disclosure: i was asked to participate in the #iloveambrosia campaign as a member of the healthy aperture blogger network. i was compensated for my time and was gifted a dozen ambrosia apples.
if you follow this site, you’ll know that i am an apple lover.
apples may be one of the foods i’ve consumed most in my lifetime… i have my favorite varieties, but i was over the moon when the healthy aperture blogger network introduced me to ambrosia apples.
if you are like me and you like your apples sweet, ever crunchy and juicy, you’ve got to try them. one of my greatest food let-downs is biting into a pithy, grainy apple… that was so far from the case for each one of the dozen apples i received. crispy and honey-sweet, with mother nature’s shiny bi-color palate of iridescent red over creamy yellow.
this apple is a youngster in the apple family, only 10 years in the orchards. unlike most apples, which are purposely crossed to create new varieties, ambrosia apples came to be as a chance seedling in a canadian orchard. it was fate… and their name, ambrosia, means “food of the gods”. maybe aphrodite had something to do with that first apple tree.
sweet as honey. pretty as sunshine.
while i clearly love using apples in sweet things, i also enjoy how their sweetness and texture adds to savory dishes. these apples are slow to oxidize (when the flesh turns that pesky apple-brown), so they are perfect to slice and use in a herbed root vegetable tian.
tians are so simple, yet so lovely. thinly sliced layers roasted to pull out the sweetness and depth of each flavor. and it’s easy to get a bit of each element in one bite… this one would be perfect for a holiday table, though i’d eat it any day of the week. i think aphrodite would approve.
potato, beet & ambrosia apple tian
Yield 6 servings
Ingredients
- 1 pound beets, trimmed
- 1 cup sliced leeks
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 pound yukon gold potatoes, peeled
- 1 pound ambrosia apple, peeled
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/3 cup goat cheese
- 1/3 cup chopped toasted walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Wrap beets individually in foil. Place each foil-wrapped beet on a baking sheet and roast for 1 hour 20 minutes or until softened. Allow to cool completely.
- Cook leeks and garlic in 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat for 3-5 minutes or until leeks are softened.
- Slice potatoes, apples, and beets thinly to 1/4-inch thickness with a mandoline or knife.
- Toss potatoes and apples carefully in a medium bowl with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Toss beets carefully in another bowl with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
- Increase oven heat to 425°.
- Spread leek mixture evenly over the bottom of a 8-inch cake pan.
- Stack potato, apple, and beet slices in individual stacks. Place in pan on top of leeks, splaying out fan-like, one stack after the next to fit. Sprinkle with thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper.
- Cover with foil and bake at 425° for 30 minutes. Uncover and cook for an additional 35 minutes.
- Serve topped with goat cheese and walnuts.
