Recipes taking advantage of seasonal ingredients/flavors

What are your favorite recipes that taste like fall?

I stumbled onto two last night for dinner that were just what I was in the mood for, both on epicurious: Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Onions (not something that would normally appeal to me, but I have grown tired of the ginger-soy marinade I often use), and Butternut Squash Risotto.

These made me hungry for more! Do tell your favorites.

Brussels sprouts, bacon, chestnuts

Anything w/ sweet potatoes...roasted, mashed, hash, gratin, pie

Celery root puree w/ either cauliflower or potatoes

Salads w/ fuyu persimmons, pears, or apples...eg, frisee, walnuts, mild blue, dried cranberries

Sage...in roasts, soups, or sauces

I made Galleygirl's pear tart tonight after finding some tremendously juicy and ripe bartlett pears at the farmer's market. It's unbelievably good and incredibly easy.

I reprint her post with the recipe below. I hope this is OK.

Galleygirl's Pear Tart

This is the original. Many people feel my oven is too cold, and they feel you should check the doneness after 40 minutes or so. This is my father's all-time favorite dessert. I got it from a chef-friend of mine, named Laurie. She calls it a Pear Tart, but it's more like a dense, rich, buttery cake, made heavy by the pear juice that infuses it. Don't overcook; it's even better the next day!

Laurie's Pear Tart

3 or 4 ripe juicy pears. (doesn't matter what kind, juicy and ripe are KEY!)
Peel, core, and cut into sixths or eighths

Cream 1 stick butter
3/4 c. sugar
1 teasoon vanilla
Add
2 eggs, one at a time...

Combine
1 c. flour
1 teasoon baking powder
1/2 t. salt...

Add to butter mixture.

Spray an 8" (important) spring form pan with Pam. Spread the batter in it. Now, in a pinwheel pattern, press the slices of pear, peeled side up, into the batter. Cram in as many as you can; since the batter rises and covers the pears, there's no points given for style here(g). The more pears, the moister the cake will be. Sprinkle with handful of sugar before baking. Bake at 350 degrees til a skewer comes out clean, about an hour(Start checking at 40 minutes!). If you have any doubts, UNDERBAKE. This is a whole different animal if it dries out. Then it's just a cake; correctly done, you'll love it. It's just one of those recipes that is greater than the sum of it's parts. really. Ask my Dad. ;)

[ChristinaMason]

I made this at the suggestion of buttertart, and it was excellent! I used a 9-in. springform and increased the batter by 50%. I sprinkled demerera sugar on top before baking, which provided a nice crunch, and used a good vanilla bean paste and slightly more salt for flavor. Mine took only 45 min. Brought it to a dinner party and we all really loved it; it' surprisingly delicious for how simple it is.

I usually start making the transition to full-on winter-fare when fall rolls around with things like beef stroganoff and blanquette de veau and always make a batch of spicy pumpkin soup. As apples are great in the fall, I like to do one of the Normandie dishes with apples, cider and calvados, using either chicken, veal or pork.

Glad this came up as time is going by and haven't done the pumpkin soup yet!

And forgot to add, take advantage of the apple harvest with tarte tatin.

I'd love your pumpkin soup recipe - I made some recently and found it ho-hum.

I'll be happy to post it and will when I get home. Please check around late afternoon.

Here's the pumpkin soup recipe and the disclaimer is, no concession to low fat or calories, but don't think it's too life threatening!

This should make enough for 8 servings or less for hearty eaters.
One more thing, I'm using canned pumpkin as it's a lot easier than making it with fresh pumpkin and I believe with little or no loss, but feel free to sub fresh pumpkin for the canned stuff.

Ingredients
6 slices bacon, diced
1 can 16 oz. pumpkin
2 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 fresh poblano chili
1 ancho chili (it's a dried poblano)
1 Tbl olive oil or equivalent butter
6 cups chicken or beef broth (or combo)
1/4 cup marsala wine
1/4 cup honey
1 Tbl each minced fresh sage and thyme leaves
Salt & pepper

Optional as garnish:
1/2 sour cream
1 1/2 tsp each fresh lime juice & maple syrup
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
cilantro sprigs, chopped

PROCEDURE
Saute the bacon until done to your liking, remove from pan and reserve.

Rinse the poblano & ancho, remove stems and seeds and chop separately.

Using the bacon fat, plus a little additional oil or butter, saute onion, celery, carrots and poblano until they just start taking on color. Add the ancho and saute for another minute.

Add the broth, honey, sage & thyme leaves and bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the marsala wine, mix it in and turn off the stove and let the mixture cool.

When cool, puree in a food processor in batches until smoothe.

Return the puree to the pan, add the reserved bacon, and season with salt & pepper to taste. Heat for about 5 minutes until hot and serve.
If using the optional garnish, garnish each bowl with the combined sour cream, lime juice, maple syrup and cinnamon and sprinkle the chopped cilantro on top.

That's all folks! Hope you like it.