This week has been all rain, leaden skies and soggy leaves coating the pavements. Appropriately, the slow cooker has been on most days, and there have been lots of potatoes and roast veg – cosy autumn food. There was also a thin apple tart – the last piece of it is in the picture above. This was to use up a sheet of puff pastry in the fridge, and a tray of slowly rotting apples in the garden. I had forgotten how good a barely sweet apple tart can be. You can often see them in patisseries, but they never seem to be special enough to splash out on. And it’s very simple: a sheet of ready-rolled butter puff, brushed with egg and scored near the edge. Sprinkle a little bit of ground almonds and caster sugar on top – just enough to soak up any excess juices. Peel and slice the apples thinly, and overlap them in rows. Add a little more sugar on top, depending on how sweet the apples are, and bake in a hot (200C) oven for about 20 minutes. The egg makes the pastry edges golden, the apple just about gets soft. This is just as good room temperature as warm, and I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Recipes:

• Chicken and chorizo slow cooker – from (new to me) blog A Loada Bobbins
• Easy mince in slow cooker (from Slow Cooked) – made into cottage pie with cheesy mash on top
• Red cabbage in the slow cooker – Slow Cooked

Without a recipe:

• Apple tart
• Sausages and roast pumpkin, jacket potatoes
• Roast beef, parsnip chips and potato wedges
• Fish pie (Charlie Bigham ready meal)

Reading:

• When does eating clean become an eating disorder?
• Really want to try this vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe from Food52 – they promise its a genius cookie recipe, and not just for vegans
• The meaning of food in fairytales – Lucky Peach
• Bee Wilson writes in the NY Times about a mammoth project to catalogue historical recipe books