulse a few times, just until ingredients are combined. (Do not purée.) To mix ingredients by hand, soften butter slightly, toss together dry ingredients and work butter in with fingertips, a pastry blender or a fork.

3. Spread topping over apples, and bake about 40 minutes, until topping is browned and apples are tender. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

Simplest Roast Chicken

Mark Bittman: I did five recipes for whole roast chicken over the 13-year history of the Minimalist column, and, modesty aside (what does that mean, actually? Get ready for me to be immodest?), there’s no need for me to apologize for the redundancy.

Roast chicken is a welcome, almost infinitely variable dish that’s equally at home at a weeknight family dinner or at a fancy (or fancy-ish) dinner party. You can’t say that about many dishes, and I’m happy to have reminded readers of roast chicken’s advantages by sharing a few variations over the years.

Though I’ve experimented with different chicken-roasting techniques, there’s one that makes me happiest, because it’s easy, and it works. (In fact, the technique is one of my all-time favorite discoveries.) When I say it works, what I mean is that the quick-cooking, leaner white meat gets done at the same time as the slower-cooking, fattier dark meat. When I say it’s easy, what I mean is that the only thing you have to do is put your pan (a cast-iron skillet is best) in the oven when you start heating it. That’s it. When the pan is hot, add the chicken with the breast facing up; the legs will get a head start on cooking when they come into contact with the hot pan.

As I said, roast chicken is almost infinitely variable. But at its simplest, with only salt, pepper and olive oil, it’s really, really good. Add an herb sprig or a clove of garlic, or both, for excitement.

Yield 4 servings

Time 50 to 60 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken, 3 to 4 pounds, trimmed of excess fat
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

• 1. Put a cast-iron skillet on a low rack in the oven and heat the oven to 500 degrees. Rub the chicken all over with the oil and sprinkle it generously with salt and pepper.
• 2. When the oven and skillet are hot, carefully put the chicken in the skillet, breast side up. Roast for 15 minutes, then turn the oven temperature down to 350 degrees. Continue to roast until the bird is golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the meaty part of the thigh reads 155 to 165 degrees.
• 3. Tip the pan to let the juices flow from the chicken’s cavity into the pan. Transfer the chicken to a platter and let it rest for at least 5 minutes. Carve and serve.

Source: The New York Times

Free-Form Apple or Pear Tart

Mark Bittman: Of all the ways you can combine cooked apples, butter, flour and so on, pie is not nearly the best. I prefer either a nice crispy crumble topping made with oats, or this free-form apple tart. It is essentially an apple pizza, but uses a short dough, meaning it contains plenty of butter. It comes together very easily in the food processor.

Once you roll the dough out — into a thin circle or whatever other shape you choose (or your rolling pin chooses for you) — you have to address this question: how precious do you want this thing to be? If you have much more patience than I do you might start an elegant spiral of apple slices in the middle of the crust and loop it gracefully around until it reaches the edges. If you’re like me, you’ll randomly scatter the apples until you don’t see dough anymore. Call it rustic — I actually think it ends up looking just as nice, but maybe that’s equally un-American.

The last straw? Cut it with a pizza wheel.

Yield 8 servings

Time About 1 hour, plus 1 hour's refrigeration

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• Pinch salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 9 tablespoons cold butter
• 1 egg yolk
• 3 or 4 medium apples, preferably Golden Delicious, or pears, peeled, cored and very thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• Crème fraîche, sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Method

• 1. Combine flour, salt and sugar in a food processor; pulse once or twice. Cut 8 tablespoons butter into chunks, and add it and egg yolk to flour mixture. Process until butter is blended, about 10 seconds. Turn mixture into a bowl, and add cold water, a tablespoon at a time, stirring after each addition. After adding 3 or 4 tablespoons you should be able to gather mixture into a ball; wrap ball in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or freeze for about 15 minutes).
• 2. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Roll or pat dough into a 10-inch circle; it can be quite crude in shape. Place it on a cookie or pizza sheet lined with parchment. Arrange fruit slices on top, right out to edges; make the pattern attractive, if you like. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Cut remaining butter into bits, and top fruit with it.
• 3. Bake until crust is nicely browned and fruit is tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove, and serve warm or at room temperature, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or ice cream.

Source: The New York Times