Brisbane is experiencing an unseasonably rainy July. Brisbane winters are usually dry, with cool nights and warm sunny days. We have blue skies that reach from one end of sky to the other. But not this year, it has rained and rained and rained.
So it’s an easy time to eat too much comfort food that is just no good. If you are after a warming dessert without lots of hollow calories, try this baked fruit which is full of nutrients without fat and is modest on the waist line. It would also be great at breakfast on muesli or yoghurt.
I prepared this one night and then it sat in the fridge overnight, this really helped all the flavours combine and deepen. If you have the time I would recommend letting it sit at least a couple of hours, but preferably closer to 24 hours.
You could also use other fruits like peaches and plums in summer, or pears or quince, just adjust the cooking time depending on the fruit. And I know I said three orange, and it’s only two, but using the rind and the juice gives it two different orange flavours and then the Cointreau adds even more orange oomph.
Nature gives us great flavours, so use them!
3 Orange Baked Apple and Rhubarb
serves 8, 20 minutes preparation and 40 minutes cooking cooking
4 apples, peeled, cored and diced
1 bunch of rhubarb, rinsed and diced
1 orange
3 cinnamon quills
2 ounces (60mls) of Cointreau
4tbs of sugar (less if desired)
I absolutely recommend these apple slicers, so easy.
Prepare your apples and rhubarb by dicing them into fairly even sized pieces.Place the apple and rhubarb into a large baking tray.
Use a good sized dish as it is likely to bubble over
Slice off the rind of about half the orange. When getting the rind you want to get as little of the pith (the white stuff between the skin and the flesh) as possible as the pith is bitter. Cut the rind as long strips so that it is easy to pick out of the final dish.
Then juice the orange.
This would make an awesome pie filling too
Combine all the ingredients in the baking dish. Place the orange rind amongst the apple and rhubarb.
Sprinkle the sugar over the apple and rhubarb. If I was making this dish just for me, I probably wouldn’t add any sugar as the orange juice adds plenty of sweetness so long as you have good apples.
Cointreau adds something a little special to the flavours
Mix the Cointreau into the juice and then pour over the fruit.
Nestle the cinnamon sticks into the fruit, then cover with cling-film and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.
Cooked – all soft and it smells devine!
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, uncovered for the last 15 or 20 minutes to reduce the liquid to a more syrupy consistency.
Close-up of flavour!
theLABkitchen 