August is rich in various holidays related to the church calendar and one of the most beloved holidays among the people is Apple Salvation. This is the second in a series of church holidays celebrated in honor of Christ the Savior. Traditionally, on this day, August 19, believers bless apples and other fruits from the fresh harvest, and then eat and prepare various dishes from them.
The people call this holiday differently: Second Savior, Savior on the Mountain, Apple Savior, but the official, church name of the holiday is the Transfiguration of the Lord. It was on this day, after the church service and consecration, that people began to eat apples and other seasonal fruits, while the richer ones gifted the poorer ones with fragrant fruits, and those who were sick brought fruit home. Apple Savior is the first meeting with autumn. In addition to apples, on this day, ears of corn and/or grain from the new harvest were also consecrated, saving them until the next sowing. On this day, housewives prepared various dishes with apples, berries or mushrooms, all the gifts that nature gives on the eve of autumn. The holiday coincides with the Assumption Fast, so the festive menu is dominated by lean dishes and pastries.
The Origins of Apple Savior
According to biblical traditions, on this day Jesus Christ revealed his divine nature to his disciples. Having gone to Mount Tabor with John, Peter and James, the Savior was transfigured before them, allowing the disciples to see and talk with the prophets Moses and Elijah. Further, as described in the Holy Scriptures, "a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud: This is my beloved Son, listen to him." This day, as it were, reminds believers of the need for spiritual transformation.
It is believed that after the Savior, the nights become colder, and sometimes frosts are possible. According to folk signs, storks fly away to the Savior in a flock, but if they have not yet flown away, this portends a long and warm autumn. Folk wisdom also says "The Savior has come, prepare mittens in reserve." It is also customary to commemorate the deceased on this day, this is one of the three summer holidays when the souls of deceased relatives descend to earth. On the Savior, apples, pears, grapes, honey, and ears of bread are consecrated in the church. According to folk beliefs, having consecrated and eaten an apple from the new harvest on the holiday, you need to make a wish that will surely come true.
Recipes for Apple Spas delicacies
The variety of dishes prepared for the Savior is simply amazing and fascinating. These are baked apples, pancakes with fillings, various pastries or drinks, in general, everyone will find something to enjoy. Therefore, we have compiled a small selection of delicious dishes with apples that will imperceptibly please guests and relatives.
Baked apples with cheese and honey
A delicious, aromatic, satisfying, healthy and at the same time light dish. A great option for desserts and children's menus.
Ingredients : large apples – 4 pcs, cottage cheese – 4 tablespoons, flower honey – 75 grams, butter – 1 tablespoon, lemon juice – 2 tablespoons.
For the sauce: lemon jam – 2 tablespoons, mint – 1-2 sprigs, juice from half a lemon, honey – 2 teaspoons.
Preparation: Wash the apples, cut off the top and carefully pull out the pulp, so that you get small pots with walls of approximately 0.5-0.7 cm. Remove the seeds and partitions from the resulting pulp, sprinkle with lemon juice and grind to a puree state using a blender. Transfer the puree to a saucepan, add honey and 120 ml of water, put on the stove and cook, stirring constantly, for 10-12 minutes. Then let the puree cool. Rub the cottage cheese twice through a sieve and beat into a fluffy mass together with the cooled apple puree. Fill the apple "pots" with the cottage cheese mass and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes at a temperature of 160 degrees.
While the apples are baking, prepare the lemon-mint sauce: slowly heat the jam in a water bath, add honey and lemon juice, stir and bring to a boil. Add finely chopped mint, stir the sauce well and remove from heat.
Serve the finished apples with the sauce.
Cheese and apple charlotte
Ingredients: apples – 4 pcs, cheese or cottage cheese – 100 grams, eggs – 4 pcs, sugar – 160-180 grams, seedless raisins – 70 grams, wheat flour – 30-50 grams, butter – 20 grams, approximately 100 grams of breadcrumbs, ground cinnamon – 0.5-1 teaspoon, a pinch of baking powder and salt.
Preparation: beat the eggs until stiff, gradually adding sugar. Add the other dry ingredients and cheese to the egg mixture. Mix everything thoroughly until smooth. Grease the mold with butter and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Pour the dough into the mold, placing peeled and thinly sliced apples on top. Bake the charlotte in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 40-45 minutes. When serving, you can decorate with powdered sugar and a sprig of mint.
Apple strudel
It is probably impossible to find a tastier and more delicate dessert, and although the preparation will take time and require some culinary skills and abilities, the result will exceed all expectations.
Ingredients for the dough: egg yolks – 2 pcs, wheat flour – 250 grams, water – 1/2 cup, butter – 2 tablespoons, a pinch of salt.
For the filling: apples - 1 kilogram, 100 grams each of raisins, sugar, butter and white bread crumbs, almonds - 75 grams, powdered sugar - 2 tablespoons, sour cream - 1/2 cup, juice of 1 lemon, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.
Preparation: Knead a stiff and elastic dough from flour, warm water, egg yolks and melted butter. Form a ball, wrap it in cling film and leave it alone for an hour. In the meantime, peel and core the apples, cut into small slices, sprinkle with lemon juice and mix with chopped almonds and raisins. Separately, fry the white bread crumbs in a pan with 1 tablespoon of butter.
Knock out the “rested” dough, for this you need to throw it several times with force on a work surface sprinkled with flour. Roll out the dough in a thin layer on a kitchen towel. Grease with melted butter (take half of the remaining amount), then grease with a layer of sour cream and evenly sprinkle with breadcrumbs, distribute the apple filling, sprinkle the top layer of the filling with cinnamon mixed with sugar. Using a towel, form a neat roll.
Place the strudel on a greased baking sheet. Brush with butter. Bake in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for 45-50 minutes.
Cool the finished strudel slightly, cut into portioned pieces and serve, previously sprinkling with powdered sugar.
Apple pancakes
Ingredients: flour - 190 grams, egg - 1 pc, sour cream, kefir or yogurt 1 cup, apples - 2 medium-sized pieces, sugar 1-3 tablespoons depending on personal preferences and apple variety, a pinch of soda and salt, fat for frying (you can use butter or vegetable oil), jam or marmalade for serving.
Preparation: Beat eggs with sugar and salt, add sour cream, flour mixed with soda and mix well until smooth. Add peeled and coarsely grated apples, stir everything. Place small portions of dough on a preheated frying pan with butter with a spoon and fry over low heat until golden brown on both sides. Serve the finished pancake in portions.
Apple cider with added sugar
Ingredients: apples – 10 kg, sugar – 1.5 kg, water (if necessary) about 1 liter.
Preparation: sort the apples, remove the leaves and stalks, wipe with a cloth if they are very dirty. There is no need to wash the apples! Grind the prepared apples together with the seeds to a puree state. Add sugar at the rate of 100-150 grams per 1 kg of apples, the amount of sugar depends on how sweet the apples are. As a result, the wort should be pleasantly sweet to the taste. Then pour boiling water over the fermentation container and wipe dry. Fill the container 2/3 of the way with apple puree and tie the neck with several layers of gauze. Leave the apple wort in a dark place at room temperature for 3-4 days, stirring every day and drowning the tight lid that forms on the surface in the apple mass.
Next, squeeze the juice from the apple mass and pour it into a container for further fermentation and install a water seal (as when making wine) and leave to ferment in a dark place for another 30-65 days. Well-fermented cider becomes lighter, a sediment forms at the bottom and air bubbles cease to appear in the water seal. Strain the finished drink through several layers of gauze and seal well. Leave to ripen in a cool place for another 2-4 months.
Apple juice cider
To make such cider, you will need only freshly squeezed apple juice. So, let the juice stand in a dark place at room temperature for 24 hours. Then drain the apple juice from the sediment into a fermentation vessel and install a water seal. Ferment the cider in a dark place at a temperature of 20-24 degrees for 3-6 weeks. Then carefully drain the cider from the sediment and pour it. Seal it well. If you want the cider to be saturated with gas, leave the sealed containers in a dark and cool place for 3-4 months. Then strain the drink again and seal tightly. You can store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 years.
Apple jam
Amazingly delicious jam with translucent apple slices
Ingredients: Sliced apples – 1 kg, sugar 800-1000 grams (the amount of sugar depends on how sweet the apples are, the sweeter the variety, the less sugar you need to use).
Preparation: Peel the dense, slightly unripe apples from the stalk and seeds, cut into thin slices. Place in layers in a deep dish (it is better to use a stainless steel pan), sprinkle each layer with sugar. Leave for 6-10 hours so that the apples release their juice. Then put on the fire and bring to a boil, boil for a few minutes over moderate heat and set aside. Let the jam stand and cool completely, repeat the procedure after 5-6 hours. Bring to a boil and cook for a few minutes 3-4 times. It is not advisable to stir the jam. The last time, cook the apple jam until cooked for 10-15 minutes, check that the jam is ready simply by dripping syrup onto a plate, if the droplets do not spread - everything is ready. Pour the boiling jam into sterilized jars and roll up. Store in a dark place.
Apple-plum sauce for meat
A spicy, savory, slightly sweet and extremely delicious apple-based sauce will complement meat dishes and delight with its multifaceted taste.
Ingredients: plums – 1.5 kg, sour apples – 1.5 kg, water – 1 glass, granulated sugar – 600 grams, 9% vinegar – 150 ml, cloves – 10 pcs, ground cinnamon – 2 teaspoons, ground chili – 1 teaspoon.
Preparation: pit the plums, core the apples, grind the fruit in a blender until smooth. In a saucepan, prepare the marinade: to do this, add sugar, cinnamon and cloves to the water, bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes, then remove the cloves from the liquid. Add vinegar, ground chili and chopped fruit, mix everything, bring to a boil and cook over low heat for 40-45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Roll the finished sauce into sterilized jars, turn the lids down, wrap and leave until completely cooled. Store in a dark place.
You can also add nutmeg, lemon zest, a little brandy or Calvados when cooking.
Cold pumpkin and apple soup
A delicate, creamy dish that will delight true gourmets.
Ingredients: pumpkin pulp - 300-400 grams, 4 small apples of soft varieties, the ideal option is the White Pour variety, ½ lemon, sugar - 3 tablespoons, starch - 1-2 tablespoons, kefir - 1 liter.
Preparation: wash the pumpkin and apples, peel them, cut them into small pieces and boil in 1 liter of water for 15-20 minutes, until soft. Strain the resulting mass through a sieve. Return the strained broth to the heat, bring to a boil and add starch, previously diluted in a small amount of water. Keep on the heat for a few minutes, but do not boil. Transfer the cooked apples and pumpkin to a blender bowl, add the juice of half a lemon and grind well until pureed. Beat the puree together with the slightly cooled jelly into a lush mass, add kefir, mix everything well. Season with sugar to taste. Wait until the soup has cooled completely and continue to cool in the refrigerator for another 2 hours. When serving, garnish with a mint leaf, basil or grated apple.
Spicy salad with apple, nuts and blue cheese
Ingredients: 2 apples of sour and sweet varieties, 50 grams of blue cheese, 300-400 grams of any green salad, a handful of walnut kernels. For dressing: 30 ml of lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of honey, 1 teaspoon of olive oil, salt and ground pepper to taste.
Preparation: Cut the apples into small slices, tear the salad greens into a large bowl, add the chopped apples, chopped blue cheese and chopped nuts. To prepare the dressing, mix all the ingredients, season with salt and pepper. Pour the dressing over the salad, mix lightly and serve immediately.
Sweet lasagna with fruit
Ingredients: lasagna sheets – 5 pcs, apples – 2 pcs, nectarines or peaches – 2 pcs, walnut kernels – 50 grams, butter – 80 grams, dried apricots – 8 pcs, ½ lemon, poppy seeds, honey, ground cinnamon, sugar.
Preparation: Boil the lasagna sheets according to the recipe on the package, chop the dried apricots and nuts a little, cut the apples and nectarines into small cubes, leaving half of each type of fruit for the top layer. Fry everything together in heated butter, sprinkled with a small amount of sugar, for 10 minutes. Grease a baking dish with butter and place the first sheet of boiled lasagna. Put a layer of apple-peach filling, sprinkle with sugar, poppy seeds and a small amount of cinnamon. Repeat the procedure layer by layer. On the top sheet of lasagna, put thinly sliced NOT fried peach and apple, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. Bake the lasagna for 30 minutes in an oven preheated to 200 degrees. Serve it hot, drizzled with honey, or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Delicious :)
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