How to Start a Fall Day

Among other things, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed some of our household food rituals. Before, when there were just the three of us, and my son headed off to school before than my husband arose, our breakfast was split: the teenager usually had a bowl of healthy(ish) cereal or fried up some eggs; later, the adults had coffee and avocado toast. Last year, my daughter was born, but for a while her menu was rather – let’s call it – repetitive, and my son was off to a boarding school of sorts, so the breakfasts remained a two-person affair and mostly went along the safe, well-tested route.

In April, however, our whole family was brought back together under one roof during the quarantine, with no one rushing out the door in the morning. The little one, now a year and several months old, surprised me by showing her readiness to eat anything she saw on the table – oh, and our access to avocados was greatly curtailed, so that left me scrambling in my attempts to diversify our breakfast menu.

I had always loved the fritters (оладьи), crepes (блины) and curd fritters (сырники) that my mother made, but she never really had a recipe for them, mixing the batter by feel, and they all seemed like too much effort was required (even though she made the process look pretty effortless). But, forced to provide a varied menu (you can’t feed an 18-month-old scrambled eggs or cream of wheat every day), I quickly learned. I discovered fool-proof recipes for ideal crepes and fritters, and, through trial and error (well, mostly trial) I’ve come up with a сырники recipe that, just like my mother’s, is done entirely “by feel.”

Although fall is taking my eldest back to early-morning school, it’s no reason to go back to the cereal breakfasts, especially since the little one is an extra early bird who can now share his breakfasts. And so, as September brings a bounty of seasonal apples, the time is ripe to add another recipe to my (and your) breakfast repertoire: apple fritters.

Actually, I share not one but two recipes, hoping to satisfy every palate.

Apple Fritters

3 large apples (1 pound or slightly more, my son believes that the sweeter the variety, the better)

2 eggs

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp semolina

1 tsp cinnamon

1¼- 1½ cups of flour

Vegetable oil for frying

Quarter, core and peel the apples. Then grate them. Mix in the sugar, cinnamon, semolina and eggs. Start adding the flour.

Just like zucchini fritters, apple fritters are a matter of taste when it comes to texture. Some might like them mostly apple and easy on the flour, but keep in mind that, if not enough flour is added, they may break apart in the pan and be difficult to handle. Others may like them denser. This is for you to decide. I would start with 1¼ cup of flour and go from there.

Fry in heated oil, a couple minutes on each side.

I like them served with a sauce made of sour cream and sweetened condensed milk, but they are just as good with maple syrup or plain crème fraiche.

Оладьи with Apples

1 apple

2 cups flour

1 egg

1 cup kefir (can substitute with plain drinking yogurt or buttermilk)

2-3 tbsp sugar

½ tsp salt

Cinnamon

½ tsp baking soda

Vegetable oil for frying

Take one cup of kefir, add a scant 2 tbsp water and warm the mixture up to room temperature. Add sugar, salt, cinnamon, and egg, then mix well. Add the flour. The batter will be quite thick. Holding the baking soda over the bowl of batter, pour a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice over it to create the fizz. Mix the baking soda solution into the batter and let stand for a couple minutes while you prepare the apple.

Quarter, core and peel the apple. From here you can go two routes. Either slice into quarters and then into thin slices or cut each quarter in half (to make the pieces smaller), and then cut into thin slices. If you choose the latter, you can just mix all the apple pieces into the batter. If you go with the longer slices, keep them near the pan.

Heat the oil, ladle the batter from the bowl into the pan. Put a long slice of apple onto each fritter. Fry for 2-3 minutes and then flip.

These are my family’s absolute favorites, and I hope that you will enjoy them many times over.