MATT LAUER, co-host:
This morning on
TODAY'S KITCHEN
,
BACK TO BASICS
, a fall favorite,
apples
. One of our favorite chefs,
Jose Andres
, is here to put a savory spin on these
apples
. He's the Chef of
Minibar
in
Washington
,
DC
, and by the way, will be teaching part of a science and cooking class at
Harvard University
this fall. Professor, good morning. Nice to see you.
Mr. JOSE ANDRES (Chef, Minibar):
No professor here.
LAUER:
Nice to see you.
Mr. ANDRES:
I cook.
LAUER:
That's impressive. Good to see you. We're going to do some
apple
dishes here. When you're eating an
apple
vs. cooking an
apple
, do you like a different variety?
Mr. ANDRES:
Well, I have many. The ones that my daughters love are the ones I love. They love
Galas
, the love
Mackintosh
, like these ones.
LAUER:
Right.
Mr. ANDRES:
they love the
Granny Smith
, these ones here.
LAUER:
But do they all cook well or are some better than others?
Mr. ANDRES:
All cook.
LAUER:
Right.
Mr. ANDRES:
What happens some, when they are very sour and they have a lot of acidity and they are hard, they're going to be very firm, even if you cook them for a long time. When they are sweeter, they have more sugar, the
apples
they are always going to break.
LAUER:
They're going to decompose a little bit.
Mr. ANDRES:
So you're the ones that -- you're the ones that choose which one you want.
LAUER:
OK. We're making stuffed
apples
, stuffed baked
apples
. We're going to put meat -- and it's a savory recipe. We start with bread, though, right?
Mr. ANDRES:
We start with bread. So here we have all
bread crumbs
. You don't want to throw them in garbage. You get the bread, you put some milk, you mix them until you see that the bread is really becoming kind
of....
LAUER:
Right.
Mr. ANDRES:
Once this happens, you put it right here with the meat.
LAUER:
OK. So is this
ground beef
?
Mr. ANDRES:
Ground beef
, ground chicken, ground turkey. Use your favorite ground meet. In this case, we have some beef and some pork.
LAUER:
OK. What do you add to that?
Mr. ANDRES:
So we put some parley, we put some onions, we put some garlic, we put some cinnamon, some salt. You mix that whole thing very well.
LAUER:
OK. Yeah.
Mr. ANDRES:
Very well. And now you start coring the
apples
.
LAUER:
OK. You don't core it all the way through because you don't want it to come apart at the bottom, right?
Mr. ANDRES:
You are right, but they did this one wrong. This one has a
big hole
.
LAUER:
OK. That's what I said, you don't core the whole
apple
.
Mr. ANDRES:
You know your recipe. So you make like, you know, you can do this with a baller.
LAUER:
Right.
Mr. ANDRES:
You make a hole in the top, you make sure that -- I just broke the baller, great. It likes to be. You make a
big hole
. You see, you have enough space to fill the
apples
.
LAUER:
OK. And you don't peel these
apples
. You use the peel and all, right?
Mr. ANDRES:
You don't peel it. Why? Because the peel is going to protect the
apple
from becoming dry.
LAUER:
OK.
Mr. ANDRES:
So leave the peel on. It's easier.
LAUER:
Right.
Mr. ANDRES:
You see, you stuff them. You can do this with your kids. You put them in the tray, some sherry, some
olive oil
.
LAUER:
Don't you also put a little lemon on the outside of them? Is that so they don't brown?
Mr. ANDRES:
Yeah. OK. But what happens is I'm so quick, so quick, that they don't even have time to brown. But the recipe also will tell you put some lemon...
LAUER:
I was going to say, are you doing a different recipe than I read here?
Mr. ANDRES:
...put some lemon so the
apples
will not become brown.
LAUER:
OK, OK, thank you. Sorry about that.
Mr. ANDRES:
Man, two pieces in the recipe wrong.
LAUER:
You pop those in the oven, right?
Mr. ANDRES:
In the oven.
LAUER:
Let's come on back here.
Mr. ANDRES:
For how long? Well, for as long as you think the
apples
are ready. It's going to take you 30, 40 minutes, 350 degrees. Take a look how beautiful they look.
LAUER:
If you want -- you want the meat to be brown, you want the
apple
to be kind of soft and easy to carve.
Mr. ANDRES:
Soft, like this one. The meet is going to be perfectly cooked.
LAUER:
How do you garnish this?
Mr. ANDRES:
This is how you'd like a
meat loaf
in an
apple
.
LAUER:
How do you garnish this?
Mr. ANDRES:
Some thyme. You put it right on top, nice, fresh thyme or rosemary, and you have a dish that is going to surprise everyone.
LAUER:
It looks great. OK. The next one is what?
Mr. ANDRES:
My favorite dish, very traditional in
Catalonia
. It's spinach with
apples
, rice and some
pine nuts
. And guess what, I put these
apples
right before we begin. And now they are beautiful and brown.
LAUER:
Right.
Mr. ANDRES:
You see the
smell
. These ones are...
LAUER:
You see the
smell
? Is that what you just said to me?
Mr. ANDRES:
You...
LAUER:
Smell
the
smell
.
Mr. ANDRES:
But why you cannot see the
smell
? If the
smell
is good, you're going to be able to see it.
LAUER:
OK.
Mr. ANDRES:
You see that this is smelling good.
LAUER:
All right.
Mr. ANDRES:
People are going to know the
smell
at home. So I'm smelling a delicious sweet flavor.
Are you with me
?
LAUER:
Harvard
is never going to be the same, I can tell you that.
Mr. ANDRES:
Yeah. So take a look. You put some
pine nuts
...
LAUER:
Right.
Mr. ANDRES:
...you put some raisins. I mean, can you do something,
Matt
?
LAUER:
Yeah, here you go.
Mr. ANDRES:
Basically, I'm doing all the work. Great. And then you add the spinach.
ANN CURRY, co-host:
I want to see the
smell
!
Mr. ANDRES:
You saw that. Wow.
CURRY:
Where is the
smell
? Oh, I see it!
Mr. ANDRES:
People of
America
, they're making fun of my English! That don't understand the diversity of my English.
CURRY:
No, we love you.
AL ROKER reporting:
Actually, we love your English.
CURRY:
No, but you're so not effusive. It's such a problem.
Mr. ANDRES:
You mix and here you have your beautiful
Catalan
spinach.
CURRY:
Oh, I'm having this now.
TAMRON HALL, anchor:
Um!
LAUER:
And that's going to wilt down a little bit.
CURRY:
Oh!
LAUER:
But just tell us quickly what's that dish on the end?
Mr. ANDRES:
Some
apples
......sliced, a great
olive oil
from
Spain
.
ROKER:
Espana
.
Mr. ANDRES:
Cherry
vinegar, blue cheese. You put some almonds on top and you have an unbelievable simple
apple
salad.
CURRY:
Not just an OK simple
apple
salad, unbelievable!
HALL:
It's unbelievable.
Mr. ANDRES:
Unbelievable.
ROKER:
Unbelievable.
LAUER:
Professor
Jose Andres
.
“ ”