When most people think of October, they think of Halloween. I tend to think of squashes. October is a time to enjoy fall vegetables like acorn squash and pumpkins. I also get excited about the beginning of soup season. Many warm vegetable and lentil soups are prepared at our house during cold weather, and they’re as healthy as they are soothing. This meal combines all of my favorite fall foods, which means that I have also included pumpkin pie. How could I leave out one of the most ubiquitous (and delicious) American autumn desserts?
MAIN DISH
Root Vegetable Soup
INGREDIENTS
-2 Tbsp. red palm oil
-one yellow onion, roughly chopped
-two or three cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
-three or four Yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed and chopped into cubes
-two carrots, peeled and chopped into rounds
-three stalks celery, chopped
-two sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed and chopped
-one sprig fresh marjoram, leaves removed and chopped
-one dried bay leaf
-sea salt
DIRECTIONS
In a pot, warm palm oil over medium heat. Add onion, cook until halfway translucent, about five minutes. Add garlic, thyme, marjoram, and a little sea salt, and cook for a few more minutes. Add potatoes and a little salt, cook for a few more minutes; add carrots, and (surprise) cook for a few more minutes.
Add water to the pot, until the water is an inch or two above the vegetables, and add the celery and bay leaf. Turn up heat and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to medium high, simmer uncovered for about 45 minutes.
Once all the vegetables and herbs have cooked and given their flavor to the broth, taste and adjust seasoning. Serve hot with a piece of sprouted bread.
SIDE DISH
Baked Acorn Squash
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Place an acorn squash in a shallow baking dish. (Depending on its shape, sometimes the squash will stand on end, and sometimes you will have to lay it on its side.) Taking care with your fingers, stab the squash in a few places with a knife. Bake squash for about an hour, testing with a knife to see if it’s soft on the inside. If the squash needs longer than an hour to cook, the skin may blacken a little, but don’t worry: the flavor of the flesh will not be affected.
Slice squash in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds with a spoon. Serve squash skin side down, and have some butter and brown sugar (or maple syrup) on hand.
DESSERT
Pumpkin Pie
I got this pie crust recipe from my mother-in-law, and it’s also on the side of the large Jungle Shortening can from Jungle Products. This crust is perfectly flaky and has great flavor.
The filling recipe is from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook by Marion Cunningham. This is a great cookbook, and I prefer it over Joy of Cooking for baked goods like pies and other sweets. The first edition of Fannie Farmer was published over a hundred years ago, so they’ve had plenty of time to make refinements of recipes since then. This pie recipe reflects that quality.
PIE CRUST INGREDIENTS
-1 3/4 c. flour
-1/4 tsp. salt
-1/2 c. Jungle shortening
-1/4 c. cold water
PIE CRUST DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 450ºF. Using a paper towel, thinly coat the inside of a 9″ glass pie dish with Jungle Shortening, making sure to coat all surfaces.
Place flour, salt and shortening into a mixing bowl. Using a food processor, pastry cutter or two knives, blend until particles are no more than the size of a pea. Sprinkle just enough water over the particles to dampen, tossing until all the water is uniformly distributed. Press into a ball and chill.
Flour a rolling surface. Divide the ball into two parts, forming two new balls of dough. Roll out one ball to between 1/4″ and 1/8″ thick. If the dough splits, pinch it together. If the dough sticks to the board, loosen it carefully with a spatula and add more flour to the board. Fold the finished rough crust in half. Lift the crust carefully into the pie pan, placing the fold in the middle of the pan. Unfold the crust, loosely fitting it into the pie pan.
Trim the edges with a knife against the rim of the pie pan. Pinch the edge of the crust to make a crimped finished edge. Place a sheet of foil loosely over the crust and place a matching pie pan over the foil to gently weigh the foil down. Bake for 6 minutes at 450ºF. Remove the foil and bake for another 5-8 minutes or until golden brown. Cool, then fill.
PIE FILLING INGREDIENTS
-1 c. sugar
-1/2 tsp. salt
-1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
-1/2 tsp. ground ginger
-1/2 tsp. ground cloves
-1 1/2 c. canned unseasoned pumpkin, or make your own*
-1 1/2 c. evaporated milk
-1/2 c. milk
-2 eggs, slightly beaten
*To make your own pumpkin for the pie,there’s a shortcut so you don’t have to spend the time and energy to make pumpkin the traditional way. Get a sugar pie pumpkin, bake at 300ºF for about two hours, the let cool. Slice in half vertically, remove the seeds with a spoon, and peel skin off the flesh. Purée pumpkin flesh in a food processor or blender. This method yields slightly stringy pumpkin, but it’s hardly noticeable in the pie. Plus, the flavor is greatly improved over canned pumpkin.
PIE FILLING DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 425ºF. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat until smooth (I use my stand mixer). Pour filling into the prepared pie crust, bake for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to 300ºF and bake for about 45 more minutes or until filling is firm throughout.
Let pie cool, and serve with ice cream or freshly whipped cream. To make your own, combine heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla to taste in a bowl and beau with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form.
MUSIC
Album: José Gonzalez, In Our Nature
I love José Gonzalez. Granted, this album sounds very similar to his last one, but why mess with a good thing? I can’t listen to him all year long, Gonzalez’ music is best to me during the autumn and winter. It doesn’t snow where I live, but his music invokes feelings of being shut inside with a warm mug of tea and a fuzzy blanket.
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