Tag archive for autumn

I’m really excited to share a little project Tina and I have been working on. It’s no surprise that we’re all about good food here—sometimes it’s fast and tasty, other times the recipes are better suited to a weekend meal. But never have we tackled a meal, a full range of dishes that you can pair together for a meal with family and friends, until now. That’s right, Tina and I got together and planned this meal to share with all of you. We prepped and cooked together, perhaps even danced around the kitchen a bit, despite an oven that blew up on us! We had some bites and bubbles in the garden, even using some of our bites to barter for oven space from a friend! Then we moved to the patio for a meal—warm in the late afternoon sun. And then we shared it all right here! I hope you will love what we’ve put together for you. Here is a little sample to get you started…

Simple and delicious, this meal comes together quickly, whether you prepare it in advance, or with a little help from friends on a leisurely afternoon. And with this handy PDF as a starting point, you could even share it around to friends as a shopping list for their contribution to the meal. However you put it together, I hope you’ll enjoy some good food with friends soon.
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Click here to download the PDF, Dinner with friends, and start the party…

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I come from a family of people who linger. I don’t need to share all of the details, but there is this epic story of my dad sipping a latte all the way from Vancouver proper up to Whistler. It is a bit of a drive and most people would have finished the drink in the walk between the coffee shop and the car. And while I won’t be found sipping up the last drops of coffee from my cup hours later, I’ll likely be lingering too long over something else.

One of my favorite places to linger has to be the kitchen. I know some people feel like the kitchen houses the equipment needed to prep a meal and once that is done, get out! At my house, the kitchen seems to be the focal point of the whole house. Throughout the day, many hours are spent in this room—we wake up there with cups of warm coffee and wrap up the evening there too, trying to fit in bits of conversation over the happy sounds of the boy playing close by. And when we’re enjoying a relaxing meal, it seems like the perfect time to bring out the artichokes.

Artichokes are really in season two times a year—spring and then again in the fall. Of course, these days it seems like one can find artichokes no matter what time of year. But I like finding them in season for better selection and price. More artichoke meals for my dollar, you know?

Don’t be fooled into thinking that bigger is always better. With artichokes, one must consider the pot size needed to cook these beauties. If the artichoke gets too big, it might almost require its own pot for cooking, which is not great when you are cooking for friends! And speaking of friends, that is where this recipe comes from.

For the better part of my life, artichokes have always been cooked in a pot of boiling water. It works well, but plan accordingly because it can take a while to cook a pot of artichokes. Then, a few years back, I stumbled over the idea of roasting artichokes. It might take even longer than the boiling routing, but the flavor that builds up is amazing. And talk about simple, just slide the pot into oven and wait for an hour or two.

But what about that day when you decide to make artichokes for lunch with friends? It’s a great idea, sitting around the table chatting and pulling leaves off of piles of artichokes. In that case, you’d better have a plan up your sleeve. And what’s where this gem of a recipe comes in. Feed a few or a crowd, this tasty preparation is sure to be a hit.

My “recipe” is a little loose because it is dependant on how many are eating, the size of the artichokes and what else will be served with the meal. With the large artichokes that are in season now, I usually plan on half an artichoke per person. It leaves room to serve a few other dishes alongside it. And don’t even think about substituting the butter out for olive oil or anything else. The browned butter that results is so very important to the flavor that developes in this dish.
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Braised artichokes

Artichokes, washed and trimmed

Butter

Chicken broth

White wine, optional

Fresh herbs, optional (I used a few sprigs of thyme, sage, rosemary and fennel)

To prepare the artichokes, slice in half, starting with the stem first. The artichokes will begin to darken as soon as they are cut, so work with one artichoke at a time. Scoop out the choke and some of the smallest leaves.

In a large pan, melt a generous pat of butter over medium-high heat and add the artichokes, cut side down. Allow to cook until beautifully golden and fragrant, about seven to 10 minutes. Don’t hesitate to add a little more butter if the pan looks dry. Add enough broth and wine, if using, to cover the bottom of the pan to about ½-inch deep. Nestle the herbs in the pan. Bring the liquid to a boil, then turn the heat down to medium and cover with a lid.

Allow to cook for about 20 minutes, checking to ensure there is enough cooking liquid at about the 10-minute mark. If not, add a little more liquid. Check for doneness by poking the heart with a knife, very gently of course! The knife should go in easily, much like a properly cooked potato.

Remove from heat and serve immediately. Garnish with dipping sauces as desired.

I just about cried when I realized that the frost got my garden the other night. I suppose one might say that I’ve grown a little too attached to my garden. And now that I think about it, it’s not so much the garden I was missing, it was my dahlias. Fall is the best time for the dahlias—the colors get more brilliant and the blooms are plentiful. In the cool fall air, the blooms out in the garden seem to last forever, usually right up until the end of October around here.  I hoped for one more sunny afternoon in the garden with a magazine and a drink under those happy plants. It’s always just “one more,” right? But there they were, gone just a few days into October. The only flowering plant that remains untouched is nestled up beside the house, still wildly vibrant in the crisp air.

It’s not just the garden—a little planted patch of land in the backyard. It’s the stillness of digging in the cool earth on a sunny morning, pulling weeds, gathering greens and other goodness that I’ve been nurturing. I think it transports me. It’s a quiet place to think amidst the swirl of my daily activities. I miss that when I’m not in the garden.

In the middle of all of this sadness about the end of another gardening season, I’ve been thinking about all that I love about the autumnal season. After all, I do have an extensive scarf collection that’s just waiting for the cool weather. I love turning on the oven for most evening meals, roasting, braising and baking warmth and deliciousness into the cold night. Sunny afternoon walks crunching through the falling leaves. Long evenings when it is a tough choice between a hot bath or a good book and a pot of tea. Not to mention how cozy my slippers feel right now.

Not everything in my garden has been frosted yet. Oddly enough, there is still plenty of basil that made it through the chilly nights. In my experience, that is usually the first thing to go, so at the first threat of frost, I was out in the garden collecting armloads of basil to make pesto. Silly me, I should have been picking flowers. Happily the mint and the strawberries are growing steadily in the cool weather. Turns out all is not lost, I can still enjoy some delicious Moroccan mint tea and handfuls of tiny strawberries.

So when the warm weather hit this past weekend, I decided not to delay any longer on that pitcher of sangria I’d been planning on all summer. The ingredients have been seasonally adjusted to include apples and cider as crisp and refreshing as an autumn afternoon. I’m hoping there are more glorious days of fall for you to enjoy this recipe!

Hard Cider Sangria

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1 small apple, quartered and thinly sliced

1 navel orange, quartered and thinly sliced

1 1/2 cups chilled apple juice

2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup brandy

1 22-oz. bottle of hard apple cider

In a pitcher, combine the sliced apples and oranges. Add the chilled apple juice, lemon juice and brandy. Allow the flavors to meld in the fridge, if time allows.

Just before serving, add the cider to the pitcher and stir to combine. Spoon some of the prepared fruit into tall glasses and fill with ice. Top with the apple cider mixture.

Turns out I may have spoken too soon about my oven. Just when I was telling you about how it was going to be my constant friend once autumn rolled around, it gave out on me. With a blinding flash of light and loud pop, perhaps even a hiss, the element blew out. Technically, I don’t know if that is the right way to describe it, but it is fair to say that my oven is broken. And talk about timing—this happened with dinner in the oven and on the eve of a special birthday I was intent on baking a cake for. Not to mention that I was hosting my favorite sister for a bit of a holiday. Anyway, with the help of a kind neighbor, dinner baked on, but the cake will have to wait for another day.

As it happens, on the day my oven exploded, I had been roasting tomatoes. My little garden plot is in its tomato-producing prime right now. The plants are resting heavily on their stakes and I try to help matters out by picking them frequently. I only have six plants, but I can pick 20 pounds of tomatoes without searching around too much. Tray after tray of tomatoes have been slow-roasted with olive oil, thyme and a thin sprinkle of sea salt, only to be stowed away in the freezer for a cold winter day. There really is no magic recipe here, just the simple equation of home-grown tomatoes mixed with a low heat oven for the better part of a day. The results are stunning—a rich intensity of flavor without the chewy sun-dried tomato texture. But with the oven explosion, I had to change things up—I’d have to dispatch with the tomatoes in some other way and turn my winter-hoarding attention on something else.

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Turns out I had been collecting some plums for the arrival of Tina, who is known by many for her great love of plums. Our farmers market carries several varieties of plums and I had been gathering a sampling of them all on the week leading up to Tina’s arrival. She only had one baking request for me, plum kuchen, and I didn’t want to dissappoint. Luckily I got that baked before the oven catastrophe, but I was left with more than a few plums in the aftermath. So, I turned to preserving and managed to put away a few jars.  I don’t really put too much effort into summertime canning—after some of my previous exuberant forays into jam making, I try to keep it to a handful of jars for whatever fruit I am working with. But the pretty jewel tones of the plums are hard to resist.

It’s kind of funny how one takes things for granted. Whether it is the constant of reliable appliances and conveniences or the certainty of family that I come to rely on, I suppose there is some good in being reminded of all that I have to appreciate. Like tonight when a certain someone replaced the faulty element in the oven for me—there’s a lot to be thankful for it. Now I’d better get back to baking that birthday cake!

It seems like just yesterday that I was whining about the weather and the super slow start to summer and here I am again whining about how quickly it has come and gone. Well just about gone. And it was only a couple of days ago I woke up and realized that September was sneaking up on me and I was entirely not ready for it.

I will admit to being a girl who prefers a climate with seasons. I like them all even the cold, rain and snowy ones, for me the change of season encourages transition and transition is a good thing. Whether we know it at the time or not. Changing seasons can also be a great motivator encouraging things to get done. And we have most certainly been busy around here if that is any signifier.

With the notion of change and preparing for the fall in mind I decided to start things off with some personal change, I scheduled a hair appointment for myself and for the first time in virtually my whole life I had bangs cut and followed that up by starting a detox. For those of you who know me, a detox, or jumping on the latest health craze is pretty much par for the course. In my mind two weeks of restricted food choices is a small price to pay for feeling better in the long run. Where the challenge came in was cooking food that met the restrictions of the detox and the needs of others who prefered to remain toxic. (kidding!) I found a number of yummy recipe like Korean Beef Wraps, Lemony Chickpea Stir-fry Recipe and tacos inspired by these guys and with a few modifications these were some of the recipes that kept us both pretty happy.

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But perhaps the most exciting part of my week was the day I got mail! Ahhh mail, it is such a joy to come home from work and find a little something unexpected in your post box. The anticipation of getting upstairs and ripping the envelope open or possibly delaying the gratification by leaving the envelope unopened on the table for a few hours is just so fun. Mail might be the greatest invention ever!

With all my fall prep work under way all I have left to do is to wrap my head around the idea of having to start wearing jackets.