Autumn has arrived in New England. I personally lucked out in that I went away to Maine this past weekend and saw the leaves turn, then fall, and now I’m back home (a wee bit south) and get to see it all over again. This particular season is so wonderful: clean and crisp, cool and colorful. It welcomes a harvest of new crops from the farms, and with that tons of apples. This recipe will only use up one of those little beauties, but it’s tasty.

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon salted butter
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 onion, cut in half and sliced into moon slivers
  • 1 apple, peeled and cut into slices
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • salt and pepper

Directions:

  1. Bring a cast iron skillet to temp over a medium heat and add the olive oil & butter
  2. Toss in the onion, lower the heat and caramelize, slowly, for 30-40 minutes
  3. Add the apples to the onions in the pan and cook for another 10 minutes
  4. Pour the chicken broth and apple cider vinegar into the pan and bring to a boil, then allow it to simmer for 10 minutes
  5. Remove from heat, season with salt and pepper and serve

We had this pan sauce over egg noodles, as a side to some pork chops that had been grilled with Montreal steak seasoning (salty & peppery). It was a lovely combination.

As an aside, you could substitute the chicken broth for vegetable broth for a vegetarian sauce. You could also use beer, but if you do that then leave out the ACV and expect that the sauce will be significantly sweeter. Same goes of you decide to use cider or hard cider.

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