Natural Food

A big part of cooking good food is having good ingredients and the best possible ingredients will come from those grown yourself with love and care. So I have spent my sunday afternoon planting apple trees in my sister's garden.

Not only is this fantastically rewarding with the knowledge that you have done something which will hopefully last for years but before long they should yield some excellent cooking apples. These will make a wonderful ingredient for a dessert or just for a simple apple sauce.

Apple and Thyme Compot

2 Large Bramley Apples

2 tbspn Demerara Sugar

35 ml Calvados

3 Sprigs Thyme

Peel and dice the Bramley apples then place in a saucepan with three to four table spoons of cold water and cook on a low heat. After a few minutes add in the Calvados and Demerara Sugar. Finally strip the leaves from the thyme sprigs and add them to the sauce. Cook for five to ten minutes or untill the apples are soft but not over cooked. This gives a nice chunky apple sauce which goes perfectly with roast pork.