A Recipe for Apple Strudel; Apfelstrudel.

Little Green Apples.
pop quiz: the lyric above is from what song and artist? clue: beware of falling fruit when on garden swing.
No list of Austrian Veggie Food would be complete without the national dish; apple strudel.
The apple is usually spiced, the portion is usually large and accompanied by a mountain of whipped cream: What’s not to like?
Apfelstrudel is at number seven in my Top 10 Vegetarian Meals (yes, Austrian Apfelstrudel is a meal!) available in Austrian Ski resorts. Proper strudel pastry is far too complicated to attempt, especially when perfectly good, ready-made filo pastry is readily available. The resultant strudel is a little crispier than the traditional, but just as tasty.
Apple Strudel.
- 750g sweet Apples; peeled, cored and thinly sliced
- The zest and juice of a Lemon
- 50g Sugar
- 1 tsp ground Cinnamon
- 50g golden Sultanas (soaked in a bit of your favourite booze for an hour for an extra kick)
- 100g butter
- 80g fresh white Breadcrumbs (or cake crumbs for a slightly sweeter version)
- 6 sheets defrosted Filo Pastry

- Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6.
- Put the lemon zest and juice, sugar, sultanas and cinnamon in a zip-lock plastic bag. Throw in the apple slices and ensure they get a coating of sugary lemon-ness.
- Melt half the butter in a small frying pan, add the breadcrumbs and fry until they are crispy.
- Melt the other half of the butter in a plastic container in the microwave (30secs should do it).
- Wet and then squeeze out a clean tea towel, place on a flat work surface.
- Place a sheet of filo on it, brush with a little melted butter and sprinkle with about a fifth of the toasted breadcrumbs.
- Continue in this way with the other five sheets of filo.
- Pile the apple mixture along the long side of the filo sheets, keep the mixture about 5cm from all edges then butter all the edges.
- Fold up the short edges and then carefully roll the apples up in the filo; use the tea-towel to help keep the filling in place.
- Transfer the strudel to a baking sheet; you may need two fish slices and an extra pair of hands for this!
- Make several slash cuts along the length of the strudel, brush with any remaining butter and sprinkle with about a tablespoon of sugar.
- Place in the oven for about 30mins; until the pastry is golden and crispy.
Serves Six: Best fresh out of the oven with (my favourite) vanilla ice-cream. Custard or cream also works.