We’ve always thought of apples as the quintessential New England fruit brought from Old England. But apples lie at the heart of some of the best of the ancient Greek stories. Gods and humans alike coveted the golden apples that Gaia presented to Hera and Zeus as a wedding present. They were said to confer immortality and promised immunity to hunger, thirst, and illness. To cause trouble, the goddess of discord (Eris) stole an apple, inscribed it ‶to the fairest,″ and lobbed the Apple of Discord into the wedding crowd. Goddesses scrambled for it, arguing to whom it should belong. Paris was drafted to decide. In the Judgment of Paris, he awarded it to Aphrodite, who in turn awarded him Helen of Troy. Cue the Trojan War. Draw your own moral.
Perhaps as some sort of recompense for the pandemic, the orchards of New England are groaning with a wonderful crop of apples this fall. We recently spent a day touring around apple country in central Massachusetts, stopping finally at Cold Spring Orchard (391 Sabin Rd., Belchertown, MA; 413-323-6647, coldspringorchard.com) to buy a mixed peck. It’s the research orchard of the University of Massachusetts and one of the places that originated integrated pest management to cut back on insecticide use in orchards. Since it was early season, we picked up some Paula Reds, some Akanes, and some Sansas—all varieties introduced in the last half century.
We had milopita on the brain. In Greece, that means ‶apple pie.″ But among immigrant communities in the U.S., the name typically refers to an apple upside down cake. To avoid any confusion, we’ve called it apple cake here. We returned to its Greek roots to use rosemary and honey instead of the cinnamon found in most Greek-American recipes.
KEIK MILOU (GREEK APPLE CAKE)
INGREDIENTS
1 3/4 cup (210g) flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon plus a pinch of salt
4 medium apples, peeled and cored
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 sticks butter (12 tablespoons), divided
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons powdered rosemary, divided
2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
DIRECTIONS
Set oven at 350°F.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Cut apples in half and slice them very thin. Place the apple slices in bowl and drizzle with lemon juice.
Using 6 tablespoons butter, grease bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over bottom and layer apple slices on top, reserving about 1/3 cup of pieces. Sprinkle apple slices with about half of rosemary and all of the honey. Dice the remaining apple pieces and reserve.
In a medium bowl, beat remaining butter and granulated sugar on medium speed with an electric mixer. Add eggs one at a time, beating to combine. Add remaining rosemary and pinch of salt and beat well. Slowly beat in the milk until batter is smooth and uniform.
With mixer on low, add the flour mixture. Turn off mixer and fold in raisins and walnuts. Pour batter into the pan and sprinkle with the remaining apple pieces.
Place the cake pan in the center of the preheated oven. Bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan about 15 minutes before inverting onto serving plate.