Fall at the Farmer's Market

So, last weekend I went to the Farmer's Market on a windy but sunny (and hopefully unseasonably chilly) Saturday morning. I knew we were going to the Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival later that day, but I still could not resist all the beautiful squash I saw around the market. I had seen the Weeknight Kitchen recipe for "Fabulous Fall Roots Soup" by Lynne Rossetto Kasper of the Splendid Table earlier in the week, and had sought out a rutabaga at the grocery store so I would know what it looked like, and I was hopeful to find one at the market. Unfortunately, my search was in vain, but with all the other fall squash, I figured I could substitute out the "roots". I came home with three mystery squash, some apples, pears, goat cheese, bread, herbs, and probably some more stuff I don't remember. But, doesn't all of this look beautiful?!?

I ended up substituting the bright orange squash on the left for the rutabaga in the soup recipe (I also added one sweet potato and used heavy cream rather than crème fraîche). I did not roast the veggies first as suggested in the final tip, but definitely would like to do this next time:

Fabulous Fall Roots Soup

Excerpted from Sunday Soup: A Year's Worth of Mouthwatering, Easy-to-Make Recipes by Betty Rosbottom (Chronicle Books LLC). Copyright © 2008 by Betty Rosbottom.
Makes 8 servings

A trio of fall root vegetables — carrots, leeks, and a rutabaga — forms the savory foundation of this soup. Puréed and enriched with crème fraîche, this potage, with its velvety, smooth texture and glorious orange hue, is always a hit — whether it's a first course or the main attraction.

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

2-1/2 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts only (3 to 4 medium leeks)

1-1/2 pounds carrots, peeled and diced

1 medium rutabaga (1 to 1-1/2 pounds), peeled and diced

8 cups chicken stock

Kosher salt

1-1/4 cups crème fraîche

3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Heat butter in a large, heavy pot (with a lid) over medium-high heat. When melted and hot, add leeks, carrots, and rutabaga. Sauté vegetables until softened, for 10 minutes or longer. Add stock and bring mixture to a simmer. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until vegetables are very tender, for about 30 minutes.

2. Purée the soup in batches in a food processor, blender, or food mill, and return soup to the pot. (Or use an immersion blender to puree the soup in the pot.) Whisk in 3/4 cup of the crème fraîche. Taste soup and season with salt, as needed. (The soup can be prepared 2 days ahead. Cool, cover, and refrigerate. Reheat over medium heat.)

3. To serve, ladle soup into shallow soup bowls. Garnish each serving with a generous dollop of the remaining 1/2 cup crème fraîche and a sprinkling of parsley.

LYNNE'S TIPS • Rutabaga is an often overlooked root vegetable member of the cabbage family. Its pale yellow flesh is slightly sweet. Choose ones with smooth skin and firm flesh that are heavy for their size. • A sliced yam added to this soup would bring out a sweet touch and play well with the rutabaga. • This soup can be made ahead and its flavor will only improve. • When you have time, try roasting the vegetables before cooking them into a soup. Toss the chopped vegetables with a little olive oil, spread them out on a shallow pan and roast at 425 degrees F until they begin to soften and caramelize. Flavors will be more intense.

The soup turned out wonderfully, we've had 5 bowls of it already - and I still have over half of it in the freezer. I served it with warm cheese toasts (goat cheese once and sharp white cheddar the next time) and salad.

My new husband recently informed me of his love of Pumpkin Pie (his sweet way of asking me to cook something in particular), and so when we headed to the Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival last Saturday afternoon, I knew we'd be searching for pie pumpkins. We got two (a great deal, at a dollar apiece) - along with our Jackolantern - and brought them home.

I had looked at various pumpkin pie recipes on marthastewart.com, williams-sonoma.com, and epicurious.com. As an aside, I love epicurious, because not only can you create an account and save recipes to your own recipe box, but you can create folders to organize them. I have slowly been trying to move my favorites into folders on that site. Williams-Sonoma also offers the ability to save recipes (but not to organize them).

I settled on this pie recipe, knowing that MP loves pecan pie as well (hoping to kill two cravings with one stone!). I love Stephen Pyles' restaurant in Dallas, that is actually where we had dinner the night of our engagement, so I was happy to see this was from one of his books.

Pumpkin-Pecan Pie with Whiskey Butter Sauce
Epicurious April 1993
by Stephan Pyles
New Tastes from Texas

yield: Makes on 8-inch pie

This dessert was inspired by my good friend and great Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme. He prepares his with sweet potatoes, which are available year-round, and hence, give his version a longer seasonal shelf life than mine. If there's anything better than pumpkin pie or pecan pie, it's the two of them together. The whiskey butter adds a thoroughly Cajun twist to this sweet ending.

Ingredients

Pie Crust
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
3 to 4 tablespoons cold water

Pumpkin Filling
1 cup cooked pumpkin purée
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg, beaten until frothy
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground allspice
Pinch of ground nutmeg

Pecan Syrup
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
2 small eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
1 pinch ground cinnamon
3/4 cup pecan pieces

Whiskey Butter Sauce
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tablespoon very hot water
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup bourbon whiskey

Preparation

Pie Crust

Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the butter and incorporate with your fingertips until the mixture resembles very coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle the water over the flour mixture in tablespoon increments, stirring continuously with a fork. Form the dough into a ball and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Pumpkin Filling

Combine all the ingredients thoroughly in a medium bowl; set aside.

Pecan Syrup

Combine all the ingredients thoroughly in a medium bowl; set aside.

Assembly

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease an 8-inch springform cake pan.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface to 3/16 inch. Very lightly flour the top of the dough and fold it into quarters. Carefully place the dough in the greased cake pan. Press firmly in place and trim the edges. Chill for 15 minutes.

Spoon the Pumpkin Filling into the pan, spreading evenly to distribute. Gently pour the Pecan Syrup on top. Bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Cool and serve with Whiskey Butter Sauce.

Whiskey Butter Sauce

Melt the butter in the top of a double boiler set over gently simmering water.
Beat the sugar and egg in a small bowl until blended. Stir the egg mixture into the butter. Add the hot water and stir until the mixture coats the back of a spoon, about 7 minutes. Remove from the double boiler and let cool to room temperature. Stir in the cream and whiskey.

(My notes - I made the crust in a food processor, and it used more ice water than the reicpe calls for here. I didn't chill the crust for the additional 15 minutes after putting it in the pan. I also ended up cooking the pie for shortly over 2 hours. Finally, I left the butter sauce unattended when cooling, and the egg white cooked a little bit - next time, I will stir it as it cools too.)

This recipe may seem like it has a lot of steps, but really it was very easy. There's not much to to other than mix and measure. Besides, what else is there to do while the pie pumpkin cooks and cools?!? Which reminds me...to make the pumpkin puree, I cooked a whole medium sized pie pumpkin on a cookie sheet at 350 for an hour and a half. I then let it cool for about an hour and then cut it in half and scooped out the strings/seeds, then scooped the flesh into a food processor and pureed it. It yielded about 2 1/2 cups of puree.