Apfel of her eye

This year, our apple trees returned an insane amount of apples. If I never see apples again, I’ll die a happy girl.

So far, I have made apple chutney, baked an equally insane number of apple muffins and have enough mincemeat to last for about hundred Christmasses.

While looking into how else to preserve apples (friends will be getting jars of apple chutney this year for Christmas), I remembered a German product called apfelmus (apple puree) which you can buy in jars in every German supermarket. The thought of it came to me while Mr T told me about an Australian man who lived a whole year of potatoes (that’s for another day).

You might question my sanity of how my brain jumped from apple puree to potatoes but if you have every lived in Germany or been to a German Christmas market, you will have come across a dish called kartoffellpuffer (yep, that’s one word), a savoury potato pancake which is served – you might have guessed it – with apple puree.

The next batch of apples were transformed into apfelmus by peeling and chopping the apple roughly, adding a bit of water, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla (seasoning is optional, sugar and water is not) to a pot.

Bring to a boil, put a lid on the pot and leave to steam until soft. You can just break the apples up with a fork and leave it ‘rustic’ or puree (hence the name) it smooth, which I prefer. Pour into sterilised jars, place a lid on and put a pretty label on.

These don’t keep long, so Mr T and I will eat apple puree with all kind of things in the next few weeks.

To make the potato pancakes, finely grate four medium potatoes and squeeze as much water out as possible in a clean towel (Mr T came in rather handy for this task). The drier the potatoes, the better the result. Add a small onion, grated, about 4 tablespoons of flour, 2 medium eggs and half a teaspoon of salt.

Mix it all until well combined.

In a frying pan, heat sunflower oil or ghee (clarified butter) and spoon the mix into medium rounds, fry until golden brown on both sides. Don’t make these pancakes too thick as they will burn before they are cooked through. Place on a paper towel to soak up the excess oil and serve with the apple puree. Steamed apples with cinnamon and raisins would also work.

Some people in Germany also add herb quark (a thick cream cheese) or use smoked salmon and sour cream (the pancakes replace the traditional blinis here). If all the above is too much hassle, just sprinkle a layer of sugar over it.

When I told Mr T about the idea, he looked extremely sceptical (he should be used to my weird ideas by now) but he tries everything and after a short hesitation, asked me how many I’ve made as he wanted more.

The mix of savoury and sweet works so well here and apples and potatoes make good bedfellows – after all, the French call apples pommes and potatoes pomme de terre making them basically brother in arms.