A Recipe for Apple Strudel; Apfelstrudel.

Little Green Apples.

pop quiz: the lyric above is from what song and artist? clue: beware of falling fruit when on garden swing.

No list of Austrian Veggie Food would be complete without the national dish; apple strudel.

The apple is usually spiced, the portion is usually large and accompanied by a mountain of whipped cream: What’s not to like?

Apfelstrudel is at number seven in my Top 10 Vegetarian Meals (yes, Austrian Apfelstrudel is a meal!) available in Austrian Ski resorts. Proper strudel pastry is far too complicated to attempt, especially when perfectly good, ready-made filo pastry is readily available. The resultant strudel is a little crispier than the traditional, but just as tasty.

Apple Strudel.

• 750g sweet Apples; peeled, cored and thinly sliced
• The zest and juice of a Lemon
• 50g Sugar
• 1 tsp ground Cinnamon
• 50g golden Sultanas (soaked in a bit of your favourite booze for an hour for an extra kick)
• 100g butter
• 80g fresh white Breadcrumbs (or cake crumbs for a slightly sweeter version)
• 6 sheets defrosted Filo Pastry

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6.
2. Put the lemon zest and juice, sugar, sultanas and cinnamon in a zip-lock plastic bag. Throw in the apple slices and ensure they get a coating of sugary lemon-ness.
3. Melt half the butter in a small frying pan, add the breadcrumbs and fry until they are crispy.
4. Melt the other half of the butter in a plastic container in the microwave (30secs should do it).
5. Wet and then squeeze out a clean tea towel, place on a flat work surface.
6. Place a sheet of filo on it, brush with a little melted butter and sprinkle with about a fifth of the toasted breadcrumbs.
7. Continue in this way with the other five sheets of filo.
8. Pile the apple mixture along the long side of the filo sheets, keep the mixture about 5cm from all edges then butter all the edges.
9. Fold up the short edges and then carefully roll the apples up in the filo; use the tea-towel to help keep the filling in place.
10. Transfer the strudel to a baking sheet; you may need two fish slices and an extra pair of hands for this!
11. Make several slash cuts along the length of the strudel, brush with any remaining butter and sprinkle with about a tablespoon of sugar.
12. Place in the oven for about 30mins; until the pastry is golden and crispy.

Serves Six: Best fresh out of the oven with (my favourite) vanilla ice-cream. Custard or cream also works.

pop trivia: ‘Little Green Apples’ written by Bobby Russell around 1968 and covered by lots of artists; of the most recent here is Robbie Williams on his album ‘Swings Both Ways’.