La cucina di Nicola: Apple Strudel

"La Cucina di Nicola" is back! Continuing with the German theme, we bring you our version of apple strudel. We ate the delicious treat every DAY at every MEAL, this makes us "experts" in the field, doesn't it? I am going to tell you up front that we did not make the dough.
I know, I know, what kind of recipe is this? Well is an EASY recipe, that's it! I am cooking with a ten year old that has just received a game he has been anxiously waiting for: the all incredible "Super Mario Brawl" (?) You have no clue what I am talking about, do you? Suffice to say that Nicolas' attention span for cooking this week is nil.
What is a mother to do? This mom had everything ready, so Nico only had to mix the ingredients, spread them on the purchased dough and roll the strudel. Presto! We are both happy.
I think the most complicated part about this recipe is my introduction to it. So, here it is:

GERMANY INSPIRED, TIME SAVING, FAKE(ISH) APPLE STRUDEL



phyllo dough (pasta sfoglia in Italy, available in the frozen section of the grocery store)*
55 gr. (1/4 Cup) butter, melted
50 gr. (1/4 Cup) brown sugar
15 gr. (1 Tbs.) ground cinnamon
50 gr. (3 Tbs.) bread crumbs
40 gr. (3 Tbs.) golden raisins, re-hydrated
2 medium apples, peeled, cored and diced
confectioner's sugar for dusting

*You need to defrost the dough at least an hour before starting the recipe

Pre-heat oven to 175 C (350 F)
On a heavy skillet melt half the butter, fry the bread crumbs until golden brown. Set aside and let cool.
Mix brown sugar and cinnamon.
Mix apples, raisins, sugar/cinnamon mix, and fried bread crumbs together.
Dust flour over a clean dish towel, unroll and stretch the dough over it.
Spread some of the melted butter on the dough, then spread the apple mixture all over the dough.

Strudel means vortex in German, and it refers to the rolling method used to make these pastries. Now, get ready to roll.

Pick up the dish towel from one side, and push away and down from you to lightly roll the strudel up. Close the edges and transfer to a baking sheet, leaving the seam at the bottom. Spread any remaining butter on top.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until golden. Cool slightly and sprinkle some confectioner's sugar on top.

I suggest eating it warm with some vanilla custard, or vanilla ice cream on the side. You will see it disappear into thin air!

The Photograph

Our prompt this week is: the photograph, so I went downstairs and took a photo of this:


A 1500 piece puzzle that we purchased while visiting Germany. My husband loves puzzles and when we visited the town of Ravensburg, he spent some time at the toy store choosing the right one. He remembers his first puzzle being a Ravensburger, which I have come to understand is the Rolls Royce of puzzles. Every piece is cut with handmade tools to insure that no two pieces are the same! He chose a picture of Neuschwanstein Castle, which we visited a couple days after.

If Neuschwanstein Castle looks familiar, it may be because Walt Disney was inspired by the beauty of King Ludwig's masterpiece to create Cinderella's fantasy castle. Neuschwanstein was a true fairy tale castle before Disney, as It was built by King Ludwig II to look like a medieval castle in the 1800s. The castle looks older than it is, and there were "modern" conveniences like running water, telephone, and forced air heating included at the time of its construction.


This beautiful facade was built to hide a king that could not face reality. Ludwig grew up loving swans, and this became an obsession. At 13 he heard Wagner's Lohengrin, the story of a medieval knight of the Holy Grail who rescues a princess with the aid of a swan, and he was deeply moved by it. When he became king at the age of 18, he became Richard Wagner's patron. Neuschwanstein (new swan stone) was built as an ode to the composer's work, as well as a fantasy realm where the king lived only 11 nights (He slept during the day, and lived at night.) All the rooms of the castle have references to Wagner's operas, the most interesting being the "grotto" or cave. This artificial cave boasts a waterfall and stalactites, all made believe, and it refers to a cave from Wagner's Tannhäuser opera. King Ludwig died in mysterious circumstances at the age of 41, he never saw Neuschwanstein finished, nor is it finished now.

The castle continues to be an inspiration for many. My teacher and mentor Cynthia Osborne, made this lithograph to conmemorate the bicentennial of the development of lithography. Limestone, which is the stone used to make the plate used in this printmaking process, is still quarried in Solnhofen, Bavaria, not far from where Neuschwanstein castle stands.


"Bavarian Bicentennial Megalithographic Theme Park" by Cynthia Osborne, 1998