Cooking for the turn of the tide: It's Fall

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I'm in apple country, with lots of "you pick" places. I'm lusting after baked apples, and that made me long for baked acorn squash with butter and brown sugar, or maple syrup, or cinnamon or . . .

I'm going to make baked apples from this recipe, only without the raisins, since some people hate 'em. Might add dried cranberries though . . . I've never done the "pour boiling water in the pan" thing though; it'll be interesting to see how it turns out.

I admit to cooking slow things in the oven to heat the house . . .

What are your fall food favorites? What are you thinking/looking forward to cooking?
 

sunna

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Yum. Roasted butternut squash with a little safflower oil and brown sugar, apple crisp and applesauce cake...

Borscht, with fresh beets/carrots/cabbage and homemade bread.


And my newly-discovered favorite, slow-roasted tomatoes. I had no idea they were so good.
 

Bubastes

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Soups, lots and lots of soups. I'm making split pea right now.
 

TerzaRima

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Whole grain breads. The espresso-spiked chili I mentioned in the Chili Dog thread. Applesauce.

Pumpkin kibbeh, which is a veggie bastardization of a Lebanese dish of layered baked lamb, bulgur, pine nuts and fried onions. It sounds improbable, but NOM NOM NOM.

All the holiday baking.
 

shawkins

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Chili!

<cross-posted w. medievalist, merging>

The best part about autumn in Atlanta is that it gets cool enough to cook things that require simmering. Here's one of my favorites:

Pork Chili (no, really--it's good)

  • 1.5-2 lbs. pork tenderloin
  • couple teaspoons lemon juice
  • 4 strips bacon
  • 2 large yellow onions
  • 3 fresh jalapenos
  • Carol Shelby's chili mix. (The one that used to come in a little brown paper bag--apparently they switched to a box not too long ago. )
  • 3 14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes
  • 3 14.5 oz. cans pinto beans
  • 1 of the honking great large cans of chicken broth
  • cheddar cheese & sour cream (for garnish)
1. Slice the pork tenderloins into bite size pieces. Sprinkle with lemon juice & let sit for ~15 min. (The acid in the lemon juice tenderizes the meat--anyway, you'll rinse it off later. Trust me. )

2. Start frying the bacon in a large cooking pot. While the bacon fries, chop the onion into smallish cubes. When the bacon is cooked, take it out of the pot & chop it up. Add a bit of vegetable oil to the remaining bacon grease.

3. Add chopped onion to the pot & soften.

4. Chop up the jalapenos into wee little bits maybe 1/8" on a side. If you strip out the seeds during the chopping process, they aren't too hot. If you like hot, leave the seeds in. Either way, the green part of the jalapenos add a lot of flavor. Add the jalapenos to the onions. Saute for a while, maybe 1-2 mins. The longer you cook them, the milder they get.

5. By now, the pork should be about ready. Rinse off the lemon juice using one of those strainer things. If you like really hot chili, you can sprinkle red pepper on the pork at this point.

6. Add the pork to the mix. Cook until slightly browned. The chili boils long enough to dispel any fears of pork tartare, so don't go nuts in this stage--stir frequently and only cook until the surface of the meat is white.

7. Dump in the big bag of spices from the chili mix. Stir to coat. Dump in the big can of chicken broth, the 3 cans of diced tomatoes, and the salt packet from the chili mix. Add the chopped bacon, minus a piece or two for the dogs.

8. Personally, I like to rinse the slimy goo off the pinto beans, but whatever. Rinsed or not, dump them in.

9. (Optional ingredients) I actively dislike the bag of masa flour in the chili mix box/bag. Your choice, but if you want to add it in wait until ~10m before you're ready to serve. The wee little red pepper baggie in the box of chili mix works for me but, again, your call.

10. Simmer over medium heat until the meat is cooked through, stirring occasionally, about 45 mins-1 hr.

11. Garnish with a dollop of sour cream, sprinkle with cheese, and serve.

12. Next morning, get up and run 8 miles to work off the fat in this recipe.

13. Upon completion of the run, realize that it was worth it.

ETA: Both beer (1/2 can) and coffee (~1/2 cup) are suggested added ingredients. Never tried them both in the same batch, but either works well individually
 
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mskatmoon

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Soups, Stews and Turkey

I'm looking forward to cooking soups of all sorts. I love minestrone, potato, and kale/sausage soup. Those are my favorites. My kids like them. My husband likes at least two of them (He's not fond of beans so the minestrone he doesn't eat much).

Of course, I look forward to turkey. I know that I could eat it anytime really. But I don't really buy it any other time. Pumpkins are another food I look forward to using.

I also start making lots of breads to put in the freezer. These make great gifts and make great breakfasts especially zucchini bread.
 

Ol' Fashioned Girl

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Red Beans and Rice! In fact, it's what's for dinner tonight. :)

1 lb dried red beans (If you're in a hurry, use three cans small red beans)

1/2 lb ham, cut in 1/2" dice

1 lb smoked sausage cut into chunks

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

3 ribs celery, sliced

4 cloves minced garlic

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. Tabasco or a Cayenne pepper

1 bunch green onions, chopped

1/2 bunch parsley, chopped

1 tbsp Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning

Black Pepper to taste



Sort through the beans and pick out any bad or misshapen ones. Remove dirt clods and rocks. Put in a large pot and cook with water, salt, pepper and some bacon grease. When the beans are about done, begin assembling other ingredients.

With some olive oil in a large skillet, fry the ham and the smoked sausage until lightly browned. Remove and set aside.

In the hot fat, sauté the bell pepper, onion (both yellow and green), celery, parsley and garlic until it they're just beginning to brown. Add to the beans and stir. Add ham and sausage. Add water (or beer) and bring back to a light boil, then lower to a simmer. While waiting, add the bay leaf, black pepper, Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning and Tabasco.

Simmer the beans at least two hours to give the flavors time to mingle. Stir the pot two or three times per hour. After about 90 minutes, smash about one kitchen spoonful of beans and stir them in into the remainder. Smash more of them if you like your beans extra creamy. Add a little water if the sauce gets too thick. Add salt and more Tabasco to taste. Serve the beans over cooked rice. The usual hot, fresh bread is essential. I recommend a baguette of French.
 

Cranky

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Breads, and lots of them. Fast breads, white breads, etc.

Beef stew (I'll dig up my recipe and post it later, it's a crockpot recipe, so I'll put it in that thread).

Oooh, and I'm going to be putting together some hot chocolate mix. Maybe spiced apple cider, too.
 

sunna

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I like the Martha Stewart recipe for applesauce cake - and it's a thousand times better if you make apple cider frosting and use that instead of confectioner's sugar for a top.

1/2 cup softened butter
1/4 cup apple cider
4 cups confectioner's sugar

Mix the butter and cider first, then add the sugar until it's smooth. Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes before frosting - it should still be warm enough to melt it a bit, but not so much it drips everywhere.


Oy. I may have to make that this afternoon.
 

Deleted member 42

See you at the track!

The baked apples look great, only we don't have particularly good apples here. Does it work well with mediocre store apples?

Yes. Macintosh apples or similar are fine.
 

Shady Lane

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I'm in apple country, with lots of "you pick" places. I'm lusting after baked apples, and that made me long for baked acorn squash with butter and brown sugar, or maple syrup, or cinnamon or . . .

I'm going to make baked apples from this recipe, only without the raisins, since some people hate 'em. Might add dried cranberries though . . . I've never done the "pour boiling water in the pan" thing though; it'll be interesting to see how it turns out.

I admit to cooking slow things in the oven to heat the house . . .

What are your fall food favorites? What are you thinking/looking forward to cooking?

That's the recipe I use to bake apples, and it's always worked great for me. Heaven with some vanilla ice cream on the side.
 

MissKris

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Mmm, I love Fall foods. We did our applesaucing last month. We use Summer Red apples to make a lovely pink applesauce. I recently baked a couple of loaves of Pain aux Noix - a rustic bread with walnuts. I love pork chops with sauteed apples and butternut squash soup. Soups! It's so nice when I feel like I can make soups again! Chocolate chip pumpkin bread and warm tapioca pudding, beef stew, sauteed brussels sprouts with bacon and cranberries. Om nom nom nom. Enjoy your Fall, everyone.
 

truelyana

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I'm in apple country, with lots of "you pick" places. I'm lusting after baked apples, and that made me long for baked acorn squash with butter and brown sugar, or maple syrup, or cinnamon or . . .

I'm going to make baked apples from this recipe, only without the raisins, since some people hate 'em. Might add dried cranberries though . . . I've never done the "pour boiling water in the pan" thing though; it'll be interesting to see how it turns out.

I admit to cooking slow things in the oven to heat the house . . .

What are your fall food favorites? What are you thinking/looking forward to cooking?

The apple is also quite popular here in the UK this moment, as I have heard about an apple fair in the newspaper, and people at work have been leaving cooking/eating apples in the kitchen for anyone to take/eat. My mum has always cooked apples, and she bakes them in the oven and adds a hint of cinammon to it, and than it is scented all over the house. The delicious smell of fruit, always goes a long way. At the moment I feel my cooking/baking is re-surfacing after someone bought in a cake today that they baked, and left it in the kitchen for all to eat. Bought back memories of my baking fruit/vegetable days. Not looking forward to anything, as I have not thought about it yet. Will leave that to the spontenaety of Fall. :)
 

MissKris

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Ooooh, don't suppose you want to share this recipe. :)

Happy to share! This is a super simple recipe that my grandma made. She included it in a family cookbook just before she passed away a few years ago. It's a wonderful snack food or gift bread.

2 large eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup pumpkin (not pie filling)
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon pumkin pie spice -or- use this blend: 1-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice or cloves and 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I just eyeball it)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two large loaf pans (8 or 9 x 3).

Sift dry (except chocolate chips) ingredients together in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin, mixing well. Add the wet to the dry only mixing until the two are just combined without any streaks of flour in the batter. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Spoon the batter evenly between the loaf pans and bake 50-60 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean (streaked chocolate is okay).