It's fall, right? Right? It sure feels like fall. And there are Michigan apples at the produce market, so it must be fall.
Fall is my favorite weather for cooking and eating, hands-down. Sure, I like spring strawberries and spring asparagus and spring lamb, summer stone fruit, and winter citrus. But right now... let's see.
Grapes-- real, purple Concord grapes. Pomegranates. Apples that haven't been on the shelf for fourteen months. Soon there ought to be delicious soft Hachiya persimmons. Butternut squash. Chestnuts. Fresh pumpkin.
And redcurrants. After the success of my earlier use of poached blackcurrants this summer, I decided to do something with the two baskets of beautiful jewel-like redcurrants other than "Oh, I guess I'll make a sauce for pork tenderloin... except we don't eat pork tenderloin. Oops." Nope, I poached them up, this time with a little water instead of orange juice, and about twice the sugar, and I added some vanilla after I took it off the stove. The idea was to get something closer to the fruit component of summer pudding than it was to have a super-tart complement to a very sweet custard. It came out less complex than summer pudding, as I only used one fruit, but it's very nice spooned over Greek yogurt or tapioca pudding... and I bet it would be awesome with vanilla gelato. Too bad I only have chocolate...
Fall is my favorite weather for cooking and eating, hands-down. Sure, I like spring strawberries and spring asparagus and spring lamb, summer stone fruit, and winter citrus. But right now... let's see.
Grapes-- real, purple Concord grapes. Pomegranates. Apples that haven't been on the shelf for fourteen months. Soon there ought to be delicious soft Hachiya persimmons. Butternut squash. Chestnuts. Fresh pumpkin.
And redcurrants. After the success of my earlier use of poached blackcurrants this summer, I decided to do something with the two baskets of beautiful jewel-like redcurrants other than "Oh, I guess I'll make a sauce for pork tenderloin... except we don't eat pork tenderloin. Oops." Nope, I poached them up, this time with a little water instead of orange juice, and about twice the sugar, and I added some vanilla after I took it off the stove. The idea was to get something closer to the fruit component of summer pudding than it was to have a super-tart complement to a very sweet custard. It came out less complex than summer pudding, as I only used one fruit, but it's very nice spooned over Greek yogurt or tapioca pudding... and I bet it would be awesome with vanilla gelato. Too bad I only have chocolate...