By Kathryn van Roosendaal
I love cooking in the fall. The cooler weather leaves everyone wanting hearty meals that are rich, tasty and filling. And the produce that is in season – pumpkins and other winter squash, apples, and a multitude of root vegetables – fit the bill perfectly.
Fall is the time to take the oven out of its summer hibernation. Casseroles take the place of salads and chilled pastas make way for steaming spaghetti. Beef and stewed chicken are back on the menu after being banned during the sizzling heat and the grill is no longer the only way to cook pork chops.
For Halloween every year I prepare a harvest feast with a roast and candied pumpkins or pumpkin stew with fresh rolls. Dessert is baked apples or a rich carrot cake. I am actually overjoyed when my guests are too stuffed for dessert – I always make sure to have containers so they can take it home with them.
Of course, Halloween is only the beginning of the autumn cooking craze. Following fright night I always have plenty of pumpkin left over for sweet breads and cookies and more to freeze for pies. The huge stew pot comes out and the freezer is stocked with soups and stews. And then the great cookie bake begins for the holiday season.
Yep, I love cooking in the fall.
Baked Apples
My favorite apples for baking are jonigolds – they are big and tart and stay firm after baking. If you can’t find jonagolds, granny smiths and jonathans also work.
6 apples
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
nutmeg
Lemon juice
Core each apple and sprinkle liberally with lemon juice to prevent browning. Place the apples in a greased baking dish. Mix together the rolled oats, brown sugar and cinnamon. Mix in the butter or margarine. Stuff the centers of the apples with the rolled oat mixture and sprinkle with nutmeg. Cover the pan with foil and bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the apples are softened. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
Candied Pumpkins
This makes a great side dish for Halloween or Thanksgiving. For the best results, get the small sugar pumpkins used for pies, not the large ones used for Jack-o-Lanterns. This recipe also works great for acorn squash.
1 small pumpkin per person
Brown sugar
Butter or margarine
Maple syrup (the real stuff)
Cinnamon
Cut the top off each pumpkin like you would for a Jack-o-Lantern and clean out the seeds and stringy goop. Place the pumpkins in a baking dish. Add about 1/4 cup of brown sugar to each pumpkin, add 1 tablespoon butter or margarine and sprinkle with cinnamon. Replace the tops and bake at 35 degrees F for 30 minutes or until the pumpkins are soft and begin to sag. Remove the tops and drizzle with some maple syrup. Replace tops and allow to cool 10 minutes before serving.
Pumpkin Stew
The original recipe I had for this called for one big pumpkin that was used as a soup tureen. Bits of the pumpkin were scooped out as the stew was served. Unfortunately, a well-cooked pumpkin gets rather soft and scooping bits of it out weakened it further. After experiencing a catastrophic pumpkin failure, I decided individual pumpkin bowls were a better choice.
4 medium pumpkins
1/4 cup flour
2 pounds beef stew meat
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
8 cups beef broth
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups carrots, julienned
2 cups broccoli, chopped
4 cups pumpkin puree
Carefully remove the stem from each pumpkin and wash. Cut each one in half crosswise and scoop out the seeds and goop. Wash well and dry. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper and bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until softened. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly. Meanwhile, put flour in a plastic bag and add meat. Shake until each piece is coated. Brown the meat in the olive oil in a large soup pot. Add the beef broth, pumpkin puree, onion, carrots, broccoli and spices. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes or so. Place each pumpkin “bowl” on a plate or in a shallow bowl and fill with stew. Serve hot. Serves 8.
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