Favorite Fall Dishes...

[gutreactions]

What seasonal foods and restaurant specialties do you look forward to come fall...for me the change in the air always seems to lift my palate...Just enjoyed a wonderful Osso Buco at a favorite eatery and fresh ripe figs wrapped in satiny prosciutto with gorgonzola and balsamic...can't wait for some of those hearty 'bistro' dishes...and of course there's always Octoberfest!

[Hue]

Just made some, fresh string beans, potatoes, smoked neck and fat back all simmered together...

[gutreactions]

Recently enjoyed a decadent hunk of short rib with garlic mashed...

[krisrishere]

Lentil Stew with meatballs and freshly grated parm cheese
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds - I buy extra pumpkins specifically for this purpose
Beef Stew
Italian Chicken Soup with Rice (and yes, meatballs again! They're just so darn good)
Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingerbread Biscotti crust
Ribolitta with ham bones and parm rinds

[rHairing]

Hmmm it's 83 here in NoVA.. Doesn't feel like fall. I'm still waiting to put my first fire in the fireplace. For me it's roasting root veggies in the oven(no grills allowed in my condo development), making my mom's homemade veggie marinara, red garnet sweet potatoes, pumpkin seeds, and then there is my 7 bean soup...I particularly look forward to what I call lazy Sunday cooking days.

[BratleFoodie]

Oh now you can't tempt me with 7 bean soup and not post a recipe! Sounds perfect for a cold wet Vermont day.

[RealMenJulienne]

I love Autumn! It has the best holiday (Halloween) and all the best weather, and it's my feeling that no other season can really compete. As for fall food, allow me to quote a wise lady:

"My feeling about chili is this: Along in November, when the first northern strikes, and the skies are gray, along about five o'clock in the afternoon, I get to thinking how good chili would taste for supper. It always lives up to expectations. In fact, you don't even mind the cold November winds."
- Lady Bird Johnson

I made my first chili of the season yesterday and ate it out on the porch, with a glass of Jameson on the rocks. As Ms. Johnson says it certainly lived up to expectations!

[BratleFoodie]

Nice topic. Me, I like some of the following:

Winter squash soups
Any warm soothing soups, really
Mac n cheese
lasagne
Oh heck, pasta! Using my own basil in oil out of the freezer, and my own tomato puree.
mushroom stroganoff
mashed potatoes
James Beard's white bean pasta sauce (using Baco bits not bacon) from 'Beard on Pasta'

And I'm looking to find a great vegetarian recipe for pureed chestnut soup.

[iluvtennis]

Butternut squash ravioli

[sebetti]

chicken waterzooi
homemade cream of mushroom soup ....mmmmm.....

[jfood]

Braise Baby Braise

Jfood loves braises, especially his favorite John Besh Short Ribs.

And he ate the most delicious pureed butternut squash last week and he is determined to understand this veggie over the next few weeks.

Pasta - somethin about the cool weather and a good steaming plate.

[gutreactions]

Just finished off our last portion of hearty homemade Mexican style chicken tortilla soup with fresh corn...Yum!

[Jonny509]

Pumpkin Pie and vanilla ice cream.

Apple crisp is a close second.

[Kinnexa]

Apple-cranberry crisp.
Big pots of soup and chowder.
Stuffed pumpkin--an annual tradition at my French-Canadian mother-in-law's house. Hers included ground pork and beef, but my husband and I often make one with bulgur instead (goes great with the pumpkin flavor).
Dark, dark beer, good cheap sturdy red wine, hot sake, and hot apple cider!!

[alkapal]

kinnexa, speaking of pumpkin and bulgur, would you happen to have a good recipe for pumpkin kibbeh balls? there is a local lebanese market that sells a vegetarian kibbe with pumpkin blended into the outer shell, and a walnut and pomegranate center. su-perb!!!

[gutreactions]

Last night we went bistro in a sense at home: incredibly fresh ripe figs topped with goat cheese and roasted walnuts...fresh made French style onion soup (no cheese topping), and a hearty brisket sandwich leftover from Rosh Hashanah...wow!

[alkapal]

these recipes of "october" seasonal foods from the london times is really appetizing to peruse: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/real_food/article4811943.ece

one that particularly caught my attention was a wild mushroom pate with cranberry glaze: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life...

[Cinemaverite1]

Slurping up hachiya persimmons, making fuyu persimmon galettes, arranging fruit-bearing persimmon branches as table centerpieces...

I also tend to use more cinammon and nutmeg in my baking during fall

Hearty stews with crusty bread

[southernitalian]

Coq au vin, turkey, pototoes roasted outside in a fire, mulled wine, pumpkin cheesecake (although last year I made a cheesecake and at the last minute, i stirred some of TJ's mini chocolate peanuts butter cups into it. It was fabulous!)

[goldendawn7]

Beef Bourguignon, roasted chicken with maple roasted root veggies, Oktoberfest beers and pumpkin ales. Oh yeah, Tart Tatin.

[greenstate]

Soups, stews and braises: the longer the cooking time, the better.

[Al_Pal]

Butternut squash ravioli and pumpkin pie!

[Vetter]

Butternet squash lasagna with gruyere and sage and a bechamel made with cream steeped with lots of herbs and garlic.

French onion soup.

Roasted potatoes that were tossed with tamari, tabasco, and vinegar and oil before roasting.

Delicata squash roasted with grade B maple syrup for me and harissa for my sweetie.

Kale on pasta with spicy italian sausage.

Vast quantities of honeycrisp apples (esp. with cheddar and barleywine!)

[goodegg333]

Oh wow! I've GOT to try making a butternut squash lasagna, that sounds heavenly!!!

[alkapal]

i agree. vetter, can you link a recipe you like, please?

[tinymango]

what sort of vinegar for the potratoes?

[amanda3571]

Homemade butternut squash soup screams fall to me. Blended with apples. yum. Topped with a dap creme fraiche and some fried sage.

[Passadumkeg]

Various squash soups( Mom's cream of pumpkin)
acorn squash baked w/ butter and maple syrup
Finnish pear and turnip pie
lotsa cabbage and spuds
Beets me! roasted, borscht, and w/ herring salad

[OCAnn]

Chicken pot pie w/puff pastry.

Various soups (like French Onion) and sandwiches.

[Whosyerkitty]

Meatloaf and roasts and stews and soups. I am somewhat looking forward to it because don't use my oven much when it's above 60 degrees, air conditioning or not. But I love the way something roasting/baking steams up the kitchen and fills the house with great smells on cold nights!

[Will Owen]

Persimmon pudding!

Yes, and all the possible cabbage-and-pigmeat variations, chicken and dumplings, any kind of winter squash. Things made with apples.

It's nice to be thinking of these things...helps me forget that it's pushing 90 degrees outside!

[tatamagouche]

Ribollita. Oh rib-rib-ribollita.

[heWho]

Butternut squash always reminds me of fall. I made a butternut squash soup and butternut squash ravioli this week and it got me into a fall mood.

[JungMann]

Roast pork joints with crackling and gravy
Brussel sprouts with bacon
Cabbage and caraway
Soups (especially cream of roasted garlic and gumbo)
Musaqa, really any Arabic food with all those warm spices that taste like pumpkin pie: allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg etc.

[coney with everything]

Brussels sprouts, turnips and parsnips picked after the first heavy frost. So much sweeter.

Winter squash in all varieties.

Apples, especially Honey Crisps and Northern Spies that we pick ourselves.

[alkapal]

i love my mom's porcupine meatballs with sauerkraut. i double up the batch and gorge on leftovers.... http://www.chow.com/recipes/13527

[givemecarbs]

Pork loin is on sale at Hennings next week so I am planning to make pork, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes and applesauce. Oh and hot rolls always go so well with roast pork. The masked potatoes will be from scratch but the kraut will be from a refrigerated bag and the applesauce will be from a jar. Haven't decided about the rolls yet. Oh, and some cider from our local place here in PA, Zeigler's. I drove past the place last week and it smelled like apples being processed. Really heavenly.

[BamiaWruz]

Pumpkins and squashes in a moroccan style stews.
Fish and chips, and onion rings
Lentil soups (black or yellow)

[at24]

I look forward to making French onion soup, getting fresh cider and doughnuts.

Had a great homemade chicken pot pie at the Bryant House restaurant in Weston, Vt over the weekend. You know it was good food when you think about it days later!

[swsidejim]

I eat/make soup year round, but I really enjoy a sandwich, and some soup during the fall. Yesterday I made up a pot of cream of broccoli soup(from scratch of course), and a roast beef, turkey, salami, and swiss sub(just meat cheese, and Hellmans). It was so good, I have been looking forward to a big bowl all day, even though it is 80 degrees today.

[monavano]

Yesterday, with a bit of a chill in the air, and NFL football on the television, I just had to make spaghetti and meatballs. The smell of the meatballs simmering filled the house with amazing aromas.
I'm looking forward to braising, and making soups.
www.houndstoothgourmet.com

[LA Buckeye Fan]

the carbonnade from the Silver Palate cookbook. Eaten with buttered egg noodles in front of the fireplace. Since I live in California, I will have to leave the airconditioning running to get the fall ambiance.

[valerie]

Roasted brussels sprouts. Just made my first batch last night.

[Hue]

Not really a Fall dish but I always associate it with the end of summer, and that is fried green tomatoes, Mom always made use of the "unripe" tomatoes before the first heavy frost...
Also anyone else put a little sugar on their fried green tomatoes??

[MGZ]

I thought of fried tomatoes first, too. I suppose it's the fact that we have so many that didn't ripen. I must confess that I am actually getting tired of them, but don't know what else to do with them.

Any ideas?

[Louise]

Joy of cooking has a recipe for green tomato pie. I may have also seen one on the traveler's lunchbox website.

[ElsieDee]

I have a rather vague memory of reading about someone pickling their leftover green tomatoes. Might be worth Googling or asking on the Home Cooking board.

[alkapal]

green tomato relish!

[flowergarden129]

Pickled green tomatoes are fabulous! I grew up on them. You make them like dill pickles, usually.

[alkapal]

cool. do you just snack on them like pickled cukes, too? slice on sandwiches (yum!)?

[flowergarden129]

I snack on them. Or, dice them as a side dish with an appropriate main course that needs a little tang.

[BratleFoodie]

There is a wonderful recipe for green tomato pie in a classic out of print cookbook on American food history. From the 18th century. My only tip if you make a green tomato pie, actually squeeze the slices to get some of the liquid out, or you will be swimming in tomato juice on the bottom of your oven!

[shaebones]

Pot roast

[ipsedixit]

Anything with pumpkins, esp. stir-fried with taro.

Any apple dessert -- e.g., crisp, turnover, pie, etc. But no caramel apples, however. Ick.

Soups and stews, esp. with pumpkin. :-)

[chicgail]

IAs much as I love the shift to fresh gorgeous vegetables and grilled proteins, I equally love the shift from grilling back to braising -- it's kind of like moving from my summer shorts to fall clothes.

But I think my favorite fall dish is a free-form lasagna I make with onions, almost any kind of winter squash, prosciutto and fresh mozzarella, oregano and a drizzle of cream. Although as I was writing this, I was thinking how good it would be with crumpled sauted sage leaves instead of the oregano.

[Olallieberry]

Man that lasagne sounds good (no need to bother giving me the recipe though, I cook only in my daydreams).

[LindaWhit]

That's exactly what I was thinking - braised meats - beef shanks, pot roasts and beef or pork stews.

[chicgail]

Lamb shanks, osso bucco, and probably my favorite: short ribs.

Oh, and the hearty soups. Mushroom barley ... lentil ... white bean and escarole ... minestrone

[mpalmer6c]

Yes, short ribs. Oven cooked ribs. Ham. Pot roast. Other things cooked in the oven, which does double duty as keeping the house warm. Bean soup. Lentil soup. Split-pea soup cooked with a ham bone. And the Dungeness crab season opens.

[adamshoe]

Ok, it's trite, but I love me some roasted chestnuts...mmm.

[almccasland]

Local brewery stouts (oatmeal, kona coffee, etc.), Oktoberfest brews, and Pumpkin brews....

Heavy cabs or port with dark chocolate.... That's really fine by me in any season, but I seem to have more when the weather cools.

Now is about the time I start making pumpkin oatmeal and homemade special chili spooned into acorn squash or over a sweet potato....

Oh! And pumpkin frozen custard!

[Rick]

Almcc, can you tell us more about that special chili you put over a sweet potato?

[almccasland]

My apologies for just now seeing this request! I'll be digging out my notes (not really a recipe, but an ongoing list of notes until I 'perfected' it) soon and be glad to post in the Home Cooking board.

[Rick]

Thanks!

[piccola]

I always thought those were a winter thing...
I wish we had carts selling them on the street.

[Chunny]

adamshoe, you have definately peaked my interest with your pumpkin oatmeal AND your special chili! I need to put together a dinner menu for my nephew and his fiancee....they are both EXTREME pumpkin lovers, so I would really like to surprise them with a meal entirely formulated around pumpkin variations. I would LOVE to have your recipes or suggestions. My personal quote for years, has been...." A recipe is nothing more than a springboard for your imagination...Have fun with it!!"
I am new to this site, so HELLO, EVERYONE!

[alkapal]

welcome, chunny! we look forward to your posts.
i don't know about adamshoe's pumpkin oatmeal, but for a quickie "pumpkin" oatmeal, i stir in trader joe's pumpkin butter, along with my other regular oatmeal fixings.

[almccasland]

Hi Chunny - Again my apologies for just seeing this today! I'm taking a chance that you were asking me about the pumpkin oatmeal, rather than adamshoe. I've got several variations on it, but the base is always either cooked steel cut (my favorite) or rolled (when I'm in a time crunch) oats....never instant or quick. If I'm making it for myself (prefer savory to sweet), I just stir in 1/3 - 1/2 cup canned pumpkin and top with either nutritional yeast, greek yogurt, or crumbled goat cheese. If I make it for others, I use the same oatmeal/pumpkin ratio but add some pumpkin pie spices (cinn, ginger, nutmeg, etc.), top with greek yogurt and chopped walnuts or macademias, and drizzle with honey. It's really quite delicious! And if you make too much, you can always throw the extra into some pancake or waffle batter and have pumpkin pancakes.

[piccola]

Mine are pretty typical, too:

Wild mushroom soup
Roasted cauliflower
Pumpkin seeds
Stewed romano beans
Braised kale with garlic
Pasta with butternut squash and sage

I'm not a big dessert fan, but once a year, I need a good apple crisp.

[Olallieberry]

I know it's a cliche at this point, but I look forward to eating pumpkin dishes in fall (and drinking pumpkin ale). Other winter squash too, especially acorn and butternut.

Fresh, crisp apples of course, and pears.

Artichokes in their second season.

Mushrooms.

[DockPotato]

Everything listed above except artichokes can be had here from our truck farmers, and they are excellent. I would add to your list: cabbage; brussel sprouts; waxed turnips, and wild Salmon and Trout - the fall run is underway here.

Onions, shallots, leeks and garlic from the field, and any kind of potato prepared any way whatever.

[Chew on That]

Not cliche, who doesn't love pumpkin in the fall?! I was going to say pumpkin dishes too :)

[Diane in Bexley]

Chew, I consider myself a sophisticated eater but I HATE pumpkin. Love sweet potatoes, acorn squash, Hubbard squash, lots of other veggies, but I HATE pumpkin. No pie, no soup, not nothing with pumpkin. Not on our Thanksgiving menu, other than a small bakery made pie for DD who adores it. Leftovers go home with her.

[Chew on That]

Sorry to hear we disagree! I shouldn't have said no one doesn't like pumpkin. There are a lot of foods people like that I don't. My apologies.