Kale, Sausage, and White Bean Soup

A weekend of overindulging combined with the first chilly fall day inspired this soup. We had some sausage on hand and I wanted to eat some kale. This is super tasty and warming - great with some crust bread and butter. Feel free to scale down, this makes A LOT. (Lots of future lunches...)

Homemade Soft Pretzels

Each fall, Jamie and I throw a Sausage Fest down in Brooklyn Bridge Park. We invite all of our friends and grill up tons of sausages. Starting last year, I've also made fresh soft pretzels. They are so. good. Not as hard as you'd think to make, and people love them - big hit. They're glossy and brown on the outside and warm and soft on the inside. I made half of them just plain with salt, and the other half I played around with some flavors. Feel free to do your own thing, but the actual consensus was that the original salt were the favorites. 

Makes 16 pretzels (feel free to halve)

Ingredients:

3 cups warm water

2 packets active dry yeast

2 tbsp sugar

4 tsp kosher salt

9 cups white flour

1 stick butter, melted

1 1/3 cup baking soda

egg yolk

salt (big salt like Maldon or rock)

Roasted Butternut Squash Puree

This is so good! I couldn't stop "tasting" it to make sure it was seasoned correctly. Yum! Often butternut squash gets a sweet treatment with brown sugar or maple syrup, or the classic pairing with sage and brown butter. This pairing with roasted garlic, thyme, and a hint of spice is just awesome. Roasting everything gives a great, deep flavor. Can't wait to make it again!

Ingredients:

1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1" cubes

2 garlic cloves (skin on)

a few springs of thyme

pinch of smoked paprika

pinch of cayenne pepper

salt and pepper

olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1/4-1/2 cup whole milk, warm

Directions:

Roasted Acorn Squash with Spicy Maple Butter

When the weather gets cold, I love roasted acorn squash. It's so good roasted with just butter and brown sugar, but I played around with that mix a little last night. I made a compound butter with butter, maple syrup, cayenne, chili powder, and smoked paprika, and a few other spices. You could also use chipotle powder - anything really. It's so easy, and the squash is tender and flavorful. Great side dish.

Sous Vide Pork Chops with Hard Cider Glaze

I love pork chops and apple. Apple-stuffed might be my favorite, but this recipe is delicious and simpler. If you don't have a sous vide, you can just cook pork chops normally and finish with the glaze. They're really juicy and flavorful and a great fall dinner. I served them with Ina Garten's roasted cauliflower with pecorino and panko - a great side! (Taken from this recipe.)

Pumpkin Cheesecake

I have never been a big cheesecake person (unless it's like this). I don't think I've ever ordered it at a restaurant. It always seems too rich and heavy, and that says a lot coming from me. Pumpkin cheesecake is the exception to the rule. It's a hybrid of pumpkin pie and cheese cake; lighter than cheesecake and with warm, aromatic pumpkin pie spice. I got the recipe from Martha Stewart. My advice - drench the batter bowl in water before you can eat too much of it because it is fantastic.

Ingredients:

Crust

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (from about 6 full graham crackers)

1/4 cup sugar

4 tbsp melted unsalted butter

Pinch of salt

Coq a la Biere (Chicken Cooked in Beer)

I made this years ago when I was abroad in Paris but hadn't thought of it again until today. It's basically the same as coq au vin but with beer instead of red wine. It has such a great flavor and it a perfect fall or winter hearty dinner served over some buttered egg noodles. It also makes your house smell wonderful.

Apple Butter

We stopped at a farm stand and they had a bin full of bruised apples that were super cheap, so I thought it was a perfect time to make apple sauce. When we got back, I thought I'd try to make apple butter instead. It's basically apple sauce cooked down to a thick spread. It makes the entire house smell like apples and cinnamon and fall amazingness. I can't wait to spread it on toast or an English muffin tomorrow. Using a food mill makes it so you don't have to peel the apples, and adds extra flavor to the sauce. I also use cider instead of water for a more intense apple flavor.

Makes one small jar and 

Ingredients:

6 apples, cored 

2 cinnamon sticks

about 2 cups of apple cider

1/4 cup brown sugar

pinch of salt

1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

Halve the apples, slice and chop in half. Throw them in a heavy-bottomed pot and pour in enough apple cider to start coming up the sides. Throw in a pinch of salt and the cinnamon sticks. 

Leek and Potato Soup, with Kale and a Turnip

My mom always made leek and potato soup and served it with salad and buttery toasted pita. It's such a great dinner for a cold day. I wanted to make the usual soup, but I also picked up a turnip and a bunch of kale to change it up a little. I ended up making way more soup than necessary, so I'll be eating it for days. All of the ingredients cost $10. It's really tasty, and the kale gives it a nice green color (and some extra healthiness). Serve it with some pita toasted with butter and a salad.

Ingredients:
5 medium-sized potatoes (any kind you want), peeled and chopped into 1" cubes
3 large leeks, rinsed and thinly sliced
1 turnip, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
2 tbsp butter
1 bunch kale, rinsed and ripped into pieces

Pan-Seared Bass in a Cauliflower Faux Cream Sauce with Sauteed Tomatoes and Pine Nuts

As part of bass week, I was crazing something a little more creamy. I'd seen something about a cauliflower sauce and wanted to try it. I had a great fish the other day at Montmartre that had a cream sauce, so that was my inspiration (plus wanting to try a cauliflower sauce). It was delicious. Jamie loved the cauliflower sauce and wants to put it on everything. The best part is, it's actually pretty healthy. Certainly way healthier than any cream sauce. The cooked tomatoes give a little brightness and the pine nuts add a good texture.

Ingredients:

2 big single servings of bass

1 small head cauliflower, broken into florets

4 cloves roasted garlic

8 cherry tomatoes

1 tbsp pine nuts

olive oil

salt and pepper

Directions:

Pat dry and season the fish with salt and pepper. Put the cauliflower a pot and cover with water and add salt. Bring to a boil and cook until very tender, about 10 minutes.

Sunday Night Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables

Yesterday was a rainy Sunday and I was just really in the mood for a nice roast chicken. Roasting a chicken on top of root vegetables is always an easy 1-pot dinner, and I had some extra time, so I brined the chicken, too. (You don't need to brine a chicken if you buy a kosher chicken.) I think it added some flavor and made it juicier. This is a really nice Sunday dinner, hearty and with good flavors. Feel free to change the root veggies and do carrots or potatoes or butternut squash - whatever you like.

Ingredients:
1 4 lb chicken

Brine:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup salt
4 garlic cloves, crushed
tbsp black pepper corns
water

Apple Sauce

Right before Sandy struck, I pulled out the trusty food mill and decided to make some apple sauce. It just seemed good for stormy weather. I went to Gristedes, which was hopping and didn't have any carts or baskets, and piled lots of apples in my arms hoping they wouldn't tumble before I could check out. The apple sauce was so tasty, and the food mill makes it velvety and smooth. It's also really simple. It took about half an hour and it was way better than store bought. I went off the Cook's Illustrated basic apple sauce recipe; fool proof, really. Leaving the skin on while you cook gives it a lot more flavor.

Minestrone

On a cold fall day, what beats a big bowl of minestrone? I'm not talking Progresso. Homemade minestrone is hard to mess up, and sooo tasty and warm, and healthy! This make A LOT so feel free to cut back. (Probably enough for 8 people.) Cooking it with an old Pecorino rind gives the broth an amazing flavor, and topping it with a fresh dab of pesto gives it a little zip. I also like to grate a little Pecorino on top. I'm having two friends over tonight to help me with the leftovers. Mm mm mmm.

Ingredients:
1 qt chicken broth
2 tbsp olive oil
3 pieces turkey bacon (you can use pancetta, too), diced
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 large leek, rinsed and thinly sliced
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
2 large celery stalks, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 small zucchini, diced
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes and their juice
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Cider-Braised Pork Shoulder with Caramelized Onions

I wanted to use my braiser and saw this recipe on epicurious and thought it sounded perfect for fall! Plus, our friend Rob was coming over and he loves pork, so I wanted to make something pork-related. Since it takes about 3 hours to cook, I had to make it the day before so we could eat at the reasonable hour, which also helped for skimming the fat. It was really juicy and tasty, and I actually liked it even better the next day! I took the leftover pork and sauce and added a little extra cider and heated it up and shredded it. Yum! It was so rich and falltastic. It also makes me want to cook up an apple cider-based BBQ sauce.

Ingredients:
3-4 lb bone-in pork shoulder (I could only find boneless)
1 cup apple cider
5 yellow onions, halved lengthwise and sliced into 1/4" slices
4 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp chipotle power (I added this because I think cider and chipotle go really well together)