Electric Goat

Here is a relatively quick and easy snack. I ate something similar at a restaurant in my hometown and this is the first time I've tried to re-create it. It's called, provocatively, Electric Goat. It's simply goat's cheese in a spicy tomato sauce, baked; and served with toasted slices of baguette.

Having some leftover goat's cheese is a good start to this recipe. The tomato sauce is pretty quick and easy to whip up: bit of tomato sauce, some garlic, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper; simmer for 10-15 minutes; voila!

This is a terribly out of focus picture of the tomato sauce I made for our electric goat.
Pour it into a small baking dish. I wish I had a pretty ceramic ramekin or tart pan. Unfortunately all I have is this circular cake layer tin. Such is life.
My leftover chunk of goat's cheese. I used the other half making some macaroni and cheese. That recipe might be forthcoming.
Plop that thing in the middle here and toss it into a hot oven for 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melting and oozing.
A bit of baguette leftover from a bacon sandwich I had earlier in the day. I will miss fresh baguettes when I move away from Europe.
Slice the baguette as thinly as you can on a diagonal. Toast them either in a toaster or, if you're not lazy like me, under the broiler.
Then rub the toasted bread lightly with a fresh clove of garlic. Don't overdo it because raw garlic is quite sharp.
Here are all my toasted and rubbed pieces.
Here is the cheese and sauce.
Use a knife or fork to scoop sauce and cheese onto each piece of bread and give it a bite!

Applesauce

In Britain, you can't get large jars of applesauce to eat as a snack, it's only available in small jars to use as a condiment alongside meats, usually pork. The applesauce in the small jars are much more sugary than American-style applesauce so negates the positive healthy aspects of eating apples. So I decided to make applesauce from scratch. It's super easy and the way The Economist eats applesauce, it disappears in a matter of hours, if not minutes. This time I made a ton, so it lasted a few days. I'm also considering making baked goods using applesauce in place of oil or butter, I'm told it works well. We shall see about that.

You're going to need apples of course. I used two different kinds; usually we use whatever we have laying around getting mealy.
Peel, core and chop the apples and toss in a pot with enough water just to cover. Bring to the boil and then simmer gently for about half an hour.
The apples will be cooked, but not yet broken down. To turn this into applesauce, cool and do one of the following: mash with potato masher; blitz in a food processor; pass through a food mill or potato ricer.
I did this with a potato masher. It gives a chunky texture. Next time I'm going to use the food processor.
I threw in a tiny bit of sugar. Usually it doesn't need sugar, but these apples were particularly tart. Finally, add some cinnamon to make it even more thoroughly apple-y. Best eaten cold.