This is the other side dish that I always serve with the ham and macaroni and cheese on Christmas and Easter. My son puts this right on top of his ham–but I have a thing about meat and fruit. I like meat and I like fruit, but I don’t like them together. I feel the same way about veggies and fruit–I don’t like any recipes that put veggies and fruit together. I’m not as bad as my daughter, Mandy, who doesn’t even like her food touching each other on the plate, but you will not find any recipes that pair meat and fruit or veggies and fruit in the same recipe. Sorry! My friend, Sheila, used to make a spinach salad with mandarin orange slices and thinly sliced red onion in it that looked beautiful, and I’m sure it tasted even better, (it had a delicious poppy seed dressing that I have made), but I never tried it due to that whole no veggies and fruit thing. This recipe is good along side of your ham and mac & cheese!
6 to 8 apples of your choice–use ones that will hold up well when baked and not get mushy–I like Granny Smith for this reason and also for their tartness; I’ve also used a combination of different types of apples in this dish
1/4 cup lemon juice (it doesn’t have to be fresh squeezed–it’s just to keep the apples from turning brown; you can also use orange juice if you want to keep things sweeter)
1/2 cup firmly packed light or brown sugar (or a combination of both); you can also add more sugar if your apples are very tart
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon or a little more if you like a BIG cinnamon taste
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (freshly ground is best, but you can use the already ground kind) or a little more if you like lots of nutmeggy goodness
2 tablespoons butter, cut into about 10 small cubes
1 bag miniature marshmallows (or you can use the big ones; I just think the mini ones look better)
Preheat your oven to 35o degrees F. Peel and core your apples. Slice them into about 1/2 inch slices and put into a large bowl; cover them with with the lemon or orange juice to keep them from turning brown. Toss them around in the lemon or orange juice so that they all get covered. Butter a 9 x 13-inch dish or any large, fairly short casserole dish that will hold the apples easily. You could also use a large deep-dish pie pan, if you have one. Pour in the sliced apples and the juice they were tossed in–you don’t need to drain them. Sprinkle evenly with the brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. You can always add more sugar, cinnamon, and/or nutmeg to taste–it’s not really fussy about small changes in quantity. Top with the cubed butter. Bake for about 1 1/4 hours or until the apples are tender but not mushy. Top evenly with the marshmallows and put under the broiler until the marshmallows are evenly toasted a deep brown. KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR APPLES DURING THIS PART; the marshmallows can quickly go from perfectly browned to burned in about 2 seconds!
This is a great side dish that works really well with pork products. It’s also very good served as a brunch dish.
mommaNoth 