A weekend in the kitchen

It is a well-known fact to anyone who knows Nate or me that our favorite season is fall and that one of our favorite places to be is our kitchen. One of the reasons we love fall so much is that it always inspires us to cook. We love the fall ingredients – rosemary, squash, apples, soups – you get the idea. We love the fall colors on tablecloths, placemats, candles, dinnerware, and baking dishes. We love the smell of fall – inside and out. So, we are both desperately trying to usher in the cooler weather here in Texas. This weekend, instead of a rain dance, we did what this branch of the Walters clan is good at – we cooked up a storm.

Recently we’ve been inspired by Cook’s Illustrated magazine, especially their newest issue, “Fall Entertaining.” Last Friday when our friend Catherine asked what we’d be doing this weekend, Nate and I responded with a smile, “We’ll be cooking.” First on our list was a recipe from the Cook’s Illustrated February 2008 issue (but it felt like a fall recipe to us) for French Onion Soup.
This recipe required that we make it a day or two in advance so the soup’s flavors could marry. Nate sliced four pounds of onions on Saturday morning and we started on the soup right after breakfast. According to the recipe, we had to reduce the onions in a Dutch oven in a 400-degree oven for two hours, stirring and deglazing at each hour mark. After that was complete, we deglazed again with dry sherry, and then three more times with water. Finally, we added chicken broth, beef broth, six fresh springs of thyme, a bay leaf, and salt and pepper. We let this simmer for 30 minutes, then fished out the herbs, and let it cool. All we had left was to wait until Sunday night when we could re-heat the soup, add our croutons (toasted baguette slices) and shredded Gruyere to the top, and enjoy.

Here are a few pictures of our weekend batch of French Onion Soup. It tasted absolutely delicious – earthy and rich. We plan never to order this soup in a restaurant again. This recipe was easy and satisfying. I think the only thing lacking was some company with whom we could have enjoyed it even more!

On Saturday night Nate made his favorite Martha Stewart recipe for sesame chicken and vegetables in acorn squash halves. To me, there is no other recipe that signifies the beginning of fall than this one. Nate made it for me the year we first started dating, and he always gets the itch to make it about one week after fall rolls around. It is a beautiful dish, with all the ingredients spilling out of the roasted acorn squash halves. It’s a recipe that made me love broccoli, most likely because of the ginger, garlic, and chile-infused marinade in which it and the snow peas and carrots are sautéed. The chicken is also marinated in the same way, and then lightly breaded with flour and white and black sesame seeds. As with most of Martha’s recipes, it is a little long on the ingredients and the preparation at first glance. But it really is easy, and Nate has certainly become a master at it. I know this dish will be an autumn staple in our household for years to come.

Nate and I shared the kitchen so I could prepare a dessert for the weekend – chocolate mousse, courtesy of the “Fall Entertaining” issue. I’d never made a mousse before, and while my first attempt tasted good (especially the next day), I think there are some techniques I can perfect. This is a good thing. Who doesn’t like the excuse of having to perfect dessert techniques, especially ones that involve chocolate?

I spent most of Sunday morning and early afternoon in the kitchen. I was armed with a giant box (thanks, Costco) of Chex cereal, Spanish peanuts, pretzels, spices, and Worcestershire sauce so I could whip up a batch of mouth-watering Chex mix. When this mix bakes, it automatically makes one think of fall!

I then started to prep my ingredients for a hearty meat lasagna, also found in the “Fall Entertaining” issue. I was drawn to this recipe for many reasons, 1) I always like to try something new and this recipe had some interesting ideas I’d never tried before, 2) I wanted to make something that would be satisfying in the end, and 3) I liked the idea that this could be prepared ahead of time and then baked on a weeknight, when Nate and I often have little time to make a good dinner.

With this lasagna, it was the first time I’d used a mixture of ground pork, veal and beef. After tasting it last night, I will always use this mixture of meat. It is much better and has less fat than my usual recipes with just ground beef. Also, I liked that this recipe used chopped fresh basil (we have two huge plants in our back yard, just waiting to be used) in the ricotta and parmesan cheese mixture. I was also interested to see how this lasagna would hold up since I used no-bake noodles for the first time. Just like Cook’s Illustrated said, they tasted much better than the rubbery cooked noodles I’ve used all my life. It took awhile to assemble the lasagna, which is why I made it on a Sunday; but it certainly was worth it last night when we got home from work and I was able to put it in the oven. Plus, it makes great leftovers!

Up next for fall cooking in the Walters house: testing recipes and planning our Thanksgiving Day feast!