Autumn

Everyone loves a good casserole, right? The key word here is good. We’ve all had goopy, unappetizing messes inflicted upon us in the name of casseroles, but that really should be the deviation — not the norm. I love casseroles — the good ones. In fact, I just spent a year writing an entire book with 225 recipes for modern, fresh casseroles. This recipe isn’t in the book, but it’s very much in the spirit of things.

Well, this is one way to make salad more exciting. How charming, right? And they’re really easy. You just need to remember to do one important thing.We saw this salad at The Novice Chef blog, where Jessica explains how to cut out the core and reassemble the pear (each slice ends up looking like a doughnut), so that you can eat the salad without having to maneuver around seeds.The key is to brush the pear slices with lemon juice to prevent browning.

What are you drinking on Valentine’s? (Or, for that matter, Chinese New Year, President’s Day, or Fat Tuesday?) A little later today we have a roundup for you of creative and delicious Valentine’s Day cocktails. But first, let’s consider breakfast. Why not start the day off with a spiked mocha? Here’s one recipe that looks so good; we’d love to curl up with a hot mug of mocha on this snowy weekend!

We mentioned yesterday that we’re slightly obsessed with Brussels sprouts This dish was totally inspired by the warm salad of Brussels sprouts leaves with fried capers and hazelnuts at Contigo, a great Spanish and Catalan restaurant in San Francisco. We had a very memorable meal there a few weeks ago, but it was this dish that took the top prize. Fresh, warm, and interesting.

We usually roast our butternut, acorn, and delicata squash. We like the flavor of winter squash roasted slowly in the oven. The only problem is that word: slow. It takes a while to roast a whole squash or two, so lately we’ve been turning to a familiar technique, used in a new way for squash. Braising.Braised or simmered squash is much quicker than roasting: it cooks in just a few minutes, and you’re left with the benefit of all that creamy sauce, too.

There are many desserts in the fall that beg for ice cream to accompany them. Apple pies. Peach crisps. Quince crumbles. Plum tortes, tarts, and clafoutis. They all need a little scoop of creaminess to complement the natural tartness of the fruit. And as much as we love good vanilla ice cream, there is really only one ice cream we now choose to go with all of these autumn desserts. Brown butter.Brown butter anything is heartstoppingly good, of course.

Have you ever had apple butter? Personally, we can’t get enough of it! Apple butter is applesauce that gets slowly cooked down until it becomes a thick, glossy, caramelized spread. So good on toast and swirled into ice cream. And here’s how to make it at home:Step 1: Choose ApplesThe best apples are the ones that taste good to you. We like apples that are tart and tangy, but you might prefer ones that are more sweet and mellow. Both are good!

My farm box delivered the most exquisite treasure a few weeks ago, the fairy tale-like Musquee de Provence Pumpkin. It’s been sitting on my dining room table and as much as I would love to keep it around for it’s voluptuous beauty, this pumpkin (which is technically a part of the squash family) is also quite delicious to eat.Read on for a favorite recipe!The flesh of the Musquee de Provence is deep orange and sweet.

Have you seen the latest irresistible recipe making the blog rounds? We’re speaking about plum crumble, a dish that Molly of Orangette just put on the menu at Delancey, and a dish that has a quite impressive lineage going back through Luisa Weiss and Marian Burros. But sources aside, this dish speaks for itself. It’s freaking fantastic.We love plums; they are one of our favorite fruits in late summer and early fall.

“Woah, Nelly.” That’s how Ree Drummond begins this recipe, and we have to agree! We took one look at this bacon-topped casserole of smoky beans and knew we’d be making it soon. Fortunately, with lots of weekend cookouts and football parties to attend, we didn’t have to look far for an excuse!

Knoblauchcremesuppe! Say that eight times fast. It’s actually a very simple thing, and it’s quite deserving of our soup of the day. Creamy garlic soup, an Austrian favorite.This soup is so simple and easy: just some onion and garlic, a little flour and a little milk. Toasted bread croutons and ta-da! Dinner. Sweet and simple.• Get the recipe: Knoblauchcremesuppe (garlic soup) at Dinner for OneHave a great soup recipe? Email us here if you have a recipe and photo to share.

Apples and bread pudding – what could be more well-suited? This is fall dessert at its most comforting. We made this chock-full of autumn flavors – toasted whole wheat bread, fresh picked apples, roasted walnuts, plump raisins. We poured cinnamon cream and eggs over top, baked, and drizzled real homemade Caramel Sauce on top of individual servings.Great for breakfast – we speak from experience! Click through for recipe and another pic.

Still thinking about what to serve on Halloween tomorrow? How about this? Dorie Greenspan calls it a “recipe in progress.” We call it yum…This dish certainly has a wow factor—a whole pumpkin stuffed with bread, cheese, garlic, and heavy cream, baked until creamy and bubbly. We frequently see small pumpkins that are stuffed and served individually, but with this one, everyone slices or digs in to the same big gourd.Dorie admits that the measurements are rough.

Remember the doce de abóboraWe love all manner of Indian sweets, many of which are made with milk. One of our favorite sweets is carrot halwa, an Indian dessert made with reduced milk and sugar (like dulce de leche) and shredded carrots. The Brazilian and Portugese pumpkin compote reminded us of that.We decided, impetuously, to experiment with adding milk (and a couple other things) to Patricia’s recipe for butternut squash compote.The results? Well, first of all, we were lucky.

We have a trustworthy method for making sweet and spicy acorn squash, but there’s one downside: it’s slow. So we perked up when we saw this alternate method from Alicia and Summer at Bread & Honey.They used a Martha Stewart recipe – such a simple formula, really – and sliced the acorn squash before baking. They dotted each slice with butter, brown sugar, salt and pepper, and then put them in the oven.

Dana’s post last week on cavalo nero kale reminded me that we’re in ribollita season. Ribollita is a simple, earthy Tuscan soup made from whatever vegetable scraps and stale bread is on hand, and is eaten in the fall and winter months.The word “ribollita” means “reboiled” and is used to refer to this soup because it requires a lot of cooking to get the right flavor and texture. It’s very hearty and filling, and keeps you warm in the winter.

Just as we were starting to lament the dwindling abundance of summer stone fruits at the farmers’ market, in marched a whole new array of fruits to inspire us. Asian pearsfresh dates Each fruit delights the tongue: a crisp juicy pear, crunchy young dates with hints of honey, and pomegranate seeds that burst in the mouth, sweet at first and then tart. A dressing of pomegranate juice, honey, ginger, and cinnamon ties them together.

These potatoes are a homestyle recipe – full of dairy and fat and other very, very good things. They are comfort food at its finest, with cubed potatoes boiled till just tender and then baked with all sorts of creamy cheese until soft and bubbling. They also come together faster than you might think, and they last for days in the fridge – if you can keep them around that long!

Here’s a fall flavored weekend dessert that can be assembled ahead of time and baked just before serving. It’s great for company as a finale to a homey fall meal. The earthy flavor of the sweet potatoes really comes through, pairing well with the spices and the caramely, nutty sauce. I made a batch and gave some to two sets of friends who heated it up in the microwave later. Everyone raved.

Columbus may have come searching for gold, but what he found was a wealth of new foods. Before Europeans arrived in the New World they had never tasted peppers, chocolate, tomatoes or the culinary gold of maize – staple of the Native American diet. Imagine Indian curries without peppers, pasta without tomatoes, or Paris without chocolate!This recipe is adapted from one that Gourmet ran last summer, with a tangy lime butter sauce over lightly cooked corn and herbs.