Each season I get excited about the gobs of fresh, seasonal produce that abound at the market. Although it is true that in this day in age you can get peaches virtually year round thanks to Chile (though they probably taste like a brick much of the time), and apples are available throughout the year, when fall comes blustering through, and the heirloom varieties of apples begin to line the shelves at the grocery, I want to eat apples, and I turn my nose up at sweet stone fruit.

Sure, an apple is great eaten out of hand when you are brown bagging it. But apples are terrific cooked in a myriad of different dishes. A simple dish that I have come to rely on takes advantage of apples, and their bulbous, buttery sister, the pear. Apple Pear Sauce, sweet, but not cloyingly so, chunky, with bits of fresh fruit bobbing about, and scented with vanilla, makes for an ideal accoutrement for any meal.

Those little flecks of black nestled in the sauce are not in fact microscopic insects, but rather the remnants of a pure Tahitian vanilla bean. Split, seeds carefully extracted and simmered with the fruit, this brings the sauce to a new bourgier level, elevating it from just-a-sauce-to-eat-with-pork-chops, to a, stand-on-its-own sort of side dish. The sweet-tart flavor of the apple is the perfect compliment for the grainy, mellow flavor of the pear, and the vanilla bean fragrances the entire house during the cooking process.

This sauce stays for quite awhile in the refrigerator, and is a wonderful addition to weekday breakfast, or lazy weekend brunches. This makes a ton of Apple Pear Sauce, but this delicious sauce stays, refrigerated, for a couple of weeks, and can be easily reduced by half, if you are looking to make a smaller batch.

Apple Pear Sauce

6 sweet tart apples, like Jonathan, or Jonah Golds, peeled, cored, and cut into
chunks
5 pears, peeled, cored, and cut into chunks
1 vanilla bean, split and seeded
2 cups water
2 tablespoons butter

In a large pot, add the apples and pears. Scrape the seeds from a vanilla bean, and add both the seeds and the pod to the fruit. Pour in the water, and add the butter. Place over high heat, and bring to a boil. When brought to a boil, turn the heat down to a simmer, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for 25-30 minutes. After time has passed, fruit should begin to fall apart and soften. If need, with a large fork, or potato masher, break down any remaining cooked pieces of fruit. Sauce will be slightly chunky, with only a little bit of liquid remaining. If sauce has too much liquid for your tastes, turn up the heat, and cook out some of the water. Discard vanilla bean pod, and enjoy.