An apple a day keeps the doctor… happy!
Apples, wellness, and an unintentionally ample side of cabbage.
Kia ora friends,
Here in Aotearoa, New Zealand, I’ve certainly noticed a change in the air in recent days. Now living in the south, the autumn shift well and truly hits in March – cooler nights are felt, shorter days insidiously encroach, and you see the welcome deciduous change bringing burnt orange leafy glory.
For many, autumn is a season of change in many respects. The cogs are now well and truly turning from the restart of the year, with ideas and decisions perhaps being actioned or carried out. In our psyche, we can lose some of the cognitive warmth that summer’s sunshine brings and might notice a subtle dip as we straddle the mental bridge to winter. Some of you may not know that when I’m not writing recipes, I also spend my time working as a mental health doctor. I’ve always found it interesting the changes in people’s wellness that occurs with the seasons, and undoubtedly the cooler months are more difficult for many of us. While this can often be due to significant stressors, such as the need for adequate heating and housing, or the increased propensity for infection, even for those without significant stress the reduction in daylight hours and temperature change can dampen our moods. When this begins to significantly impact our functioning it is referred to as seasonal affective disorder (also called SAD – ironically).
What I’ve found is that with the change of seasons it is easy to lose motivation and consistency with three of the cornerstones that maintain our mental wellbeing – exercise, socialisation and eating well. The cold can encourage us to hunker down and isolate at home, is less conducive to getting out and being active, and can also find us shifting our diets away from the fresh produce of summer to more processed or less nutritional food. Autumn is the opportunity to consolidate positive eating habits so that we don’t fall off the wayside as winter beckons. And while we no longer have access to the bounty of summer fruit & veg, some of my favourite produce is coming into season, providing a canvas for fresh recipe ideas to share with you all!
Let’s talk apples.
Thinking of autumn produce to get excited about, it’s hard to beat the power of a perfectly crisp new season apple. While apples are available year-round for most of the world, this supply is maintained by either imported apples or apples that have been kept in cold storage houses for months, which means they retain their visual appeal but can often be mealy and flavourless. So let’s embrace the apple season that’s upon us (apologies for those reading from the Northern Hemisphere, hopefully you can still find some tasty out-of-season apples to cook with). Not only are apples delicious, the cliché saying “an apple a day…” actually has a degree of validity, especially when we are thinking of our mental health. They’re naturally high in Vitamin C, antioxidants and fibre, and their juiciness, crunch and flavour profile of honey-like sweetness satisfies our taste receptors to excite and brighten, improving our mood.
The texture and freshness of apple, particularly green apples, which have a pleasant tartness to them, mean they can lend themselves well to salads and other fresh savoury eats. The combination of peanut and apple is especially satisfying (if you’ve never spread peanut butter on a slice of apple you’re not doing it right!), and these flavours soar together in my recipe for Peanut satay slaw with apple + fennel – the perfect autumn slaw to serve alongside your favourite protein, or stuffed into burgers, bao or tacos.
Some of the ways to use apples are obvious: we all know how excellently it eats when stewed with spices and baked as a crumble or pie; grated or julienned into salads; sliced and served over smoothie bowls or porridge. But I love finding new ways to incorporate ingredients into recipes, and the addition of grated green apple goes wonderfully in the traditional Argentinian chimichurri (a green sauce traditionally served with barbecued meats). It adds a sweetness and tang that mingles nicely with the garlic, herbs and chilli. Rather than serving it with meat, this recipe for Roasted red cabbage with apple chimichurri + tahini yoghurt sees hearty cabbage wedges roasted until golden charred, softening their bitterness and bringing a savoury deliciousness to the humble vegetable. Paired with the apple chimichurri and a creamy vegan yoghurt base, this is excellent as a sharing plate or is even filling enough to be eaten as a main.
For those who are the sweet-inclined, I’ve got a ripper apple recipe below as this week’s Mood Booster to satisfy those cravings too (yes, that’s me planning to eat all of the apple slice above!). If you have any of your own epic ways for using apples in your kitchen, I’d love to hear them – there’s a comments section at the bottom of the newsletter on Substack.
Be sure to pick up some apples next time you’re at your local fruit market or super – let’s get cooking!
Much love,
Alby xx
This week’s MOOD BOOSTER:
Apple + ginger caramel crumble slice
It's the best of both worlds. Part ginger-spiked apple crumble, part smooth and rich caramel slice. I don't know about you, but I can't think of a more mouth-watering combo. Lightly cooking the apples first to make a compote means they bake to a beautiful tenderness that melds together with the caramel and oaty ginger crumble. It's sure to become a new favourite!
Best of the season this fortnight (NZ):
Apples
Figs
Green beans
Early pears
Early pumpkins
Feijoas
Carrots
Autumn cabbage
Kitchen music of the moment:
If you ever get the chance to see Lily Allen live, always say yes. I saw her a few years back and her pared back set, frank genuineness, and vocal quality made me fall in love with her even more. It’s been a few years since she released new music, but her last album No Shame includes the song Apples, one of the best examples of her song writing talent (the link and clip below is a live version that showcases her vocals). It won’t get you dancing on the kitchen floor but is worth giving a listen for some mindful cooking.
This might seem like a rather tenuous connection, but I’m a big fan of indie rock band The Wombats, from Liverpool, and their single Moving to New York will often sneak its way back onto my On Repeat spotify playlist. New York – it’s called the big apple, right? Grasping at straws here for apple content, but it’s a good tune regardless.
Interesting reads:
If you have space to plant your own apple tree – here’s a simple and useful instructional on how to prune your tree in 5 easy steps
Granny Smith, we salute you – Parish Councils continuing to demonstrate their journalistic skill with an informative piece on the origins of the Granny Smith.
A recent opinion piece on apples for the more artsy – on the contrary, I happen to actually find apples quite astonishing, thank you.
For those in NZ – the apple industry is struggling post-cyclone, all the more reason to get out there and support the growers by eating apples
Semi-old apple news, but news to me - New Zealand apple industry targeting ‘spray-free’ model by 2050