SAUCY APPLE + PEAR COMPOTE

For breakfast, for ice cream, for the soul. A little gift from dear old Dad.

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Hello!

We are having the most glorious fall days, golden and crunchy, with light bouncing off of every surface like a flickering candle—delicate, soothing—straight into the soul; days that have pulled me away from my desk into woodlands and onto the lawn with gentle meals to be savored slowly, scattered among the leaves.

It's a little trick New England plays on us this time of year, as is to say, “No, winter is no threat. It will always feel this glowy and nice.”

This warm streak follows a fall visit to see my parents, who took us on forest hikes and breezy bike rides and treated us to the most nourishing meals—Swedish pancakes, giant plates of meaty salmon with pan-seared vegetables, and breakfast spreads fit for an English manor, but with decidedly farmhouse roots.  

My dad shines at many things: he’s a beloved family doctor, a talented pianist, and an excellent athlete (holding his own at running, high hurdles, cycling, and kayaking over the years, to name a few). We could always pick out his deep, booming voice in the church choir; he planned the best vacations and took us to Cubbies games and horseback-riding adventures as kids. He loves long bike rides and short naps and swallows lengthy novels weekly. In recent years, he’s dug into Spanish as a second language, thriving at vocabulary and practicing with native Spanish speakers at every chance. In short, he’s large on life. But it wasn’t until his seventh decade—when he retired from 45-plus years of practicing medicine (and 45-plus years of sitting down to meals made by my generous Mom) that he became the family cook—and a good one!

In the kitchen, he’s his mother incarnate: cheerful and loving, meticulously toiling away at something nourishing and beautiful to the delight and welfare of everyone around her. Her kitchen had biscuits and gravy, homemade cobblers, sugar cookies, and homegrown strawberry or Concord jellies on the stove. His meals are more fish/plant-forward (he cooks with my mother’s diabetes and Parkinson's in mind). Still, the little luxuries are always there: a flaky croissant, grass-fed Irish butter, and a compote of warm apples and pears cooked with a dash of cinnamon and sugar.

Of all the wonderful smells in the world, the scent of apples and pears cooking on the above unlocks something deep inside me, an almost primal feeling of well-being. It’s not something we ate when we were young—my Mom was far more a baker (the smell of her Rhubarb Upside Down Cake baking away could make our knees buckle—find the recipe in my first book)—but Dad’s been making this simple compote from his childhood for us for years now. He serves the saucy apples and pears in a small oval dish, planted on a table filled with poached eggs, seeded brown bread, and the giant fruit salads he’s famed for among all the grandchildren (his fruit bowl never empties, and we like it that way).

“As a farm boy, I was proud to know that my mother was the best cook around. She made delicious meals for the family and farm hands and always had the most adored foods at community events and church potlucks—people clamored to get Virginia’s plates first before they rapidly disappeared. When she was cooking, our house was filled with fabulous smells of baking (bread, cakes, and pies) and bubbly fruits stewing on the stove.” Dad says.  

My Dad would spoon his apple-pear compote over stale bread or a day-old croissant as his mother might have for a cozy farm treat. I like mine spooned straight into my mouth—warm—like chunky apple sauce; back at home, we eat it cooled over yogurt or warm over ice cream in the late afternoon, like a pie ala mode (without the troubling crust!)

I’ve made big vats of this recipe twice this week for the kids to layer into parfaits with granola (like this one) and Greek yogurt for easy school-day treats. I packed a parfait for Greta for her dark 6:45 AM bus ride to school this morning. Another waited for Matyas on the table with a cup of warm tea. Only time will tell if my children will one day report the same nostalgia and pride my Dad recalls for his mother’s cooking. For today, he gobbled it up and rushed to the yard to kick the soccer ball without so much as a glance back.

xx

Sarah

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SAUCY APPLE AND PEAR COMPOTE

This is my dad’s saucy apple compote. It can be made with apples alone but is infinitely more floral and delicious when pears are added, as he always does. Use a variety of apples—I like some that break down more, like Empire or Macintosh, mixed with crisp and tart apples like Macoun, Pippen, Mitsu, Jonagold, or Golden Delicious. For the pears, look for ones already ripe and fairly juicy.

The win here is that you can add any flavoring you want as the fruit cooks: go heavy on the ground cinnamon (rather than sticks) if you want a more pronounced cinnamon flavor. Add fresh or dried ginger (I like fresh) or a pod or two of cardamom if you’re more spice-inclined. If you want a compote that’s more apple sauce than apples with sauce, cook it longer until all the fruit breaks down. See notes below in the method. Finally, a slow or pressure cooker will speed this along and make it easy to double the batch—notes on that, below.

• 3 pounds mixed apples (some tart and juicy, some sweet and some firm)

• 2 pounds ripe pears

• 1 cup water

• 2 tablespoons to 1/3 cup unbleached sugar (*see note)

• 2 cinnamon sticks (or 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon)

• pinch of fine sea salt

• 1 to 2 pats of Grassfed Irish butter (optional)

1. Peel, core, and trim the apples and pears. Toss them with the sugar in a large, wide pan. Pour the water over the top. Add the cinnamon and a pinch of salt.

2. Bring to a boil. Immediately lower the heat to a simmer, cover, and let the fruit cook to your desired tenderness: 25 minutes for a firm but saucy fruit, 30 minutes to let the fruit break down more, and about 40 minutes for a deeper color and softer fruit. For a decadent finish (say, for over ice cream,

SPEED IT UP: To cut the cooking time in half, put the same ingredients in an instant pot and pressure cook on LOW for 15 minutes. Prefer the low and slow method? Use the same ingredients, and cook it on HIGH in a slow cooker for 4 to 6 hours. The longer you cook it, the more apple-saucy it will be.

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