Autumn Is Here

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Although it is unseasonably warm today, things have turned undeniably autumnal.  The leaves have changed colors, the produce at the farmer’s market has narrowed to apples, resilient greens, and various tubers.  We’ve even taken to using the fireplace on some nights.  Obviously, huddling by the fire, keeping out the damp and cold, demands a different kind of food.  In the summer you want things bright, acidic, fresh.  You want meals that taste as though you plucked the vegetables from a garden in arm’s reach of your outdoor table.  Autumn is different.  Things are now roasted and poached for longer periods, had indoors when the light has gone so early.

In this case, it is also a time for experimentation.  Squash are always available, and I am always looking for different ways to use them.  Here, it was sage, onions, squash and cranberries.  The idea was to make a “salad” of crispy sage, caramelized onions, and roasted squash, using a cranberry sauce as the “dressing.”  First, I roasted the squash at 400 for 45 minutes, cutting it into wedges and drizzling with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Meanwhile, I caramelized onions with some fresh sage.  After removing the squash from the oven and letting it cool slightly, I cut it from the skin and left it in bite-size chunks, much as I might cut watermelon for a salad.  Next, I heated a mix of butter and olive oil and added the pieces of squash, browning on all sides.  Removing the squash from the heat, I tossed it with the onions and sage.  I then made a cranberry sauce by bringing to a boil a pint of beautiful, marbled heirloom cranberries from the Fair Food Farmstand, honey, 1/4 c. of bourbon, and 1/3 c. of water to a boil and cooking for a fifteen minutes.  This was poured over the plated squash, onions and sage.

In the summer, a lightly dressed salad of tender greens accompanied nearly every meal.  Here is another salad, reflective of what we eat and what we feel like eating, now, in autumn.   

A warm, welcoming reminder that Thanksgiving is not so far away - get those turkeys ordered.