Spiced Apple Rolls with Nigella Seeds
Apple season (which, in Australia, runs from January to June) is winding to a close. It’s funny, I always associate apples with winter, even though they’re ubiquitous and available all year round. A stalwart member of the fruit bowl. But actually still kinda boring.
I don’t love apples, I’ll be honest. And especially in winter the thought of biting down through apple skin into chilled, slightly tart, crisp flesh makes my hairs stand on end. I can’t imagine a scenario where I’d really feel like eating an apple - where I’d actually crave one. When I do occasionally eat an apple it’s usually kinda just because its…there?
My apple apathy reminds me a lot of the typical one-sided experience of dating in your twenties. More often than not at least one person in the pair is kinda just going along for the ride because it’s easy/convenient and it’s directly in front of them (you know, like a bowl of apples). And when you’re twenty you don’t know that there are such things as custard apples, cherries, peaches or cantaloupes. Reliable old Golden Delicious is right there waiting in your fruit bowl 9am chem tute and you’re not particularly excited by it but it’s directly in front of you so you’re like ‘eh, ok what the hell! I’ll bite’.
And sometimes, during that woebegone decade you’re disinterestedly dating a Golden Delicious and sometimes you ARE someone’s Golden Delicious, and then that really sucks. But don’t worry, in the end we all find our cantaloupes. Anyway. What on earth am I talking about.
I admit at this point it does feel a bit strange to begin a recipe with a rant about how I don’t really like the main ingredient. BUT, see, the thing is I’m unimpressed by RAW apples and these are cooked and cooked apples are an entire world away from your bog standard apple-bowl-apple with the week old sticky skin and the cloying, floury flesh (why can’t I stop saying negative things about apples??). A raw potato is a universe away from a roast potato, and the same is true with apples. It’s like those cheesy 90s movies where the ‘nerdy girl’ (aka the girl with curly hair and glasses) suddenly undergoes a sexy transformation (straightens her hair and removes the glasses) and all the boys pay attention and at last she feels whole and fulfilled as an individual.
Cooking apples in brown sugar, cinnamon and butter is exactly the same as that!
So, go cook some apples and make this delectable desert. I can confirm as someone who is generally underwhelmed by apples that these apples are delicious and spicy and rich and warm and far from underwhelming. Winter is waning, the days are growing longer. The apples are ripe, the nights are cold, and spicy, hot, buttery, sugary fruit wrapped in pastry and topped with thickened cream is exactly what you need to be eating.
Spiced Apple Rolls
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
6 apples, peeled, cored and cut into large chunks
4 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp butter
1 x 375g portion of puff pastry
1 egg, lightly whisked
2 Tbsp nigella seeds (you could also use poppy seeds, if desired)
Thickened cream and/or vanilla ice-cream, to serve
Method
Put the apples, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, coriander, ginger and butter in a deep frying pan and fry on moderate heat for 15-20 minutes, or until the apples have softened slightly (but are not mushy) and started to caramelise on their edges. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
Cut the sheet of puff pastry in half width-ways, creating two rectangles of pastry. Spoon half of the mixture into the centre of each rectangle, then roll the pastry up around the filling. Seal all the edges together, encasing the filling inside the pastry. Repeat with the other piece of puff pastry and the remainder of the filling.
Brush each roll with the whisked egg and sprinkle the nigella seeds on top. Bake in the oven at 180˚C for 30-35 minutes, or until the pastry has turned flaky and golden brown. Serve with whipped cream (or vanilla ice-cream, or both!)
