WELCOME TO FALL

 

Welcome to Fall

           We welcome fall on the autumn equinox on September 22^nd as the day when the sun rises exactly ‘due east’ and sets directly ‘due west’. The more poetic version as sung by Frank Sinatra reminds us: “But the days grow short when you reach September”.   Interestingly, this song originally by Kurt Weill, with lyrics by Maxwell Anderson premiered on Broadway 12 years before it became famous in the movie “September Song”.

          Trivia facts aside, the kitchen takes on a different flavor and fragrance at this time of the year as we savor more substantial fare to accompany chilly evenings and the occasional rainy day. Fortunately, the abundance of fall vegetables make this easy and roasting them adds a more earthy flavor to each dish.

                                              Roast vegetable ratatouille

          Grilling or roasting the vegetables deepens the flavor of this dish as well as removes a significant amount of liquid.

          Preheat the oven to broil and spray a large, rimmed cookie sheet with nonstick baking spray. In batches, spread in a single layer without touching the following cut up vegetables: 3 medium Japanese eggplants and one medium zucchini sliced in ½ inch slices, 1 medium onion cut in 6 wedges, 2 seeded frying peppers cut in half.  Spray all lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic salt. Broil until browned, turning once, cool slightly and cut vegetables in large bite size pieces.

          Heat 1 tblsp. olive oil in a deep pan and sauté 2 chopped garlic cloves for 1 minute, stir in 3 large cut up tomatoes and cook for 4-5 minutes. Add: ½ cup white wine, ½ cup chicken broth, 2 tblsp. tomato paste, 1 tsp. oregano, 1 tsp. thyme, ½ tsp. turmeric, ½ tsp. red pepper flakes, ¼ cup chopped fresh basil (optional). Cover tightly and cook on medium heat for 30 minutes. Uncover, adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and if still too juicy, cook uncovered for additional 10-15 minutes.  Serve warm or at room temperature as aside to roasted or grilled meats. Or it makes a delightful lunch in a shallow bowl topped with a fried egg.

          Weekday or even weekend stir fries quickly perk up any menu, especially with some unusual and flavorful combinations. The following recipes are for 2 persons and can be easily scaled up to four by just doubling the ingredients.

                                              Beef and kimchi stir fry

          Prepare before starting to heat a wok or large pan: ½ lb. sirloin sliced in ¼ inch strips, ½ onion thinly sliced, ½ carrot halved lengthwise and each half cut in thin slices or sticks.

Heat 2 tblsp. peanut oil in pan and stir fry the meat 2-3 minutes until seared, remove from pan and set aside. To the same pan add 1 tsp. sesame oil, the sliced onion, carrot and 1 chopped garlic clove. Sauté for 2 minutes, then stir in 1 tblsp. soy sauce, ½ cup beef broth, ½ cup kimchi, ½ cup canned mushroom pieces and cook for 3-4 minutes. Stir in the beef and 2 sliced scallions. Heat and serve over rice.

                                      Rice noodles with ginger-pork and Bok choi

          Pour very hot water over 1/3 of a box of very thin rice noodles, let stand for 3 minutes, drain and rinse with cold water and set aside.

          Rinse ½ bunch of Bok choi and separately coarsely chop the white stems and the leaves.  Slice 2 scallions separating the white and green parts. For the sauce mix: 2 tblsp. Korean barbeque sauce, 1 tblsp. soy sauce, ¼ tsp. Sambal hot sauce (optional) 1 tblsp. Hoisin sauce, 1 tblsp. wine vinegar and ¼ water.

           Heat 1 tblsp. peanut oil in a flat bottom wok or pan to very hot and add the white part of Bok choi stirring for 1 minute, add greens and cook for 1 minute and set all aside. In the same pan brown ½ lb. ground pork until no longer pink, add white part of sliced scallions,1 chopped garlic clove, and 2 tsp. chopped fresh ginger and cook for 1 minute. Stir in sauce mix, ½ cup chicken broth, heat through and then stir in 1 tblsp. cornstarch mixed with 1 tblsp. water. Cook on medium heat until sauce thickens, then stir in Bok Choi. To serve, divide noodles in 2 shallow bowls, spoon in meat and Bok choi and sprinkle with scallion greens.

          Bon Appetit!

(I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)

FAREWELL SUMMER

 

Farewell Summer

           September and the Labor Day weekend has me thinking about the end of summer and I’m hard pressed not to mutter with A.A. Milne’s lovable character Winnie the Pooh. “Goodbye? Oh no please. “Can’t we just go back to page one and start all over again?”

          The end of summer had us spoiled with warm days in the sun, lush gardens with produce brimming Farmer’s markets and endless supplies of colorful fruit and vegetables for any meal or occasion. The cook is tempted to splurge on gathering all this bounty in the kitchen and come up with a burst of colorful and flavorful meals before the seasonal changes in menus.

                                          Mediterranean Moussaka (GF)

          This recipe originally came from Craig Clairborne’s NY Times cookbook as “Moussaka a la Grecque”, but during the years has considerably slimmed by losing 1 cup butter and an egg and ricotta topping and acquiring several additions. Since both Greeks and Turks claim moussaka as their dish, I renamed it simply as Mediterranean. This moussaka also has lost breadcrumbs to accommodate GF diet of our son.  It acquired sliced potatoes after eating a delicious moussaka on our trip to Crete. It is now gluten free. I prefer using Japanese eggplant since it does not need to be peeled. The proportions here are for a 7x11x2 inch Pyrex baking dish. Feel free to scale up for 9x13x2 dish, but it will take a bit longer to bake.

          Parboil, 2 medium potatoes sliced in ¼ inch slices for 2 minutes, drain and set aside.

          Slice 3 large Japanese eggplants and 1 medium zucchini in ½ inch slices, place in a shallow pan, lightly spray with oil, sprinkle with garlic salt and broil, turning once until both sides are browned. Set aside.

          Brown 1 lb. ground lamb (or beef) in a large pan and set aside. In the same pan sauté 2 large, chopped onions in 2 tblsp. butter for 5 minutes until golden, stir in 2 chopped garlic cloves, ½ tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. cumin, 1 tsp. salt, ¼ tsp. pepper, 3 tblsp. tomato paste and ¾ cup red wine. Stir to blend, add back the meat and ¼ cup chopped parsley. Cook on low heat until most of the liquid is absorbed.

          To assemble: lightly butter the baking pan, layer the potatoes, ¼ meat sauce, a layer of zucchini-eggplant, 2 tblsp. fresh grated Parmesan cheese and another ¼ meat sauce. Repeat eggplant, Parmesan and sauce two more times. Dot the meat sauce by tablespoon in spots, not necessary to spread even. Cover all completely with rounds of sharp provolone and press everything down lightly with your hands. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Can be made ahead and reheated covered in a 325-degree oven for 30 minutes.

          Our summer abundance of fresh peaches in Maine is a result of more winter hardy varieties of peaches and recent less severe winters. This colorful and fragrant fruit lends itself to peach crumbles and pies. Here is a peach-raisin-almond cobbler, similar in appearance to my plum cobbler, but with a totally different and tantalizing flavor.

                                          Peach-raisin-almond cobbler

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Unroll a sheet of Deli Crescent dough and gently stretching fit in a 9-inch pie plate. There will be a sizeable overhang on two of the edges.  In a small bowl stir together ¾ cups sugar with 2 generous tblsp. cornstarch.

Blanch 4-5 peaches in boiling water for 30 seconds, slip off the skin, remove the pit and slice each half in 4-5 slices in a large bowl and add ¼ cup raisins.  Toss with 2 tblsp. lemon juice and 1 tsp. lemon extract. Then toss fruit with the sugar-starch mix and turn all in pastry lined plate.  Sprinkle with 1/3 cup slivered almonds and fold the pastry over the fruit from all sides leaving the center open. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Turn the heat down to 350 degrees and continue baking for additional 12-17 minutes until liquid around the fruit bubbles.  Remove from the oven and serve warm or cold.

Farewell summer!

(I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)