Apple season in Southern California always takes me by surprise. In boarding school, we’d eat apples not in May but in the fall, from wooden crates that the faculty had set up outside (the school, in Ohio, was also a working farm with an apple orchard) for mid-class snacking, and later in the season we’d press cider as a class project. However, these are apples I picked yesterday, in the middle of a muggy mid-May day when apples were the last thing I expected to find perfectly ripe on a backyard tree. They’re Anna apples, which are sweet and crisp and have quite a lot of flavor. Anna apples are a modern, i.e. not an heirloom, apple variety, developed in Israel to grow well in low-chill climates. I just ate these. But when the rest of the fruit comes in, I’ll probably make an apple galette, or maybe caramelize slices of apples in butter and sugar and then flambé them with some Armagnac and spoon the mixture over crepes. You don’t really need a recipe for sauteed apples, but here’s one for basic sweet crepes.
CREPES
Makes about 20 crepes
2 cups flour
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons butter, melted
Softened butter for the pan
1. In the jar of a blender, blend the flour, eggs, milk, salt, sugar and 4 tablespoons butter with 1 1/4 cups water at high speed for 10 seconds, stop and scrape down the sides, then blend for 10 seconds more. Strain batter through a fine-mesh sieve. Allow to rest for an hour.
2. Heat a crepe pan or nonstick saute pan over medium-high heat until a few drops of water sizzle when sprinkled on the pan. With a paper towel, spread a little butter on the pan, being sure to wipe most of it off.
3. Pour enough batter to just cover the pan, about one-fourth cup, immediately swirling the batter around until it covers the surface. Adjust heat if necessary. If the batter sizzles when you pour it onto the pan, it’s too hot; if it just lies there, it’s too cold. The first one or two crepes are usually experiments.
4. When the edges of the crepe begin to turn golden and move away from the pan, after about 2 minutes, lift up the edge nearest to you using a spatula. Flip the crepe over. Cook the second side of the crepe only long enough for it to set, less than a minute. Remove from the pan and start a stack of crepes, layering wax paper between each crepe as you cook more. Add more butter when needed with a paper towel.
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The thing I miss (maybe the most) about living in New York is the proximity to wonderful crisp apples. I haven’t found ones in Southern California that compare. But I am intrigued by the Anna apples. Thank you!