 Every
Fall, we trek up into the rolling hills of Northeastern Washington
to the annual Green Bluff Farmer's Harvest Festival.
The Festival, sponsored by the local farmer's co-op, is held every
weekend from late September through the end of October in celebration
of the annual apple harvest. It's a showcase of Americana and a
living history of the tradition of the American farm family.
Residents of the tiny little berg, a mere four corners at the intersection
of two rural roads, come together to promote the bounty of the Fall
harvest with apples as the star attraction.
The local grange hall, country store and church hall are adorned
with all manner of apple-related arts, crafts and foods. One can
find apple themed curios like hand crocheted "Red Apple Tea Caddies"
or a homemade deep-dish pie using tart Granny Smith apples. Local
fiddlers provide entertainment on the outdoor lawn as celebrants
gorge on Oktoberfest sausages, fresh sauerkraut and apple cobbler
with fresh vanilla ice cream.
More than half of all the apples grown in the United States for
fresh eating come from orchards in Washington State.
Aside from that pesky little scare created by a 60 Minutes
story on the preservative chemical "alar" a few years back, Washington
still remains the supreme apple grower in the country. Since 1989,
Washington fresh apple sales (apples sold straight away after harvest)
have totaled between 70 million and 100 million boxes each year.
This year's state apple crop destined for the fresh market is estimated
at over 76 million boxes, each box weighing nearly 42 pounds. Now
that's certainly enough apples to keep the doctor away each day.
Apple strudel, first created by Viennese bakers, is a classic Fall
dessert--layers of wafer-thin pastry rolled around a sweet filling
of tender apples. Traditional strudel dough uses high-gluten flour
which is high in starch content and when mixed with water, can be
stretched paper-thin over a large, flour-dusted table without tearing.
It takes literally decades to master the art of making strudel dough.
Most accomplished professional pastry makers are well over 70 years
of age and learned the craft from their mothers and fathers.
Our recipe dispenses with handmade strudel dough and uses frozen
sheets of phyllo dough--an incredibly quick and easy dough to use.
The key to working with phyllo dough is to keep it wrapped in a
damp towel while you are preparing the strudel. If phyllo gets dry,
it will crack and break. I like to place the phyllo sheets on a
sheet of plastic film, cover with another sheet of plastic film;
them place a damp kitchen towel on top of the film. I have found
that placing a damp towel directly on top of the phyllo will make
the sheets of dough sticky and gummy.
For the filling, I use an apple compote recipe. It is a versatile
apple filling that can be adapted to a number of recipes or simply
eaten alone for breakfast.
The best way to taste the Fall apple harvest is to serve the strudel
warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Apple
Strudel
|
