A Kitchen Ritual for Late Summer

I’m writing this lying in bed, looking out the window at the beautiful ruby gems dripping from the apple tree. This time of year, the old apple trees on our property are heavy with fruit, their branches sagging under the weight.

Just below my view from the bed, we have a little table and a few chairs tucked beneath the old Gravenstein tree where we like to eat. It’s one of my favorite places to sit outside, especially in the late afternoon, when the air is warm and dry, and the whole tree seems to carry the sweet, almost honeyed scent of ripe apples.

With all the unusually cool weather we’ve had this summer, it feels like the garden is finally coming into its own. Everything is in bloom, the beds are filled out with green, and keeping up with the harvest has become a daily ritual. There is always something to pick, something to put away, something to eat while standing at the kitchen counter.

This little stretch of West Sonoma County I call home has a long history of apple growing. The Gravenstein, in particular, has long been part of the landscape here, with orchards once covering much of the Sebastopol countryside. Even now, in late summer, you can feel that history in the abundance of apples that seem to appear everywhere you turn.

I love a recipe that’s simple, unfussy, and doesn’t require much to enjoy the expression of this particular moment in time.

These stewed apples are one of those recipes. They take just a few minutes to put together, and you can use nearly any apple you have on hand—especially the ones that are a little bruised, slightly too ripe, or simply beginning to pile up on the counter.

I add lemon verbena, one of my favorite summer herbs, which brings a bright, citrusy quality to the apples without making them taste overtly lemony. It’s one of those herbs that’s so easy to love because it tastes as good as it smells.