In the bag : Apple Potato soup with Apple Walnut Bread

This month’s challenge for In The Bag over at Real Epicurean is Fruit and Nut. How could I resist such a tempting opportunity?

For those of you not in the know I live in Maine. And while most people affiliate Maine with lobsters and chowdah (the accent is crucial ), in the fall most true Mainers will tell you that apples reign supreme. According to this handy dandy little website, Maine has over 700 types of apples. I am ashamed to admit that I am only truly familiar with the variety known as Macintosh. But this gives me a mission for the remainder of the fall – find the other 699 types and try them all!

Maine is also known for potatoes. I still remember stories when I was growing up of children in Northern Maine getting out of school for 2-3 weeks in the fall to harvest them. Not 100% certain if these tales are true, but my 7 year old self envied them something wicked.

So, put the two together and you get Apple Potato Soup.

And yesterday turned into not only the perfect day for soup (thanks Hurricane Kyle) but the fog was so thick coming up over the harbour that the foghorns were sounding their eerie siren call every 20 minutes or so, making a perfect background while I cooked up this delicious lunch.

Apple Potato Leek Soup

4 Maine Russet Potatoes of good size, diced
2 Macintosh Apples, peeled and diced
1 Macintosh, peeled and sliced
1 small bulb of fennel, core removed and thin sliced
1 leek, diced white part only
2 cups chicken broth
Salt and Pepper
Butter
Cider Vinegar

In a large stew pot melt 1 TBSP of butter and add onion and fennel. Saute until translucent (about 5 minutes). Add chicken stock, potatoes and apples (except the sliced ones). Bring to a near boil and reduce heat to medium low. Simmer for 45 minutes.

Ladle soup into a food processor (I had to go in 3 batches to prevent spill over) and puree until smooth. Pour into bowls or a soup tureen

Before serving place a few tabs of butter into a fry pan and heat. Add the sliced apples and cook for 1-2 minutes. Sprinkle with sugar and 1 tsp cider vinegar and toss around until vinegar evaporates. Use as a garnish on your soup. (I nabbed this idea from somewhere while researching for this recipe – so sadly, delicious but not mine)

The second half of the ingredients stumped me however. Maine and nuts? I couldn’t come up with a single thing. But then the brain, as I was looking at the gorgeous bag of apples sitting on my counter, said “apple bread” and what is better than apple bread, I asked?, apple bread with walnuts. So I dragged out the Whole Foods bag of nuts I keep around for snacking emergencies and my handy mini processor. And ended up absent mindedly grinding up about 2 cups worth.

So I opted to round out this entire meal out with my super easy but people will think you are an amazing cook Honey Walnut Butter.

Apple Walnut Bread
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup apple, shredded
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger

In a bowl mix together the first 4 ingredients, cinnamon and ginger In another bowl mix the sugar, eggs, and butter until creamy. add the walnuts, vanilla and the apples and mix. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients and blend until smooth.

Pour into a greased bread pan and bake for 60-70 minutes in a 375 degree oven. The bread is done when a fork in the centre comes out clean.

Honey Walnut Butter
1 cup walnuts
1 stick butter, sliced into thick tabs
2 tsp clover honey

Add walnuts to food processor and chop until fine and almost turning to paste. Add butter slowly, stopping machine every so often to scrape the sides. Add honey and continue blending until smooth.

This will keep, covered, in the fridge for about a week.