Les Poissonchats

You know about that divine smell of making baked apples? I think it’s THE most absolutely Godliest nostalgic smell.  

The one you see here in the picture is a trial I’ve baked to accompany the duck we’ll have on Christmas Eve. I baked them in my woodfired stove overnight, at very low temperature probably as I usually just keep a log smoldering so to make it easier to kindle the fire in the morning. Accordingly I ate it for breakfast with a dollop of yogurt.

What you’ll need

• Count an apple per person, quantities rendered here are for six apples
• 10 Walnuts from last year, crumble them into smaller pieces
• 6 tablespoons of honey
• 3 dried plums or tipsy damsons
• 6 tipsy cheeries
• A whiff of cinnamon
• A whiff of grated nutmeg
• A whiff of crushed cloves
• A pinch of fleur de sel
• Nine appleseed, crushed in a mortar 
• A table spoon of duck fat and maybe more for baking
• In case you have them available, the offal of the duck. I usually just use the liver for nobody here eats kidney and heart. Chop the liver into thin slices. Also the duck I’m cooking is from the neighbouring farm, it’s quite a normal duck and not very fat, so the liver isn’t big like the one I’d use for making foie gras. 

If you’d like to eat them for breakfast, which is a fabulous idea, replace the duck fat with butter and leave out the offal. 

How you cook it

Cut the apples in two about one third as measured from the top, the thin bit with the stem in will be the lid. Scrape out the heart of the bottom half but don’t scrape down too far. It’s like the stuffed pumpkin principle. Scrape out generously as you want to have enough room for the tasty filling. 

Cut the good thing from what you’ve scraped out and place in a bowl. Add all the ingredients and mix well. Stuff the apples well with the filling and brush on all sides with duck fat or butter before placing on a baking tray. Also brush the apple heads and place with the cut side down,. 

Bake for 90 minutes at around 150°C. 

How you eat it

While honestly one of the best things I’ve ever eaten for breakfast, it’s a perfect Christmas dinner side too and will work throughout winter. But most importantly, in addition to eating it, take a moment to enjoy the nostalgic flavours of the baking, sitting down with a glass of port for example, smelling all those marvellous smells while browsing through an old cook book. 

*This is Les Poissonchats Wondrous Advent Calendar! Advent calendars are a big tradition where I come from: every day until Christmas Day you prepare a small gift for a loved one, fourandtwenty little surprises. Advent calendars come in beautifully old fashioned prints on cardboard, extra glitter and glory, and each day there’s a little perforated window waiting for you be opened. Others are more elaborate, pretty baskets filled with twenty four numbered parcels, red velvet ribbons and sprigs of fir. The one I’m making for you this season is a different one altogether, it comes in digital form. Unless specially marked, all content is hand-stitched by myself, lovingly compiled and written for your amusement.