Chester, NJ & Baked Apples

This weekend, the calendar said it was time to transition from summer to fall, so I headed to New Jersey to do just that.

On Saturday, I met my brother and friends at MetLife Stadium (better known to us as Giants Stadium or the Meadowlands) to see Bruce Springsteen. The ticket to the outdoor concert was a belated birthday gift and one last nod to summer. Turned out that mother nature was sad to see summer go, too, because it rained...hard! But three hours after the concert was scheduled to start, the Boss took the stage and rocked it until 2am. We rang in Bruce's 63rd birthday at midnight and ended the evening with fireworks and a 55,000 person-strong chorus of "Happy Birthday".

By Sunday morning, the rain had passed and it was a glorious fall day. Warm sun and a cool breeze, it was ideal weather to head to the farm for apple and pumpkin picking. Every year since I was a child, my parents and I have taken a trip to Riamede Farm in Chester, New Jersey.

Though I've grown taller and no longer need to take the hayride,

I still love getting lost in the orchard rows,

searching for perfect apples, and avoiding those that are

.

With a few bushels of apples picked, we headed down the hill to the pumpkin patch. We climbed into the vines to find a perfect pumpkin and unique gourds hiding under the leaves.  

A few clicks of the clippers later, our haul was complete and it was time to head home with our harvest.

My mom had found a wonderful baked apple recipe, so with freshly picked fruit, a family dinner planned, and a father who dices apples better than any kitchen appliance, I couldn't wait to give it a try. 

The recipe below slightly amends Chris Kimball's Best Baked Apples. 

Yield: 6 apples

Ingredients:

• 6 large Granny Smith apples and 1 Liberty (or other baking) apple
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup coarsely chopped raisins
• 1/3 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans
• 3 tablespoons old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• Pinch salt
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup apple cider

Directions: 

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat over to 375 degrees. Peel, core, and cut 1 Liberty apple into 1/4 inch dice. Combine 5 tablespoons of butter, brown sugar, raisins, pecans, oats, cinnamon, diced apple, and salt in large bowl; set aside.

Shave thin slice off bottom (blossom end) of 6 Granny Smith apples to allow them to sit flat. Cut top 1/2 inch off stem end of apples and reserve. Peel apples and use melon baller to remove 1 1/2 inch diameter core, being careful not to cut through the bottom of the apple. 

Melt remaining tablespoon butter in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Once foaming subsides, add apples, stem-side down, and cook until cut surface is golden brown, about 3 minutes. Remove apples, flipping them, and put them in a buttered 13 x 9 glass baking dish. Add maple syrup and apple cider to skillet to heat. Spoon filling inside, mounding excess filling over cavities; top with reserved apple caps. 

Bake until skewer inserted into apples meets little resistance, approximately 60 minutes, basting every 10 minutes with maple syrup mixture in skillet.

Transfer apples to serving platter. Pour sauce over apples and serve. Enjoy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

DISTANCE TRAVELED FROM PHILADELPHIA TO CHESTER, NJ: 96 miles

http://www.riamede.com/

LBI & Blueberry Buckle

Just a few miles from the iconic Old Barney lighthouse, my family has a shore house on Long Beach Island. (Thanks to MTV, you probably already know that "shore" means beach, but let me be clear that Long Beach Island is nothing like what you see on television!) LBI is a narrow, 18-mile long barrier island off the coast of New Jersey and is a family friendly shore community. Made up of small towns that each have their own character, the island is bordered on one side by Barnegat Bay and the other by the Atlantic Ocean. The beaches are clean and beautiful and full of my childhood memories. There's only one way on and off the island and something special about driving over the bridge and leaving your worries on the mainland. 

Summer holidays are always spent at the shore and this Labor Day was no exception. Having spent most of the month of August traveling abroad (more on that in future posts), I couldn't wait to get there and just relax! Accordingly, I decided to skip packing the "going out" clothes (though LBI does have a fun bar scene), in favor of a bathing suit, a good read, and...Blueberry Buckle.

Blueberry Buckle is similar to a blueberry crumb cake and is the perfect treat to bring down the shore. It's a favorite of my uncle (who lives across the street), great for breakfast or dessert (with homemade vanilla gelato, courtesy of my aunt), and filled with blueberries grown right in the state of NJ. (Yes, there's a reason it's called the Garden State and in the summer that reason involves corn, tomatoes, and blueberries!)

The recipe is modified ever so slightly from the Firelight Blueberry Buckle on Pamela Lanier's Bed and Breakfast Inns website:

Yield: 9 servings

Ingredients:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) Unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup Sugar

1 Egg, room temperature

1 1/2 cups Flour

1/2 tsp. Salt

1/4 tsp. Ground Nutmeg

1/2 cup Milk

2 1/2 cup Fresh Blueberries

Topping:

1/2 cup Sugar

1/3 cup Flour

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) Unsalted butter, softened

1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease 8x8 pan. 

Cream butter and sugar. Blend in egg. In a separate bowl, combine flower, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Add the flower mixture to the butter and sugar, alternating with the milk, and scraping the sides of the bowl. Gently fold in blueberries. Pour into pan. 

Combine topping ingredients in a small bowl and cut in butter. Sprinkle evenly over batter.

Bake 50 minutes.

 (Dust with powdered sugar before serving.)

 (The original recipes calls for one pint of blueberries, but the extra half cup in this version means that there are plenty in every slice and bite!)

DISTANCE TRAVELED TO LBI FROM PHILADELPHIA: 92 miles

http://www.visitnj.org/long-beach-island