Warm up foods for the chill of October

Now's the time to bring the gorgeous Fall colors to the table. Also time to crank up the stove for heartwarming food. Farmers' markets are flooded with meats as critters fatten, and with produce as summer nightshades fade while winter squashes, potatoes, apples and pears roll in.  I like to save winter squashes and root vegetables for later when pickings get slim to concentrate right now on colorful season crossing recipes that ease the way to winter.  Here are a few old favorites.  Soul satisfying potato recipes to combat the chill coming in another post all by themselves.               
Beef stew in a pumpkin

   not my photo/can't find mine

There are many forms of beef stew, the French being the most famous, but this Greek version with baby onions and optionally raisins, seems best suited to being served in a pumpkin bowl because it's seasoned with familiar pumpkin spices. You can do it in one large pumpkin for the table, or in a small pumpkin for each individual serving. 
serves 6-8
  
3 lbs stew beef 
 Freshly ground black pepper 
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 c unsalted butter
2 1/2 lbs small onions (pearl, cippoline, whatever), peeled
6 oz tomato paste
1/3 c red wine  
 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
 1 tbsp brown sugar
 2 garlic cloves, minced
salt to your taste
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp whole cloves
1 sm cinnamon stick
Optional:1/4 c white raisins 
 2-3 tbsp olive oil
Chopped fresh flat leaf parsley for garnish

  Season the beef with freshly ground black pepper and ground cumin. In a large lidded skillet, over med/low heat melt the butter. Add beef and stir to coat with butter. Don't try to deeply brown it.   Arrange the onions over the beef. In a small bowl blend together the tomato paste, wine, vinegar, sugar, salt to your taste and garlic. Pour this over the meat. Insert the bay leaf, cinnamon stick and cloves.  Optionally add the raisins. Raise heat to bring the liquid to a boil, then immediately lower it to low and cover the pan. Simmer 90 minutes without stirring. 

After the meat has cooked about 75 minutes, heat oven to 375º.  Cut the top of the pumpkin/s and scoop out the pith and seeds.  Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Brush the interior flesh with olive oil. Place on a heavy baking sheet/s. Fill with the hot beef stew and bake at 375º 45  minutes or until pumpkin is soft (not too soft to collapse) and meat is tender.  Sprinkle chopped parsley around the top for color and serve.    

Caramelized onion and bacon pie

There are many versions of onion pie from Provencal's pizza like pissaladiere to Alsace's flammekuche and Greece's kremitopitha (onion pie). I concocted my own last week when I noticed onions I'd purchased earlier in summer were starting to look sad. This is however a moment when onions are cheap at farmers' markets, so a good time to make this. 
    I decided to use packaged fillo/phyllo instead of bothering to make a yeast pizza dough and it worked out easily and deliciously.  It works for brunch, lunch or a light supper beside a huge mixed salad. I think it's best served warm.
serves 4

 6-7 lg onions, peeled and sliced into thin disks  
1/2 c good quality olive oil (you may not need it all)
1 tsp balsamic vinegar 
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 oz pancetta, slab bacon or similar
2 tbsp Parmesan or asiago cheese finely grated
5 sheets country style (slightly thicker sheets) fillo/phyllo
1 tsp ground nutmeg

Generously over the bottom of a large flat, lidded sauté or frying pan with olive oil. Warm it up over medium heat.  Add the onions, stir to coat them with the oil, cook on medium heat 1 min, then reduce heat to low, cover the pan and slow cook the onions about 40 minutes until they are golden and caramelized. Stir in the vinegar, salt and pepper. 

While the onions slow cook,  fry the pancetta or bite size cubes of slab bacon on medium heat until uniformly brown, about five minutes. Do not cook them to the crisp burnt point as they are going to cook more in the pie. Remove the meat from any fat in the pan and drain on paper towels.

 Heat oven to 350º.

Lightly oil the bottom of an 8" pie plate. Unwrap the fillo sheets and fold four of them in half. Lay one in the oiled pie plate . Lightly brush the exposed side with olive oil. Lay a second sheet in the opposite direction and lightly brush the top with olive oil. (The sides are going to overhang the pan, which is going to come in handy.)  Place the third sheet at a 45º angle that covers one of the bare spots and lightly brush the top with olive oil. Add the fourth sheet over the opposite side to cover the bottom of the plate completely. Lightly brush the top with olive oil.  Now lay one whole sheet into the pan and lightly brush with olive oil.  

Lay the onions in the nest of dough and spread evenly around. Add the cooked bacon and gently blend it into the onions. Sprinkle the cheese evenly around the top. Now fold the overhanging sheets over the top of the pie, brushing each with olive oil as you go. You may have an open center, which is okay. No worries. Sprinkle the nutmeg evenly across the dough. Bake at 350º 20-25 minutes until the dough is evenly browned. 

Slide the pie onto a serving plate and cut in wedges to serve.   

Chicken with quince and cider 

not my photo alas

This is an old fashioned British recipe used to celebrate the arrival of Persian quince in the market.  It's also a different, uniquely autumn way to enjoy whole roast chicken.                   
serves 4
1 med  whole chicken, best quality
3 garlic cloves 
1/2 lemon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
2-3 tbsp unsalted butter
2  med/lg quince, seeded and quartered
2 c apple cider
  
Heat oven to 400º.
Trim excess fat and skin from the chicken.  
Peel, then slice the garlic into thinnest slivers. Insert them under the chicken skin in intervals as regular as you can make. Rub the chicken with the lemon, squeezing it as you go so the juice gets on the skin. Season with salt, freshly ground pepper and the paprika. 
  
 In a large heavy gauge casserole, melt the butter (enough to heavily coat the bottom) . Insert the chicken and lightly brown it all over, turning with tongs every 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and stuff it with all the quince you can fit in.  Return it to the casserole surrounded by whatever quince you couldn't fit inside. Pour the cider in.  Bring the cider to a bubbly simmer.   Cover the casserole and put it in the oven. Roast 1 hour at 400º.  Now remove the chicken from that casserole and put it on something flat and ovenproof and return to the oven to crisp the skin.  

While that happens, put the casserole juices in the same pot on the oven and cook over medium heat to reduce to a syrupy gravy you can serve with the roasted chicken.
   Mushroom leek risotto with Brussels sprouts  

not my photo

Fall is mushroom hunting season and this recipe, from my book Veggiyana, the Dharma of Cooking, which honors other seasonal sensations, leeks and Brussels sprouts, is an elegant and tasty way to enjoy them. Without grated cheese at the end and the use of flavorful olive oil instead of butter, it becomes a vegan dish.

Serves 4

¼ cup olive oil

3 lg. garlic cloves, peeled and minced

8 Brussels sprouts, washed and quartered, put in the lemon juice until ready to use

1 lg. leek, washed and diced

24 baby Shitake mushrooms, cleaned, stems removed and coarsely chopped

2 tbsp. sunflower seeds

1 tsp. celery seed

1 tsp. dried thyme leaves

1 tsp. dried oregano leaves

1 tbsp. dried sage

1 tsp. ground cumin

½ tsp. ground coriander

1/8 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. cracked black pepper

1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes or ground cayenne if you like it spicy

juice of 1 lemon

2 tsp. butter

1 ½ cups Arborio rice

1 qt. mushroom broth (it comes in a box at the supermarket)

2- 2 ½  cups vegetable broth or boiling water

¼ cup dry white wine

A small wedge of Parmesan cheese to grate for garnish

One lemon cut in wedges for garnish

½ cup chopped flat leaf Italian parsley for garnish

Bring the mushroom and vegetable broth or water to a boil in a large saucepan and keep it simmering as you work.  You can combine the broths, no problem.

Melt the butter over medium heat in a medium or small sauté pan. Toss in the mushroom caps and stems with a pinch of the sage and the sunflower seeds and brown to glistening. Turn off the heat. Stir in a pinch of salt.

In a medium or large heavy gauge casserole or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the garlic, black pepper, celery seed, thyme, cumin, coriander, oregano and ½ the sage and stir to blend, flavoring the oil. Add the leeks and stir-fry until they are soft and translucent, five minutes at most. Add the rice, half the Brussels sprouts and all red pepper flakes or cayenne. Stir to coat the rice and sprouts with all the flavors in the pan. Add more olive oil if necessary to keep the rice from sticking and continue stirring until the rice is hot, maybe three minutes.

Pour in the wine, stirring vigorously. Pour in one cup of the hot broth, and continue stirring vigorously to be sure it gets under the rice and sprouts.

As the liquid gets absorbed but you still see a little left, add more broth, one cup at a time, continually stirring. After the third cup, toss in the remaining Brussels sprouts. After the fifth cup add the lemon juice and remaining sage. Add the mushrooms and sunflower seeds by turning the entire contents of the sauté pan into the risotto. Continue stirring.

Add the salt with the sixth cup.  As the liquid evaporates, taste to see if the rice is soft and creamy yet and if the seasonings are to your taste. Adjust seasonings, especially salt, pepper and sage.  If more liquid is needed to finish the rice to a creamy texture, add another ½ cup of broth or water, still stirring.  Cook until the liquid has evaporated and turn off the heat. The rice should have an earthy color and soft consistency.  The cooking time to get here is around 45 minutes.

Let the risotto sit on the stove and steam to a finish for a few minutes.  Serve garnished with freshly grated Parmesan or any dry and salty cheese, lemon wedges and chopped fresh flat leaf Italian parsley.

Lamb with chickpeas, chestnuts and prunes 

This recipe comes from Azerbaijan where it's known as piti and treasured as the country's most beloved dish. The names derives from the Turkish word "bitdi"  meaning "end of festivities"  so it's celebratory.  Can't say whether it's soup or stew because everybody   has their own idea and own recipe. Sometimes the broth gets served as the soup first course, with the dried stew as the main dish. It's all usually accompanied by flatbread. This is just one version but the common trick to all of them is long, slow cooking. In Azerbaijan that's done in clay pots.
serves 6

1 c dried chickpeas
1 c dried chestnuts   
2 1/2 lb  boneless lamb, cut into chunks 
1 qt veg or beef broth or water
1 lg onion, peeled
10 pitted prunes   
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp ground cumin
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

 Overnight, soak the chickpeas and chestnuts, separately, in cold water.  
Heat the oven to  325º.    
In a large heavy gauge casserole, combine the lamb, soaked chickpeas, soaked chestnuts and onion. Add 1 qt broth or water.  Bring to a boil and cook 5 minutes skimming off any froth that arises.   Cover the pot and transfer to the oven. Bake at 325º 2 1/2 hours. Remove from oven to add the prunes, turmeric and cumin. Return the covered casserole to the oven and continue cooking another 30 minutes.  Remove from oven, remove cover and season now with salt and pepper. If you have ground sumac and like the flavor, stir some in. 
If you decide to serve the broth separately, salt the stew before serving and garnish with chopped flat leaf parsley or cilantro.

Cabbage stuffed cabbage  
This French recipe known as "chou farci Aristide" is a unique stuffed cabbage version in that individual leaves aren't rolled and stuffed.

not my photo

What happens here is the presentation looks like a whole cabbage and when it's cut turns out to be stuffed with cabbage--not meat or rice. A lovely vegetarian dish of subtle flavor. It takes a little finesse      but nothing very complicated or time consuming.  You have the option of serving it with a tomato sauce. 
   Serves 4
 1 1/2 lb round green cabbage
 6 tbsp unsalted butter
 1 med yellow onion, peeled and minced
 1 tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
 3 tbsp herbed bread crumbs
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp dried tarragon leaves
pinch of ground nutmeg 
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to your taste

Remove any rough or dirty outer leaves, then pick off five perfect leaves from the cabbage and set them aside. Slice, then chop the rest of the cabbage except for the core. In a heavy casserole melt the butter over medium heat (don't burn or brown it),then add the cabbage, stirring to coat it in the butter.    Over low heat cook the cabbage uncovered, stirring occasionally, 30 min or until it's very soft. Add the onion  and parsley to it. Continue to simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat to cool.  When it has cooled, add breadcrumbs, eggs, nutmeg and tarragon, salt and pepper. Mix well.  

Fill a large wide pot with more than enough water to over the cabbage, add a tbsp of salt and set it to boil. Cover a bowl close to the original size of the cabbage with a clean mesh or cotton cloth, preferably plain white, larger than it so the edges hang over.  Arrange those perfect cabbage leaves in the bowl, overlapping especially at the bottom and close to it to form a large cup tightly closed at the bottom. Spoon the cooked cabbage mixture in to the bowl. Now pull the overhanging cloth up around it and tie its ends as tightly as you can. You are trying to form a ball of cabbage leaves inside.  Drop this cloth ball into the boiling water. Reduce heat to lowest simmer and cook cabbage 1 hour. If you can turn it on the half hour so much the better. 

Unwrap the cabbage ball, drain it in a colander   and put it in a serving bowl. Now optionally cover with tomato sauce. Otherwise coat with a little melted butter. Cut in quarters with a sharp knife to serve.