Rice Filled Baked Apples

Apples are one of the most under appreciated fruits for savoury dishes-I hope this will help to change that. I wait all year for the local apples and unfortunately the crop was lousy this year in the Midwest. Boo hiss.

I ended up using Washington State apples for this (who knew they grow Fuji's in Washington? Not I) which is fine, I guess though I'm still mildly disappointed.

These baked apples could be jazzed-up a bit with the addition of crystalised ginger, or dried cherries, cranberries or really any fruit you like. I used raisins because Danny loves them, but if you prefer something a bit less sweet, consider experimenting.

I ran out of apple cider so I improvised and used one of Danny's individual serving Gerber juices (he gets one a week as a special treat on Friday) which are conveniently pre-measured to a half cup. If you've never bought baby juice, let me tell you, it is good stuff. I still buy it because it is small (no waste) and because the quality for the price is unbeatable. The apple juice actually tastes like apples. It takes considerable effort not to raid the kid's juice on a regular basis-it is that good.

Anyway, the basic recipe for this came from the Granny Stark Apple Cookbook by, Olwen Woodier, though I made a few minor adjustments. If you ever see this book in a thrift store I encourage you to purchase it as the recipes are unusual and easy to follow.

You Will Need:

2 tablespoons sweet butter

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 cup uncooked rice, rinsed

1 1/4 cups water

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Salt to taste

1/2 cup raisins

4 large apples

1/2 cup apple juice or cider

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat the butter in a large pan (one that has a lid-you'll need it later). Saute the onion for five minutes. Add the rice, water, allspice, and ginger. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover. Simmer for twenty minutes. Remove from heat and stir in raisins.

Core the apples leaving 1/4 inch around. Chop and add the centres of the apples to the rice mixture. Add salt at this point and taste to adjust.

Place the apples in a baking dish and spoon the filling into the apples. Add the juice to the pan and cover loosely with foil. Bake 45 minutes. Serve hot.