Apple and Eau de Vie Snow
Serves 8
Takes 90 minutes
Serves 8
Takes 90 minutes
A beautifully fragrant,dish, light and elegant, with an amazingly sophisticated flavour of apples, vanilla and Eau de Vie, and a lovely melt-in-the-mouth texture. This is a great autumn dish, we use local apples such as Pippins which are ready this time of year; we've also used apples from our own garden. It can also be made with good soft pears. You will need a blender and an electric whisk to make this. It can be served either chilled or as a frozen sorbet/granita
1 kg dessert apples
3cm long strip of lemon zest
110g caster sugar
150ml water
1 teasp vanilla paste or seeds from one vanilla pod, split lengthways
1 tbsp pear or apple Eau de Vie (Kirsch also works very well)
pinch of ground cinnamon
4 egg whites
pinch of sea salt
Make the sugar syrup by putting sugar, water and vanilla paste/vanilla pod in a small saucepan, and bring slowly to the boil, stirring constantly to ensure the sugar dissolves. Take off the heat and set aside
Peel and core the apples, and chop quite roughly. Place in a large pan, and add the sugar syrup and lemon zest. Bring to the boil and cook for 6-8 minutes so the apples are cooked but not falling to bits. Take off heat and allow to cool. (Putting the pan in the fridge can speed this up)
When cool, take out the lemon zest and vanilla pod (if using). Remove apples with a slotted spoon and put them in a blender, with about 2 tbsp of the sugar syrup and the cinnamon, and blitz until very smooth and frothy. Add more syrup to taste if not sweet enough. Then add Eau de Vie/ Kirsch.
Whisk the egg whites in a bowl with a pinch of salt until they form peaks. Fold in the apple mixture until completely combined. You can now do one of two things -
return the mixture to the fridge to chill it for at least an hour. The mixture may need stirring a little before serving as the apple tends to sink towards to bottom of the bowl
place the mixture into the freezer and serve as a granita. Allow to defrost for 15-20 minutes before serving. If you have an ice cream maker, this makes the process much easier