Like any basic white girl, Autumn is my favorite season. The holidays, the outfits, the colors painted on the trees, the perfect weather, and most importantly the food all stand superior to the other seasons. Apart from the food festival of Thanksgiving, which we will discuss at length when we’re closer to that time, the fruits and vegetables of the season, as well as the heartier style of cooking cause a nostalgia of simpler times.
As soon as the weather starts cooling, I love keeping large batches of soup on hand. This also helps with the quick meal planning that we discussed last week. There are possibly inifinte types of soup to choose from, and nearly every culture utilizes them, making it easy to change flavor profiles. Add a grilled cheese or other sandwich and repeat with endless combinations.
The same principle applies with stews, which crock pots are fantastic for. The starches can be varied as much as the stews. Pumpkin, sweet potatoes or squashes can be pureed and give you a nice sweetness to compliment the hearty, savory stew. Egg noodles, Spaetzle, and couscous also make wonderful bases for stews as well as rice or other grains. Polenta whether soft or firm, is ideal as a stew base.
Passion for pasta picks up for Autumn as well, and as with soups and stews, it is very easy to pre-prep various sauces and ingredients. From Alfredo to Ziti, pasta possibilities are endless. A homemade pumpkin ravioli with a wild mushroom ragout screams “Autumn” all over.
It just isn’t Autumn without apple cider (and doughnuts!). I drink and cook with it the entire season. It’s uses in cooking are numerous and all delicious. It can be reduced and turned into a syrup which goes wonderfully on desserts. Using it in soups is common, particularly a pumpkin, butternut squash or parsnip soup. It’s lovely in as the liquid for a relish, think caramelized apple and walnut/pecan relish atop some pork or fish. It also lends itself well to salad dressings, brines, and marinades. It mixes beautifully for adult beverages, and indeed some of my favorite cocktails contain it.
There’s something wonderful about the combination of Brussels sprouts and butternut squash beyond the sweet squash to counteract the bitter Brussels. There’s something spiritually Autumnal about the pair. Pre roasting some diced squash and halved or quartered Brussels and then to saute them in the fat of bacon or guanciale, perhaps a splash of vinegar (Champagne comes to mind), then seasoned and mounted with butter is a favorite side dish of mine in Autumn. Perhaps use the squash as a starch like a puree or gratin, with a side of fried Brussels. If one were to take a butternut squash puree and reduce it to paste, it can be added to gnocchi or pasta dough for color and a light sweet flavor. Perhaps tossed in a Brussels sprout pesto sauce, but be sure to add a little honey and plenty of salt to the Brussels.
Wild mushrooms abound in Autumn and their wonderful earthy flavor goes with everything, and on their own. All manner of mushrooms can be found in the right places, and there are so many kinds: Criminis, portabellos, and white buttons are fine but, hedgehogs, chantrelles, black trumpets, king trumpets, shiitakes, maitakes or hen of the woods, not to be confused with chicken of the woods, oysters, enoki, morels the list goes on and on!
The fruits of Autumn are all lovely as well. Apples and their infinite uses vary from sweet to tart. Pears glazed or soaked in red wine and topped with blue cheese, particularly gorgonzola makes for a lovely Autumn dessert. Cranberries are wonderful when candied, or made into relish. Persimmons are great for salads or sauces. Fresh figs are delightful, but they have many uses as well. They make for excellent jams. When halved they take to a quick kiss on the grill in a lovely way, then fill with chevre or blue cheese and wrap it in a little prosciutto and you have a wonderful appetizer or hors d’oeuvres.
Root vegetables begin coming into season in Autumn. Parsnips, rainbow carrots, turnips, radishes and sweet potatoes all come into season, and their many colors and flavors are delightful as well. A favorite side I’ve made for a dinner party was vanilla roasted parsnips which were incredible. The peppery bite of turnips and radishes compliment well the hearty Autumn flavors. Rainbow carrots are not only beautiful on a plate they’re delicious too. I like to sous vide them (keeping their colors separate so they don’t bleed out) with a bit of butter, some cloves and star anise. Then when you want them, just saute them up in a little of their own butter for a great side dish.
Autumn is upon us, and with it all of its wonderful aromas. With the changing of the leaves, the beautiful weather, and the incredible food, Autumn holds its own as a great season. The many flavors all compliment each other in a beautiful way, and the aromas when cooking bring a certain wistful feeling to our hearts, and the hearty dishes satisfy our souls.
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