I love this time of year...the weather is crisp, football is on, and some of the tastiest veg is in season.  About this time, I like to get creative with some of my favorite fall flavors, and I like it best when I can use local and seasonal ingredients.  While some people find the stripey, colorful winter squash fabulous table decor and little else, I find them tasty, appropriate, and perfect for a dish like this.  

Oh, and if you're in Indy and you haven't tried Good the Market's new Smoking Goose products, put your shoes on right now and go get some...their stuff is the best I've tasted.

2 medium carnival or acorn squash 

3/4 c. wild rice, cooked 

2T. golden raisins 
1T. dried cranberries 
1/4 c. apple cider 

2 links garlic or Italian sausage  (I used locally smoked Smoking Goose Garlic Sausage)
1 c. diced onion
2/3 c. diced celery
1T. fresh thyme

4 T. slivered, toasted almonds 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds.  Sprinkle liberally with kosher salt and turn upside down in 1/2 inch of water in an oven-safe pan.  Bake 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Bring raisins, cranberries, and cider to a boil and then remove from heat.  Allow to stand while you cook the sausage and such in the next step. 

Meanwhile, remove sausage from casing and cook over medium-high until no longer pink.  Mix in onion and celery and sprinkle with kosher salt, then cook for about five minutes, or until veg starts to soften. Mix in the thyme and season liberally with black pepper.   

Mix fruit and cider into the sausage mixture, and cook for five minutes, or until liquid evaporates.

Stir together rice and sausage mixture.  Stuff this mixture into the squash halves and mound up.  Top each filled squash half with 1T. almonds and bake for 30 minutes.

 

Needing to use up a ton of Thai basil, I created this Asian "pesto" of sorts.  It's good warm, but we liked it even better at room temperature or slightly chilled.

 Asian "Pesto" with Noodles

1 c. dry roasted peanuts, plus additional for garnish

1 T. minced ginger

4 cloves garlic

2 fresh, ripe (e.g. red) cayenne peppers

2 c. (packed) thai basil

1/2 c. (packed) mint 

zest and juice of two limes 

1/3 - 1/2 c. soy sauce

2 - 3 T. fish sauce

1/2 c. canola oil

12 oz noodles of your choice (udon, soba, etc.)

 

In a food processor, chop first four ingredients into a fine mince.  Add herbs and, again, process well.  Add the zest and then, with the blade running, pour the juice, soy sauce, fish sauce, and finally oil through the chute.  Allow to run until the desired (for me, smooth) consistency is achieved.  Taste and adjust flavors as needed.

Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package and drain.  Return noodles to their pan and stir in pesto.  Serve in bowls with finely chopped peanuts as garnish.

If you have pressure cooker and love risotto, you have to try this...we were so skeptical, but it worked perfectly (and really did take 7 minutes + no stirring...)

http://www.examiner.com/x-21223-Indianapolis-Food-Examiner~y2010m1d13-Dinner-in-a-Hurry--PressureCooker-Risotto

 

After a (very) long hiatus for the holidays and such, I am back to writing and reviewing recipes.  Just in time for playoff time, here is a delicious, different, and wholly unexpected take on lamb (or beef) stew, courtesy of Jamie Oliver.

 http://www.examiner.com/x-21223-Indianapolis-Food-Examiner~y2010m1d11-Recipe-Review--Jamie-Olivers-Spiced-Lamb-Stew-with-Walnuts-and-Pomegranates

When I was a kid, I often asked (begged) to go out to the orchard west of town to get fresh apples and cider.  There is just something special about trees bought straight from the orchard.  Nevermind the cider...to this day it's one of the things I most look forward to about Fall food, and the grocery-store version is nothing compared to the orchard version. 

Now that I'm in charge of where I buy my food, I like to go one better:  I like to pick the apples myself from a local orchard.  Now, for all I know, I did pick apples as a kid, but I don't remember that.  I guess I'll have to ask my mom to find out.

Anyway, we stopped into Stuckey Farm this past Saturday and picked some Jonagold and Ida Reds.  Yum.  Yum.  Yum.  I keep meaning to cook them into a crumble or something, but they never make the pan.  (We keep eating them raw.)  Lucky for me, Eric is as much a fan as I...

If you live around Indy and don't frequent the orchards, you ought to check one out.  There are several, and I know there are some on the far west side, too.  Stuckey Farm is north (technically Sheridan) and is a few miles north of 32 on the Boone/Hamilton county line.

Oh, and one more thing:  the apples are all $0.65/lb. if you pick them yourself.  What a deal!

http://www.examiner.com/x-21223-Indianapolis-Food-Examiner~y2009m9d28-Local-Favorites--Apples-picked-straight-from-the-tree

Labor day called for cheeseburgers this year.  Since we have a newly opened Moody Meats on the northside at Michigan and 106th, I had to give it a try.

Yes, their meat is more expensive.  Yes, it's worth every penny...

We dressed ours up with homemade mayo, ketchup, and pickles, but these burgers would be good plain, too.

 http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-21223-Indianapolis-Food-Examiner~y2009m9d9-Test-Kitchen--Moody-Meats

For almost a year now, I’ve been making homemade pizza at least once a week.  I’ve made about every derivation that I can think of:  traditional Italian, BBQ chicken, BLT, smoked salmon, and now, this “Hoosier Pizza Pie.”  This one is fun, and it uses fresh, seasonal ingredients from in and around our house.  If you haven’t made homemade pizza in a while (or ever), you’ve got to try it.  It’s fun and so very tasty.  I taught one of my sisters to make the dough months ago, and now it’s a super fave in her house, too…(ask my brother in law…)

Here’s the recipe for the latest incarnation:  http://www.examiner.com/x-21223-Indianapolis-Food-Examiner~y2009m9d1-Dinner-tonight–homemade-pizza

I have now satisfied my curiosity about the necessity of seeding and peeling fresh tomatoes when making pureed tomato recipes – like tomato paste.  To be specific, it’s a BIG WASTE OF TIME, at least when you use the thin-skinned, home-grown romas that I have this year.  The whole process took hours, but it could not have been any easier…

I pulled out my 9qt French oven and filled it with cored and (very) roughly chopped tomatoes until it was about 3/4 full.  I had my husband fill the pan with water until it just covered to tomatoes (have you ever lifted a 9qt cast iron French oven filled with tomatoes and water?), brought it to a boil, then set it to simmer until reduced satisfactorily.  I did not time this, but I let it cook at least 8-10 hours.  At this point, it was very late, so I let it rest over night. 

The next morning, I brought it back to temperature and cooked for about 10 minutes, sterilized some jars, and packed it up.  We could not believe the intense tomato flavor – the result was phenomenonally better than the parts.  (Our romas this year are a bit wan and watery due to strange Midwest weather.)  I now think that leaving the skin, seeds and tomatoey goo resulted in this incredible result.  At least, that is going to be my story, as I will likely never peel tomatoes for something like this again…

My huge pot of tomatoes cooked down to about 2 c. of rich, thick tomato paste.  If you are overrun with romas like we are, you ought to try this…the store product is nothing compared to what you get for so little effort at home.

I love our organic garden, but I really hate powdery mildew. We’ve tried everything that we can find that is rated for organic gardening, but nothing really combats it effectively.

Our plants are still producing, but the garden looks terrible. It was so very beautiful just a month ago…

Oh well. We’re very happy to have the chemical-free food to eat, can, and share