A (Culinary) Salute to Fall

Fall has officially arrived, and I'm doing a little dance of glee even as my coworkers bemoan the sudden downturn in temperature. I'm a fall baby, so maybe that's why I love it so much, or maybe it's the fact that I live in an area that wears fall so beautifully. Either way, the second that crisp edge enters the air, the leaves start changing, and the markets start showing mums, apples, and pumpkins, I get all warm and fuzzy.

The farm's gotten into the swing of things by putting out the first batch of pumpkins, and I gleefully picked one up, thinking: Pumpkin White Bean Stew!

This stew is one of my mother's specialties, and she used to make it for me on Halloween. Believe me, there's nothing quite like coming in from trick or treating, chilled and tired, and being served up a nice bowl of festively orange stew with a side of roasted pumpkin seeds. Bliss!

Pumpkin-White-Bean Stew
1 medium-size pumpkin (try to get one from a farm or farmers' market. They have more flavor than the ones at the grocery store)
5-6 sage leaves
5 stems of thyme
Olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
3/4 tsp cumin seeds
1 clove garlic, diced
1 cup white beans, soaked overnight, or two cans, rinsed
3 1/2 + 1 1/4 cup chicken or vegetable stock, separated 
2 tsp brown sugar
3/4-1 tsp chili powder

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Cut the pumpkin into fourths and scrape out all the seeds and guts. Rinse the seeds well and set them aside. Arrange the pumpkin on a baking sheet

Drizzle a tablespoon or two of olive oil over the pumpkin. Cut up the sage leaves and remove the thyme from the stems. Sprinkle both over the pumpkin quarters and season.

Roast the pumpkin 20-25 minutes, until the herbs become fragrant and the flesh just starts to roast. Let cool until you can handle it without burning yourself.

Separate the flesh from the skin of the pumpkin and cut into large dice. Put a quarter of the dice in a saucepan with the 1 1/4 cups of stock and boil until the pumpkin is tender. Puree in a blender and set aside.

Saute the onion, cumin seeds, and garlic in olive oil in a large pot for 3-5 minutes, until the onion starts to get translucent. Add the remaining pumpkin and stock, the brown sugar, and the chili powder. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover, and simmer about 15 minutes. Add the soaked beans, recover, and simmer another 10-15 minutes, until beans and pumpkin are tender.

Add in the pureed pumpkin. Taste and adjust seasonings. If you like it sweeter, add more brown sugar or a bit of honey. If you like heat, more chili powder. You get the idea.

**Cook's note: one of the nice things about this recipe is its adaptability. It's great with classic herbs, like sage and thyme, or curry spices, which is what my mother used a lot. Feel free to experiment--chances are, you'll be glad you did.

Comfort Food

We're currently in the middle of a family crisis. My dad's heart, it turns out, is in rather poor shape, a fact that made itself apparent when he passed out in the garden Sunday morning, scaring my poor mother to death and bringing A. and I flying from Princeton to Doylestown Hospital.

We're all lucky, this time. Although dad's tests were a bit worse than expected, the problem is fixable. He's still in the hospital, having some procedures done, but they expect to release him tomorrow, and he's back in good spirits and feeling much better. The whole family is now breathing a collective sigh of relief and, finally, eating a little again.

Its at times like these that you realize the vital importance of comfort food. Last night, post hospital visit, mom, A., my grandmother, and I all went out for dinner. My mother went for the ultimate comfort food--meatloaf. I can't remember the last time she made or ate meatloaf, but there she was, happily inhaling it.

"This is just what I needed," she sighed when the plate was scraped. "Some good, filling comfort food." In an unusual move for me, I too indulged--in a cheeseburger and fries. I never order cheeseburgers and fries, and yet in mere minutes my plate was empty, astonishing A.

"Where did you put all that?" he asked, staring from my plate to his own, which still had half a burger and a full order of fries on it.

The night before, while A loaded the car with our dogs and the suitcase so we could stay with my mother in PA, I whipped up a quick order of another major comfort food (for me at least): pasta. A plate of ziti with some fresh summer veg, leftover roasted chicken from the night before, pepper, and a little parmesan cheese. Quick, easy, nourishing, and yes, comforting.

Consolation Pasta

(serves 2)

1/4 lb pasta of choice (I used ziti, but anything will do)

5 cherry tomatoes, quartered or 1 tomato, seeded and diced

1/2 fresh zucchini or other summer squash, cut in half and sliced into half moons

1/4-1/2 cup cooked chicken

Parmesan to taste

pepper to taste

Boil pasta according to package directions, stirring occasionally to keep it from clumping together.

Drain, retaining a tablespoon or two of the cooking water.

Return pasta to the pot with the cooking water. Add zucchini, chicken, and tomatoes. Stir to combine. Add pepper and parmesan to taste and stir to combine. Serve.