Recipe: Apple Soup

Apple Soup

Makes 8 servings

This fall soup could easily become part of your Thanksgiving tradition. I recommend McIntosh apples, because they are particularly flavorful and very juicy. But Idared and Granny Smith apples are fine second choices. Use a mandoline, if possible, to slice the apples; you want them as thin as can be.

Apple Chips
1/2 cup (57 grams) confectioners' sugar
1 McIntosh apple, cored and sliced
crosswise into 1/16-inch rounds

Soup
8 (about 2-1/2 pounds; 1 kilo) McIntosh apples,
peeled, cored, and quartered
2/3 cup (134 grams) sugar
1 vanilla bean, split
Grated zest of lemon

Garnish
1 McIntosh apple, cored, halved, and thinly sliced
1 teaspoon (5 grams) fresh lemon juice
8 mint sprigs

1. Make the apple chips: Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.

2. Sift half of the confectioners' sugar onto a nonstick baking sheet. Arrange the apple slices in a single layer on the baking sheet and sift the remaining confectioners' sugar over them. Bake the slices for 45 minutes. To check if they are done, remove one slice with a spatula and place it on a cool surface. If after 1 minute it hardens enough so that it will snap in half, the chips are ready. If it doesn't, continue to bake, checking at 15 minute intervals to see if they are done. When they are, immediately remove the apple chips from the pan with a metal spatula and place them on a wire rack to cool completely. The apple chips can be stored in an airtight container in a cool dry place for up to 2 weeks. (You will need only 8 chips for the recipe)

3. Make the soup: Combine the apples, 4 cups (944 grams) water, the sugar, and vanilla bean in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the apples can be pierced easily with a fork. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes.

4. Carefully pour the soup into a food processor or blender in batches and process until smooth, 45 to 60 seconds. Strain the soup through a sieve into a medium bowl. Stir in the lemon zest and refrigerate the soup for at least 3 hours or until thoroughly chilled.

5. Make the garnish: Stack a few of the apple slices on top of each other and cut them into thin strips. Toss the apple strips with the lemon juice. Repeat with the remaining apple slices.

6. Serve the soup: Divide the soup among eight shallow serving bowls and scatter the apple strips over the soup. Garnish each serving with an apple chip and mint sprig.

Buy the Book!

from:
Simply Sensational Desserts
140 Classics for the Home Baker
By François Payard
Broadway Books, September 1999
Hardcover, $35.00, 256 pages
ISBN: 0-7679-0358-7
Reprinted by permission.