Ugly Apples for Dessert

Witamy! 

It’s apple time!  Local orchards are full and ready for picking.  Apple cider is fresh and tangy and most fun when purchased from a roadside fruit stand -- I’ve always preferred the fresh pressed, unpasteurized, straight-out-of-the-barrel kind because the taste is so much more intense.  Grocery store shelves are overflowing with several varieties of apples, including those “not-so-pretty” local varieties.  In fact I just read about one orchard featuring “heirloom apples”...yes, they were deformed and misshapen, but apparently just delicious. 

Apples are an important part of Polish cuisine and here is a favorite dessert that Peter's Mom made for him as a child.

Apple and Rice Pudding
Serves 6
4  cups, semi-tart, peeled, cored and shredded apples    
1  tablespoon cinnamon
½  cup brown sugar
4   cups cooked rice, not precooked or instant rice
1½  cups sour cream
4   tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

Note:  try to use those ugly local apples...they taste great, are often cheaper and more plentiful in the fall, and they support your local produce farmers.

Preheat oven to 375 °F.  In a bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar with the shredded apples and mix well.

Grease a 9-inch baking dish (or glass pie pan)  and spread out the rice and apples in the pan , in alternating layers  (rice/apples/rice/apples/rice.)

 

Cover and bake for 40 minutes.  Mix the sour cream and sugar onto a sauce and set aside.

 
Let the pudding cool down a bit.  Serve warm in small bowls, topped with the sweet, sour cream sauce. 

Note:  the top layer of rice may get a little crunchy, but that gives it a great texture.
Smacznego!