Homemade Applesauce

Jeff's daughter, Cate was eleven when we met. Bright, funny and beautiful, I adored her. But I was fairly clueless as to the ways of a tween. I scored points for my cooking, though . Whatever it takes, right? For two years I cooked for her every other week when she was with us. And while she still loved her mac-cheese, she quickly developed a taste for fresh ingredients cooked in simple preparations. She's in boarding school now and when she comes home she always asks for Pork Chops cooked in rendered pork fat in a cast iron skillet with homemade Applesauce. It's the ideal side dish and great accompaniment to latkes (potato pancakes). It's so easy to make, you'll never get store-bought again.

Depending on the size of the apples, plan for about 1-2 apples per person if you're serving it as a side dish. If it's a latke topper plan for 1 apple per person. Use any kinds of apples you like but if they're red you can reserve the peel and drop it in the pot to turn the Applesauce a pretty pink color.

5 Apples

Reserved Apple Peel

1 Cinnamon Stick

Peel and chop the apples and place them in a pot with some reserved apple peel and the cinnamon stick. Cover with 1-2 cups of water - just enough to cover the bottom of the pot but not to fully submerge the apples. Bring it to a boil and immediately turn it down to low. Loosely cover the pot and let simmer for about 45 minutes. Uncover, remove the cinnamon stick and the peel and mash the apples with a spatula to your preferred consistency.