Colorful Dinners without dreaded pumpkin spice

The end of October is orange time and pumpkin spice tsunami time. (It's been so overdone someone recently posted a cartoon ad for pumpkin spice motor oil.) The good news is we don't have to get gaudy or tacky to be colorful and flavorful. Opportunity is knocking down the door.

These nippy days are perfect for roasting fennel, braising red cabbage, baking sweet potatoes, even combining the last corn and tomatoes with the first butternut squash. It's time for a vibrant root vegetable stew or potpie, which I am making for company tomorrow night: parsnips, sweet potatoes, daikon, rutabaga, blue potatoes, purple onion, leeks, carrots, celeriac, turnips, ginger, coriander (ground cilantro root) and garlic. There's an exact recipe in Veggiyana, the Dharma of Cooking. It's healthy and nutritious to the moon, dramatic but so simple to prepare, gloriously colorful and tasty to boot. It's perpetually popular.

Now is also cranberry time, about time because these little red orbs are medicinal fireballs that burn away all sorts of messed in the body. And it's the fig's crowning moment too boot, so break out the prosciutto because the original combo was not melon and prosciutto and when you put these two together you'll taste why. For a breakfast treat or heartwarming ice cream topper, you can stew figs with anise seed and cloves. You can also cook them down into a most delicious fig butter for all your toast, and for crackers with goat cheese.

Braised red cabbage recipe is in How to Fix a Leek..... So is the easiest, tastiest cranberry preserve with walnuts and raisins. You can also throw a handful of fresh cranberries into your apple tarts and pies just as you can throw them into the pot when you are preparing apple sauce. The two fruits love each other.

Here fresh off the press is the English chef Nigel Slater's autumn suggestion:
Kale and Sweet Potato Bubble and Squeak
serves 2

Peel 2+ lbs of sweet potatoes and cut them into large pieces. Place them in a steamer basket or colander and steam over boiling water for about 30-40 minutes, until tender to the point of a knife. In a dry frying pan, toast ½ tsp of cumin seed and ½ tsp of chili flakes. Remove and mix them with ½ tsp of sweet, mild, ground paprika.  Lift the sweet potatoes out, tip them into a bowl (or the saucepan emptied of its water) and mash them thoroughly with a good 2 oz butter, some salt and a grinding of black pepper, and the toasted cumin, chili and paprika.

Remove the tough stalks from 1+ lb kale. Cook the kale for a minute or two in a saucepan with about 1" of water, covered by a lid. Drain and roughly chop. Fold the kale into the sweet potato. Pile into a dish, top with a few knobs of butter and bake at 350º for about 25 minutes until lightly crisped on the top.

Here's roasted fennel, Italian style:
serves the usual 4-6

4 medium fennel bulbs (about 2 1/2 lbs), cut off the tops and greens but save the fringe greens
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to your taste
1/4 c good quality olive oil
1/2 tsp fennel seed (use less anise seed as substitute) crushed if you can
3 garlic cloves, smashed
pinch red pepper flakes to your taste for heat
2 tsp rosemary
1/2 lb shredded mozzarella
1/4 c coarse bread crumbs
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese
2 tbsp chopped parsley and those fennel fronds you saved

Heat oven to 375º. Remove the fennel bulbs top tough exterior layer. Cut each crosswise (with the grain) into 1/2" disks. Bring a large pot of salty water to a boil. Add fennel and boil 1 minute to soften. Put in a bowl of cold water, drain and pat dry.  Season with salt and pepper to your taste. Use 1 tbsp of the olive oil to grease a baking dish and layer the fennel in it. It should end up 1 1/2" high.

In a small bowl, blend 3 tbsp olive oil, fennel seed, smashed garlic, red pepper flakes and 1 tsp rosemary. Drizzle 2 tbsp over the fennel with a pinch of salt. Sprinkle on 1 tsp rosemary leaves, then cover with mozzarella. Cover this with breadcrumbs, the remaining oil/garlic mixture and finally the parmesan on top.

Bake uncovered 20-25 minutes until browned. Garnish with the chopped parsley/fennel fronds and serve hot. Great with roast chicken or pork. If you are vegetarian, serve it with a mushroom leek risotto.

And finally a Mexican inspired stew of corn, squash and beans heated by chilies.
Serves 6


1/2 cup whole, skin-on almonds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 tbsp ancho chile powder
2 tsp dried Mexican oregano, crumbled
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small butternut squash (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled, halved, seeded, and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed well
1  28 oz can diced fire roasted tomatoes with juice
3 cups vegetable broth
1 cup corn kernels
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves, plus extra for garnish
Freshly ground black pepper to your taste
Sour cream for serving

Add the almonds, sesame seeds, chile powder, oregano, cumin, and measured salt to the bowl of a food processor and process to a fine meal. Set aside.
Warm the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until it begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and ground almond-spice mixture and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
Add squash, carrots, beans, tomatoes, and broth or water and bring to a boil, stirring to make sure the almond mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Lower the heat, partially cover the pan, and let the stew simmer, stirring occasionally, until the squash is very tender, about 30 to 40 minutes. If the stew threatens to dry out, add a bit more broth or water.

Add the corn and measured cilantro. Season with pepper and taste, adding more salt if needed. Continue to simmer until the corn is hot, about 5 minutes. Ladle into warmed serving bowls and add a dollop of sour cream with a sprinkling of cilantro leaves.