So my Grandma gave me a couple mangoes, some chicken, and a Red Delicious apple. The mangoes and chicken were long gone, and we were left with this apple. But we also had Jonagolds, Winesaps, Mutsus...who wants to eat a Red Delicious? Even when I'm at the airport and am desperate for fruit, Red Deliciouses are my third choice after the banana and the Granny Smith.
It was looking sort of dismal for the poor thing when I realized Red Delicious apples are actually misunderstood, victims of some bourgeois whim that it shouldn't take personally. Iceberg lettuce doesn't have radicchio's bitterness or frisee's frivolity, but what's better with a slow slurp of thick bleu cheese dressing? White button mushrooms aren't treated like jewels at Whole Foods, but try to resist them sauteed with shallots, white wine, and butter. So it is with Red Delicious apples. The Filling Station sells a Red Delicious vinegar and it is amazing: instantly recognizable, nostalgic even.
This ice cream is throwback to that classic childhood snack, apples, peanut butter and raisins. I pureed frozen apples and just-roasted peanuts, then sprinkled it with more peanuts and plump raisins. This really hit the spot in the way more nouveau flavors cannot. Here are the flavors of so many youths: Red Delicious, Skippy, Sunmaid. Long may they live.
Recipe: Dice and freeze one Red Delicious apple. Toast 3 tablespoons of peanuts. Blend frozen apples and 2 tablespoons of peanuts with half a frozen banana, until just mixed and you can still see apple peel and peanut chunks. Top with the remainder of toasted peanuts and serve. Serve 2-3.