Easy Fall Recipes

The cooler weather encourages heart- and stomach-warming dishes. These are some of my favourite recipes to make the most of seasonal fruit and vegetables

 

I’m really feeling the change of season now. It’s not winter yet, but fall has well and truly asserted itself. I love wintery food. As a chef, I preferred my time cooking rich, hearty dishes in the Chamonix chalets to the fresh summer foods on the Med. So now that the temperature is dropping, I’m going through my recipes and starting to fantasize about what I’ll be cooking up.

 

At the moment, farmers markets have a plethora of local apples, pears and pumpkins. With that in mind, here are three of my favourite autumnal recipes that, coincidentally, make an easy (i.e., you can do a lot in advance) three-course meal.

 

Round 1: Pumpkin and Parmesan soup

Ingredients:

1 tbsp butter

4 lbs ripe pumpkin (peeled and chopped)

3/4 cup Parmesan cheese (grated) 

5 cups of good chicken stock (or veggie if you prefer)

3 tbsp of thick cream

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

 

Directions:

Melt the butter in a large pot over a medium heat, add the pumpkin and turn up the heat. In a separate pot, heat up the stock. Cook the pumpkin until it is completely soft, and then add the Parmesan and the hot stock. Simmer for 10 minutes. Cool slightly and blend in a food processor. Pass the soup back into the pot through a sieve. Stir in the cream. Bring to a boil, season and serve.

 

N.B. Parmesan (and chicken stock) are quite salty so don’t add extra salt until the very end.

 

Round 2: Pork with ginger-apple sauce

Ingredients:

1 pork tenderloin

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp sesame oil

Juice of ½ a lemon

3 tbsp water

1-2 apples (peeled and sliced)

1/2-1 ginger bulb, sliced in large pieces

 

Directions:

Place the first six ingredients in a dish (or bag) and leave to marinate over night (or do it in the morning and leave it while you’re at work). When you’re ready to cook it, preheat your oven to 180° C. Place the sliced apple in the bottom of a roasting dish. Cover with the ginger and place the pork on top (including the marinade). The apples will become infused with the ginger, marinade and pork juices. Roast the pork until it’s cooked to your satisfaction; I like mine pinkish, around 20–30 minutes.

 

Once cooked, take the pork out of the dish and set aside. Remove the ginger and mash the infused apple into a delish apple-ginger-soy-sesame sauce. Serve with seasonal vegetables (I’d suggest a mash, pan-fried wild mushrooms and some peppers for colour).

 

N.B. There is some debate in our house as to whether the sauce is better as describe above or if you chop the ginger finely and leave it in for more gingeriness.

 

Round 3: Poached pears in red wine with star anise

Ingredients:

1 bottle red wine (I also like poached pears in port, but mainly for the alliteration)

1 cup sugar

4 pears (any variety, peeled and halved lengthwise)

1 tsp black peppercorns

1 cinnamon stick

3 stars of anise

1 bay leaf

1 tsp juniper berries (optional)

 

Directions:

Boil the wine and sugar in a large pot for 5 minutes before adding the pears and spices. Reduce to a simmer. Cover the pot and cook for 30 minutes (the pears should be very tender at this point). Leave to cool a little and serve with some of the syrup and a good vanilla ice cream.

 

N.B. You can eat these hot or cold. I like to eat them while they’re still warm enough to melt the ice cream.

 

I’m always on the look out for new recipes. Jot yours down in the comment section below.