Fall for Fall Food!

It’s that time of the year. Everything turns a wonderful shade of green then yellow and then orange and slowly fades into a darker shade of red and then brown.

Nothing says Autumn or Fall like warm colors and comfort food that make you want to stay inside the house after an afternoon of playing on a pile of orange Maple leaves.

Here are more reasons to fall in love with Fall: great food.

Comfort food never fails to ease not just the most trivial pangs but even the deepest of qualms.

Usually when we talk about Autumn, Pumpkin-based recipes are on the top of the list. But don’t let convention keep you from exploring the extensive flavors of Fall. Here are some recipes you can try out for yourself or with your loved ones.

Nothing warms an Autumnal tummy like a hearty soup. And since pumpkins are abundant this time of the year, why not make a spice-filled pumpkin and apple soup? This recipe adapted from The Family Kitchen will definitely put the “pump” in “pumpkin.”

Galina Mikhalishina from ShutterStock

PUMPKIN AND APPLE SOUP

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 apples, peeled and sliced
• ½ tsp salt
• 6 cups vegetable stock
• ⅔ cups applesauce
• ½ tsp ground pepper
• ½ tsp dried/ground sage
• ½ tsp dried thyme
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 cans pumpkin puree
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup heavy cream

In a large pot, saute the onions and apples with some olive oil until the onions become translucent. Add the vegetable stock, applesauce and spices. Bring to a (rolling) boil for about 5 minutes. Then, add the canned pumpkin and brown sugar and cook under medium heat for another 10-15 minutes. Use a hand-blender (or an actual blender) to blend the soup until it’s smooth. Add the cream and stir and bring to a low simmer under very low heat. Upon serving, you can garnish the soup with some pumpkin seeds and apple slices to add some texture.

Deborah Robertson from Red Online UK also posted a wonderfully hearty salad perfect for chilly autumn nights. And yes, believe it, salads ain’t just for warm summer days. You should try this bacon, apple, and blackberry salad.

BACON, APPLE, & BLACKBERRY SALAD

• 50 g blanched hazelnuts
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 8-10 strips bacon
• 1 apple
• 10 g butter
• 70 ml red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp honey
• 120 g blackberries
• 100 g baby spinach

Blanch the hazelnuts by baking them for about 7 minutes at 350’F. Once baked, chop the hazelnuts roughly. Then, in a pan, fry the bacon over medium heat until crisp. Once fried, settle the bacon on some kitchen paper to drain excess fat. Core and slice the apple lengthwise. In the same pan that you used for the bacon, add butter and saute the sliced apple over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes or until they’re golden brown. Set aside on a warm plate. In the same pan, put the vinegar and honey and let it simmer for about 30 seconds, then add the blackberries and stir, then set aside. Pour some olive oil on the spinach and sprinkle the bacon, fried apple slices, and baked hazelnuts. For the dressing, pour the warm blackberry concoction. This salad is best served warm.

Fall isn’t just for savory dishes and proven by domestic goddess Martha Stewart. With her recipe for pumpkin donut muffins, sweets will definitely be a part of your fall culinary repertoire.

PUMPKIN DONUT MUFFINS

For the muffins:

• 10 tbsp unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground/powdered ginger
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ⅓ cup buttermilk
• 1¼ cups pumpkin puree
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs

For the Cinnamon-Sugar coating:

• ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 2½ tsp cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350’F. In a bowl, combine all the dry ingredients together. In another bowl, mix together the canned pumpkin and buttermilk. In another bowl, cream the softened butter and brown sugar under medium speed until it turns light yellow and slightly fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly in between additions. Reduce your mixer speed to low and alternately add the dry ingredients and pumpkin mixture. Grease and flour your muffin tin and fill ‘em up with the awesome batter around two-thirds full. Bake the muffins for about 30 minutes. Once ready, take ‘em out of the muffin tin and let them cool completely. While waiting for the muffins to cool down, make the cinnamon-sugar coating by combining granulated sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Brush each muffin with some melted butter and roll them around the sugar-cinnamon mixture.

Whether you’re crafty or somewhat culinary (or neither of the two), we’re sure you’ll have tons of fun with friends and family this season by being brave enough to try at least of these ideas for Fall.