Delicious Autumn!

Delicious Autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird, I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns!-George Eliot

The quote above speaks to my core. I am an Autumn individual, through and through.
The decorating, the food, the mild weather. I love the approach of the holidays and the end of the year. So many of our festivals and traditions harken back to when our lives revolved around the cycles of the earth. The planting, reaping and harvesting. And in the fall, as the year starts winding down, so do many of the hardest working hours. The daylight is short so people were gathering inside for longer hours and the family connected around the hearth. The community would gather to share their bounty with the neighbors. This is what we carry with us deep in our souls even as we are more technological than agricultural. We are spread and disconnected from each other in different ways. We reap our harvest at publix instead of at the back of a mule. But deep down we feel the approach of autumn and breath a little deeper. We take just a little more time out side in the evening. We feel the ages and eons of the past in our bones, and we look towards smoky fires and hearty dinners and family, and festivals.

    "Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting, and autumn a mosaic of them all."-                                                                                                                                Stanley Horowitz

        "The morns are meeker than they were,
         The nuts are getting brown.
           The berry's cheek is plumper,
           The rose is out of town.
           The maple wears a gayer scarf,
           The field a scarlet gown.
          Lest I should be old fashioned,
                      I'll put a trinket on!"  -Emily Dickinson

The first inkling of Autumn for me is the arrival of winter squash at the markets. Such beautiful speckled goodness. They are snapshots of fall with their green and gold shells, and orange flesh. I bought some sweet dumpling squash this weekend and spent a leisurely afternoon chopping and dicing and caramilizing and then pulling it all together with a smoked sausage. Perfect sunday afternoon, fall meal.

I began with the squash, I wanted to peel and cube it, but its so hard to do when raw. And yet, you don't want it coooked to where it is falling apart in the skillet. So I pricked it with a fork and microwaved it for about 4 mins. This made it just right for peeling and cutting and it held up so well while cooking with the other veg. 

I had two granny smith apples that I wanted to use. I typically would reach for a sweeter apple for this, but I was afraid that with the sweet squash it might be too much. But I didn't want it too tart either, so I peeled and diced the two grannies, and carmelized them on the stove top in some butter a little. 

Now I had onions and potatoes I wanted to bring to the party. The potatoes I wanted crisper, and on the side, so I made smaller pieces and sprinked some garlic powder and parmesan cheese and roasted them   until crisp.  I cookoed the smoked sausage (Turkey) by itself  and left the fond in the bottom of the skillet after removing it to a plate. I added the onion and pre-cooked squash to the skillet now, with a bit of spray oil and salt and pepper. Let that get soft, then stirred in the cooked apple. Once this had all melded, I scooped it on a plate and spooned some sausage on  top, with a side of the taters. That was for David, for me, this dish isn't complete with Saurkraut!!! So I put some in  the empty skillet and sprinkled some caraway seed in. It got nice and brown and I added it to my plate. I didn't add a lot of seasoning to this besides salt and pepper. I felt that as I cooked and then layered the flavors, each item was able to really stand on its own and just didn't need much else.
OH MY YES! Lovely tasty, september dinner. My inaugural tribute to the coming season.

I will add that I made a pumpkin pie pudding (WW friendly) and we finished off the evening with that while we watched some football. Come on OCTOBER!

Sippin' on Gin and Juice

Well, I wasn't actually sipping on Gin and Juice, but I was cooking with it.
And I did sing that song in my head the whole time I was cooking.
I have always enjoyed the taste of Juniper, the most widely recognized flavor element of gin. Juniper is an evergreen with little blue-ish berries. You can purchase those berries, dried, at health food stores. I have used them in a number of recipes in that natural form, but this is the first time I have cooked with actual gin.
Its also the first time I have cooked Endive. I have used it as a scoop for cheese spread, and in its other form, chicory, have enjoyed it in coffee, but not cooked the pointed heads. Let alone a braise! I would not have thought a seemingly delicate leaf would hold up to a braise. Well, once again, I am shown I don't know it all. What?!?
I came across this recipe and was immediately intrigued. Being a fan of gin, and having some in my kitchen already, made it more appealing. So after putting it off for a month or so, I finally gathered what few ingredients I didn't have. This recipe called for 10 heads of Belgian Endive. NOT to be mistaken for Curly Endive! BIG DIFFERENCE! But 10 heads of the stuff would have run me close to $20, and been a lot of food. Being as its just me and the Husband, and I wasn't even sure if he would try it, much less eat any, 10 was too much. I went with 4 heads and halved the rest of the recipe. This also cut it down to a one pan dish, not two.
It was very tasty. The citrus and juniper were a nice foil to the bitter green. Delectable I would say. I think I would find a better entree to pair it with next time. I made a Mojo Pork Roast in the crock pot. I was thinking the citrus in the Mojo and the Endive would be a good match, but really you have to have balance. Yin and Yang. Chasing the YUM. So I think a better choice would be a roasted or grilled pork tenderloin. Maybe even a sauteed chicken paillard with garlic and salt and pepper.
Many ideas are running through my head now.
The endive was good, and it was a pretty quick fix, about 40 mins. Even if you were preparing an entree at the same time, I don't think this would be too much to do on a weeknight.
I only had enough gin (Farmers and Plymouth) to use in the recipe, so I couldn't sip if I wanted to.
But it was worth it.
I'll add that my trepidatious husband tried it and liked it. So if you are looking for something a bit different and you have some decent gin on hand, give this a try. Let me know what you think.


Adapted from Food & Wine.

1. 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2. 10 medium Belgian endives, halved lengthwise
3. 1/2 cup gin
4. Salt and freshly ground black pepper
5. 1 cup fresh orange juice
6. 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
7. 2 tablespoons honey
8. 2 scallions, white and pale green parts only, thinly sliced
9. 2 tablespoons salted roasted pumpkin seeds
10. Balsamic vinegar, for drizzling
11. Remember, this is the whole, 10 head recipe. For just 2 -4 people, half is really adequate.
12. 
    

1. In each of 2 large skillets, heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of the extra-virgin olive oil. Add the endive halves, cut sides down, and cook over moderate heat until richly browned, about 5 minutes. Slowly pour 1/4 cup of the gin into each skillet and cook until it's reduced by half. Turn the endives over, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and add 1/2 cup of the orange juice to each skillet. Cover and cook over low heat, turning once, until the endives are tender, about 15 minutes.
2. Transfer the braised endives to a warm platter, cut sides up. Pour the liquid from one of the skillets into the other. Add the butter and honey and boil over high heat until syrupy, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Pour the sauce over the endives and garnish with the sliced scallions and roasted pumpkin seeds. Drizzle the endives with the balsamic vinegar and serve.

MAKE AHEAD The endives can be prepared through Step 1 and refrigerated in their liquid overnight. Before serving, reheat gently and proceed.