Eagleionline

I don’t know about the rest of you, but recently I’ve been feeling like we are all, economically speaking, kinda screwed. The only good thing about being five figures in debt is that I don’t have much in the way of assets other than my pre-law school 401(K) - and with each passing day, I have significantly less. Pretty soon, Fidelity is going to send me a check for $8 and a coupon for a free latte at Starbucks and tell me that’s all I get.  Whether you are a 1L, worried about where the economy will be in three years, a 2L worried about next summer, or a 3L worrying about your post-graduation lives, we are all pretty nervous, and nervousness deserves a little comfort food.

If there is ever a good time to be in need of comfort food, it is fall, because the fall season brings with it lots of foods that are good comfort food staples. Pumpkins and squash, potatoes, even broccoli have their place in the comfort food regimen. The cooler weather also makes eating warm foods (and using one’s oven) more inviting, so it’s a good time to break out those comfort food recipes from wherever they’ve been hiding.

Comfort food also differs by region, tradition, and, for that matter, personal experience. When I was a kid, my grandmother, who grew up in rural Kentucky, would bake a huge ham around this time of year and she and my grandfather would live off of it for (it seemed, in my young brain) weeks on end. Ham salad, ham sandwiches, ham and eggs…Really, there was nothing this woman couldn’t do with ham. When, at last, every moist and smoky morsel had been lifted from the bone, she would take the scraps left on the plate and the bone itself and make split pea soup - also a great comfort food.

In the wilds of New England, there are many options for comfort food. Pancakes with maple syrup, anyone? Anything with the word “chowdah” would also qualify. Since it has been a banner apple year, one of the easiest comfort-y foods is apple crisp. I bought a bag of McIntosh apples at Shaw’s the other day and they were great - seriously, some of the best applies I’ve had in a long time, and they were from Shaw’s! After I bought that bag of apples, I also got half a dozen apples from my CSA’s last drop off. And then I got a call this evening that I would be getting even MORE apples tomorrow from my friend Bridget, who had some to spare after a trip with her mom to a pick-your-own place out in central Mass. So, you can guess what I’ll be making a lot of over the coming weeks.

In addition to being totally delicious, apple crisp has the advantage of being hard to screw up and cheap to make. It goes well with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. It is always welcome at friends’ houses. It is also a great breakfast before an 8AM class (Secured Transactions students, this means you). 

Harvest Apple Crisp

4-8 apples (whatever kind you prefer - I like the McIntosh/Macoun/JonnyMac varieties myself), peeled, cored and sliced

2 tsp. lemon juice

1/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. light brown or white sugar

1/2 c. rolled or instant oats

3 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2” pieces

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 c. walnuts, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease or spray a 2” deep baking dish (8” square or something similar in size). Mix the sugar and spices together.

2. In the baking dish, toss the apples with the flour and about 1 tbsp of the sugar and spice mixture. Sprinkle with the lemon juice and gently toss.

3. In a medium bowl, using your hands, mush the butter, oats, remaining sugar mixture, and walnuts together until the butter is distributed evenly and the clumps look granola-cluster sized (about 1/2”). Gently spread topping over apples, pressing gently down on the top.

4. Bake for about an hour, until apples are soft and bubbly and top is browned. If top is browning too quickly, cover with aluminum foil.

Enjoy!