The Crispiest Apple Crisp, Ever? Ever!

Here is the apple crisp recipe that I teased yesterday, with the outrageous claim that it’s the crispiest apple crisp topping ever. Can I prove that fact? No, and that’s the beauty of such culinary hyperbole, no one can prove otherwise.

The secret ingredient, as identified by several astute observers yesterday, is Grape Nuts. This extremely crispy and crunchy breakfast cereal does some amazing things to your basic oatmeal-based fruit crisp topping mixture. I figured anything that can soak in milk for 10 minutes and still be crunchy, would work well.

Here is a link in case you are not familiar with this product, and if you can’t get any, don’t worry, you can just double the oatmeal, or add other things like chopped nuts, etc. Will it be as good? No, not even close.

By the way, in case you’re not sure, this is a dessert. It’s not a breakfast food, it’s not a healthy snack, it’s a sweet, buttery, deliciously crispy dessert. If you want healthy, slice some apples over a bowl of oatmeal, but if you want a semi-decadent after dinner treat, I hope you give this a try. Enjoy!

UPDATE: Some of you are having issues with your own "accidental apple candy," and while I joked about it in the clip, I should have been more clear about not cooking the sugar too much before adding the apples. You can add them pretty much right after the sugar goes in the pan to avoid this issue. The risk with that is too much water from the apples diluting the caramel sauce, but that's probably the lesser of two evils.

For the topping:

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup oatmeal (rolled oats)

1/2 cup Grape Nuts

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

For the filling:

5-6 apples

juice of 1/2 lemon

2 tbsp butter

1/3 cup white sugar

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 tbsp water

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Oscar Party Snack Ideas! And the Winner is...

I have no problem waiting a year to watch feature films via my overpriced cable provider, but the major drawback is that I never have any clue what's gong on during the Academy Awards show. I won't get any of Billy Crystal's inside jokes, and the video clip montages will only serve to confuse and annoy. So, for people like me, the highlight of any Oscar party is the food. Here are a few ideas that should garner rave reviews. Enjoy!

Deviled Eggs with Candied Pepper Rings

Clams Casino Dip

Italian Rice Croquettes

Green Hummus

Bacon Ranch Chicken Skewers

Classic Chicken Noodle Soup – Thank Goodness We Had Roasted Chicken Broth Around!

In case you haven’t been following along, let me catch you up. On Wednesday we made a gorgeous roasted chicken broth for the expressed purpose of making this soul-warming soup. Here, we used that wonderfully flavorful broth to complete the recipe, and let me tell you, it was incredible.

You know how much I hate to complicate a recipe, and I'll always err on the side of too few ingredients vs. too many, so when I make this chicken noodle soup it’s a constant battle to not add other “stuff.”

Not that’s there’s anything wrong with stuff, per se, but if properly made, this soup is just too amazing in its pure and natural state for any distracting, supercilious additions. By the way, a little advice to you young up-and-coming food bloggers; never use “per se,” and “supercilious” in the same sentence.

Yes, other than the mirepoix, and a tiny pinch of fresh thyme, the rest of this soup is basically chicken and noodles. Speaking of the noodles, I’m hoping you go with the wide ones I used. I was only half-kidding about this soup being a meditation, and egg noodle wrestling is half the fun.

Like I said in the video, this will work with regular chicken stock, but if you do decide to make this, I sincerely hope you go ahead and make the roasted chicken broth first. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 4-6 servings:
1 tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp rendered chicken fat

1/2 cup diced carrot

1/2 cup diced onion

1/2 cup diced celery

1/4 tsp fresh thyme leaves or pinch of dried thyme

2 quarts roasted chicken broth

1 pound cooked chicken breast, cubed

4 oz dry wide egg noodles

cayenne, salt and black pepper to taste

Roasted Chicken Broth – Part 1 of The Ultimate Chicken Noodle Soup!

People throw around the word “ultimate” these days with total disregard for its actual meaning…and I’m no different. I was planning on posting my "ultimate" chicken noodle soup today, but then decided to show you a from-scratch roasted chicken broth first, which made the recipe too long for one single video.

So, we’ll finish this schmaltzy mini-series on Friday, and with all kidding aside, it really is the ultimate chicken noodle soup. And what makes it so much more ultimate than all the other ultimate chicken noodle soups is this deep, rich broth.

We’ve done classic chicken stock before, but this time we're roasting the chicken first, as well as using all of the dark meat to fortify the broth. By the way, it’s the meat addition that turns a “stock” into a “broth,” as stocks are made only using bones.

Regarding the ketchup addition, which will for some bizarre reason raise eyebrows (in particular, those bushy European ones). Sure, you can use a little real tomato, or tomato paste, but I really believe the ketchup is superior. I want those trace amounts of aromatic spice to be subtly present in the aroma as you sip on the broth.

Anyway, get your broth started, and you’ll be ready to complete this amazing soup on Friday. Stay tuned, and enjoy!

Ingredients:

3 1/2 lb whole chicken (no innards)

2 tsp kosher salt for seasoning chicken skin

1 onion, quartered

1 rib celery, cut in pieces

3 cloves garlic, bruised slightly with flat of knife

1 tbsp ketchup

2 quarts cold water