Though my family has never said so, I have this feeling that they think I am a strange cook. I must admit, they have every right to be sceptical of my culinary skills when it comes to meal preparation. Usually my meals are made from a recipe that I have severely altered or an idea sparked by a picture in some food magazine or web page. My experiments have had mixed results. Often there has been a voice somewhere around the table that says, "What's this?" or "What's that different flavor?" Yet I keep pursuing my odd dishes. Hey, they haven't fired me yet!One noon Mom was gone, and my sisters were busy with preparations for teaching, so the job of making a meal fell to me. I never like spending much time on noon meals, so my main stays are either left-overs or grilled sandwiches. There must not have been any left-overs worthy of mentioning this day, because I opted for the grilled sandwich route. We weren't going to have any plain old grilled cheese. We were going to have apple and onion grilled cheese! It was fall, and we had boxes of lovely apples. Why not?
To start I fried the slivered apples in maple syrup until they were coated with a thin, sticky layer. At the same time onions sizzled their way to delicious translucency in our George Foreman grill. Once these two ingredients were ready, I spread Dijon mustard on sliced bread and piled with the apples, onions, and a bit of farmer's cheese. (Note: Something a little stronger like provolone or yogurt cheese would have made for an even nicer sandwich, but these were not in our cheese drawer.) A slice of bread was placed on top, and they were ready to be grilled. To cut fat (actually cholesterol is our enemy) we have started making all our grilled sandwiches on the George Forman grill. When done this way the sandwiches need no buttering and in the end have beautiful grill lines. It also makes them a bit like panini, though not quite as squished. So on the George Forman they went. A few minutes later we had beautiful sandwiches. Now it was time for the taste test.
The maple syrup didn't seem to come through, but maybe if it were brushed onto the bread... Something besides mustard could make the flavors better balanced, but it worked. Mild apple flavor, good onion and cheese flavors, the nuttiness of 100% Whole Wheat Bread, the zip of a little mustard. Yum. Even Dad gave it a thumbs up saying in a positive tone, "This is different, but it's good!"
I have now dubbed this sandwich "Apple Panini." Sure, there is room for improvement, but I think it may just have made it onto the list of successes.
Autumn - There are many characteristics that lend themselves to making this my favorite time of year. The smell of apples cooking on the stove, colored leaves, crisp, fresh air, leaves crunching under foot... Some of my best memories come from this season. Typically even though our fall days have always been busy - storing away home grown food, winterizing garden, home, and lake cabin, plowing telephone cable into the ground once the crops are harvested, etc. - there is something about the season that calls for setting all work aside, getting the whole family in the car, and going for a relaxing drive and picnic.
