Another tasty insight, anyone?

Appetizing Apple Strudel

One of my all-time favorite deserts or main dishes – and this is the rare occasion where you will see me get all patriotic – is apple strudel. Or Apfelstrudel. See, told you, patriotism kicking in right there. It’s as traditionally Austrian as you can get without using pork.

Also, this reminds me of my childhood and my momma. She is the undefeated queen of apple strudel. I’m doing my best to oust her from her office. One day I shall.
One day …

This is a simple yet tasty treat that will make everyone want to kiss the cook. Especially if you make one half with and one without raisins. (Never underestimate the culinary power of those little fellas. The world is divided into raisin-lovers and raisin-haters. There is no in between.)

Here’s what you need!

- 2 large apples: sour is best in this case, go for Elstar

- Cinnamon, lots of

- white or brown sugar (I prefer organic brown sugar, just makes you feel like a responsible citizen of Planet Earth. Also it tastes better.)

- 1 lemon (juice)

- 1 cup of raisins

- 1 sheet of filo dough (which you could make yourself but that would mean many more hours separating you and your loved ones from a delicious apple strudel. No bueno!)

- 1 egg

Next step, if there are any roomies, significant others or other innocent bystanders within reach, put them to work.

If not, peel and core the apples yourself. Now grate them. Of course you could also dice or slice them but where is the fun in that. Also, your end result will be a lot juicier when you grate the apples. And we like juicy. When you’re done with that you can preheat your oven to about 200 degrees Celsius.

Now place the grated apples in a large bowl and squeeze the juice of one lemon over them. Stir to prevent from going brown and yucky.

Add the raisins, sugar and cinnamon to taste. If your strudel is likely to fall into the hands of raisin-haters (shame on you, raisin-haters!) you may replace the raisins with buttery browned breadcrumbs or nuts.

Stir the mixture. Smell it. Mmmh … appleicious.

On a baking tray roll out the filo pastry and place the apple mixture in the middle of the filo sheet, leaving enough space on the sides to fold them in. Fold in the long and short sides, then brush with the whisked egg for a finish that’s beautifully golden brown (texture like sun … you know, like the song?).

And in the preheated oven it goes! Leave to bake for 25-30 minutes, dust with powdered sugar and enjoy!