Fall is in the air

And with fall a whole new spectrum of tasty meals that revolve around soups, stews, pumpkin, squash, hearty greens like kale, beets, apples, pears, cranberries - joy. At this Thanksgiving (Canadian that is), we tried out a whole slew of new recipes. Most if not all were ecstatically received! My particular favorite was Richard Blaise's (YES TOP CHEF) carrot osso bucco with creamy polenta. The rest of the table swooned over the parmesan roasted butternut squash, kale, and brussels sprouts from the little yellow kitchen blog.

Thanksgiving Day walk

I did a bit of modifying on the carrot osso bucco once I realized I would be making mushroom stock from scratch. (DO THIS IN ADVANCE!) As it turned out, the mushroom stock recipe that I made had me strain out the mushrooms, which I did. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to save or discard the mushrooms, but they were still jam-packed with flavor so I simply stirred them through the carrot osso bucco once it was finished and they were marvelous! I actually can't imagine serving this recipe without cooked mushrooms.

Carrot osso bucco (made with home-grown carrots)

 The only comment I would make about the recipe is when I used masala curry powder, I found the clove factor a bit overpowering. If I made the recipe again, I would reduce the curry powder, maybe 3/4 of the amount and add at least 1- 2 Tbs. worchesthire sauce (this of course, unvegetarianizes the recipe but for us pescatarians, not an issue). The upside of this recipe is that it necessitates a trip to a gourmet kitchen store/food store to buy porcini powder!  Isn't that fancy? I was fascinated to see that french porcini powder was at least one and a half times the cost of italian procini powder. Who knew?

Parmesan roasted butternut squash, kale, and brussel sprouts

Coffee cream delight (The Grit cookbook)

Carrot Osso Bucco.

Use the recipe carrot osso bucco. I doubled it to serve 5 with leftovers.  Changes - decrease masala curry powder to 1 1/2 tsp for a doubled recipe and add 3-4 Tbs Worcestershire sauce. Try adding 1 1/2 Tbs dried porcini powder to start and after braising or 1 hour and 15 minutes, if the vegetables are tender, strain all the liquid out and reserve. Place the carrots and onions in a casserole dish and combine with mushrooms from stock (these should be warm/hot). Then reduce the braising liquid on the stove. Once the sauce is the desired thickness add salt and pepper to taste with more porcini powder if needed. Pour sauce over vegetables and serve with creamy polenta.

Mushroom Stock. Use the recipe, but replace the white wine with water or a low sodium vegetable  broth. Add 1/2 tsp thyme - 1 tsp thyme and 1/4 - 1/2 c. freshly chopped parsley.

Creamy Polenta:  I used this recipe - can reduce half-and half or replace with milk. Also add another 1/2 - 1 c. of water at the end to make polenta less thick as needed. Reduce butter to 2 Tbs. You can leave out the butter and parmesan if desired. (I made exactly the amount in the recipe).

Parmesan Roasted Brussels, Butternut Squash and Kale. I doubled the amount of brussels (approx 25-30) and used 2 bunches of kale (perhaps 8 c. chopped?). I also prepared the vegetables separately. To do this, I doubled the seasonings and then used roughly a third for each vegetable. The squash was tossed with seasonings and roasted for about 40 minutes without broiling. About 10 minutes before the squash was expected to finish, I sauteed the kale in a bit of oil briefly, added 1/4 c. of water, covered and steamed briefly - 4-5 minutes - check for burning and removed the lid to finish cooking, stirring through the seasoning and crisping up in the skillet. With the brussels I tried a similar method but wasn't at pleased. They could be roasted for about 20 minutes after tossing with seasoning (time with expected end time for squash) - this would be easiest. Or you could steam them for 3-5 minutes, roll them in seasoning and saute another 3-5 minutes just until tender. DO NOT OVERCOOK THEM.

We also cooked a favorite - kale mashed potatoes from epicurious!

Lastly for our dessert, I turned to the Grit for a coffee cream delight tart that was smooth, silky, a hint of coffee and a hint of chocolate. Perfect alongside a cup of strong coffee.