Polenta in a Fruit Crisp? It CAN Be Done!

Each year I spend the first night of Sukkot with the same family friends and it has become a custom for me to bring along a homemade Applesauce Cake with Caramel Sauce. Suffice it to say, I think the cake is good (read the blog entry for the full rundown), but also wanted to shake things up a bit by bringing an apple based alternative dessert. I didn't want to do another cake, and with Thanksgiving approaching, felt I should avoid the pie route too. An apple crisp seemed to be a good idea, as crisps are typically well received and pretty hard to mess up - fruit, sugar, some spices, a sweet topping ... what can go wrong?


I set out to find a new recipe with a unique twist to kick it up a notch. After some intense research (code for - "I spent a few minutes searching my favorite recipe sites...) my eyes narrowed in on an Apple-Cranberry Crisp with a Polenta Streusel Topping. The recipe came from SmittenKitchen, a fantastic blog I discovered through my friend Abby, and is originally from culinary master Michael Chiarello.  I adapted a bit to keep it parve (non-dairy).

The polenta topping is certainly what sold me on the recipe. A traditional topping for fruit crisps seems to be a combination of brown sugar, flour, butter and some assortment of crunchy items - oats, nuts, etc. Polenta comes from cornmeal, and therefore this topping was more like a cornbread than a traditional crisp topping. Since most sukkot include some dangling ears of corn, this topping seemed apropos for the holiday. My topping was pretty thick and covered the full amount of fruit (I typically think of a streusel topping as having peaks of crunch).

I'm sure you can mix and match this recipe, trying out different fillings (peach berry) with the polenta topping or this apple-cranberry filling with a more traditional toppings. Play around - and enjoy!

APPLE-CRANBERRY CRISP with POLENTA STREUSEL TOPPING

Adapted from Michael Chiarello via Bon Appetit, December 2007

Serves: 10 - 12

Topping
1 tsp. aniseed
1 ½ cups pastry flour
3/4 cup polenta (coarse cornmeal)
½ cup sugar
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter or margarine, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 large egg, beaten to blend

Filling
2 cups fresh cranberries
1/3 cup white sugar
2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 tsp. finely grated lemon peel
1 ½ tsp. finely grated orange peel
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 lbs. Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Vanilla gelato, ice cream or soy-cream

Instructions

1. Toast aniseed in small skillet over medium heat until slightly darker in color,about 3 minutes. Place seeds in processor. Add next 5 ingredients; blend 5 seconds. Add butter; blend, using on/off turns, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Transfer mixture to large bowl. Drizzle egg over and stir until ingredients are evenly moistened.
2. Preheat oven to 375° F. Combine first 8 ingredients in large bowl; stir to blend. Add apples and lemon juice; toss to blend. Transfer filling to 11×7x2- inch glass baking dish (or other shallow 2-quart baking dish).
   
3. Crumble topping finely over filling. Bake dessert until apples are tender, juices bubble thickly, and topping is crisp and golden, about 1 hour. Cool 15 minutes. Serve crisp warm with gelato.

SHE'ELAH: What's your favorite combination of fruit for a crisp?