5 recipes with apples

Healthy, tasty (and not to mention cheap!), apples can be used in lots of different dishes that are perfect for kids

Published 19 February 2009

Pork & apple dinner
Stir-fry a few chopped spring onions and lean pork slices in a non-stick pan with a little oil, then push to edges. Add a knob of butter to the pan and cook wedges of dessert apple until golden, then mix the pork back in. Add a little soft brown sugar and two tablespoons of apple juice to make a thin sauce, and serve with mashed potato and greens.
Lunchbox salad
Slice a green dessert apple thinly and toss with some ready-made French or Italian dressing. Add some chopped leftover chicken, a few seedless grapes or three halved cherry tomatoes, and a chopped spring onion. If you don’t have any chicken, try using some lean ham instead.
Baked apples
Allow one cooking apple per person. Core the apples and score a line around their middles. Put into a buttered ovenproof dish and fill the centres with brown sugar and sultanas. Drizzle with some syrup and a little water, and bake in a hot oven (200ºC/400ºF/gas mark 6) for 45 mins to an hour, until puffed up and golden. Serve with custard.
Tasty apple dip
Cut a red dessert apple into about 12 wedges and sprinkle with lemon juice to stop them going brown. Serve as nibbles with a bowl of fromage frais or reduced fat Greek yogurt flavoured with honey. Great for a dessert or an after-school snack.
Apple & parsnip soup
Fry a chopped onion until it is transparent. Add a parsnip, potato and dessert apple (all peeled and chopped). Stir in a teaspoon of curry powder, then add 275 ml vegetable stock and simmer until tender. Liquidise in a blender, or use a masher instead. Season and serve.