A side of glazed grilled apples goes with any meat

By ELIZABETH KARMEL
The Associated Press
These apple rings are delicious hot-off-the grill or at room temperature. They also make a very pretty plate.
Once the glaze is made, this simple side dish can be prepared in under 10 minutes. To save even more time, you could spare yourself from cooking a main dish and just serve the apple with a rotisserie chicken.
GRILLED MAPLE-GLAZED APPLE SLICES
Start to finish: 40 minutes
For the glaze:
1 cup maple syrup
¼ cup apple cider
¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cinnamon stick
2 whole star anise
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1 to 2 tsp. soy sauce (optional)
2 large tart apples, such as Granny Smith or Pink Lady
Vegetable oil (or a nut oil, such as peanut)
To prepare the glaze: In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat, combine maple syrup, cider and sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar, then add cinnamon stick, star anise and cloves. Bring to a simmer and cook until reduced by about a quarter. Stir in 1 teaspoon of soy sauce. Taste and adjust with more, if desired. Let cool to room temperature, then remove the spices.
Heat grill to medium-low.
Using an apple corer, cut out cores and seeds from both apples, leaving apples otherwise whole. Setting apples on their sides, cut each into ½-inch-thick rings. Brush both sides of each apple ring with oil.
When grill is ready, place apple rings on grill grates and cook with the grill covered for 2 minutes per side, or until they have deep grill marks on both sides. Brush tops of the apple rings with glaze, then cook for another 2 minutes. Turn over, brush with more glaze, then grill for another 2 minutes.
The recipe makes about 1 cup of glaze, but you won’t need all of it. The extra can be covered and refrigerated for several weeks. It is delicious over pancakes, waffles, French toast or ice cream. It also is great used on chicken, turkey and pork.
Servings: 4
Nutrition information per serving: 230 calories; 45 calories from fat (20 percent of total calories); 5 g fat (0 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 0 mg cholesterol; 50 g carbohydrate; 3 g fiber; 43 g sugar; 0 g protein; 85 mg sodium.