With Thanksgiving over, the fall harvest season is in full swing. As October becomes November, and as the temperatures drop and the days get shorter, out come the crockpots and comfort food recipes of all kinds.
Should you want food ideas this autumn, your local library has a cornucopia of cookbooks to help.
Autumn Gatherings: Casual Food to Enjoy with Family and Friends by Rick Rodgers is filled with mouth-watering recipes for appetizers, soups and salads, main courses, side dishes and desserts; most of these are featured with sidebars about key ingredients such as apples, yams, pumpkins, pomegranates, Brussels sprouts, cardoons and cranberries. Some of the more interesting desserts include Concord Grape Pie, Apple
Kuchen (German cake) and Grandma Edith’s Persimmon Cookies.
Doing some baking this fall? Try The Cook’s Encyclopedia of Bread by Christine Ingram and Jennie Shapter for something completely different. Bread, part of a multi-volume series on various food topics, features an introductory chapter on the history of bread making as well as a section on “Breads of the World.” The last chapter features more than 150 recipes, including those on breads from France, the U.K., Scandinavia and India.
Aspiring artisan bakers can try their hands at making Irish Soda Bread, Cornish Saffron Bread, Pain aux Noix, Ciabatta, Focaccia, Pretzels, Georgian Khachapuri, Bagels, Cornbread or Red Lentil Dosas.
There is nothing like Quebec in the fall, with its multi-coloured leaves and crisp winds. Made in Quebec: A Culinary Journey by Montreal Gazette columnist Julian Armstrong is lavishly illustrated and includes sumptuous recipes from all four seasons, those from autumn being the heartiest. For starters, there is the rich Soupe aux Gourganes (Gourgane Bean Soup) from the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region. Then you can try the Gaspé-style
Salt Cod Potato and Onion Casserole as an entrée. Another main course idea is the Émincé de Volaille aux Pommes (Chicken with Apples) from Rougemont in the Eastern Townships. As a dessert finale, the Tarte epicee aux Oeufs (Spiced Custard Tart), with its nutmeg and orange flavours, is perfect. Made in Quebec also has profiles on local chefs as well as on topics including cod fishing, foraging, mushroom picking and beer-making.
Eat Feed Autumn Winter: 30 Ways to Celebrate When the Mercury Drops by Anne Bramley focusses on gourmet food for social and festive occasions. Autumn entertaining could include a menu featuring a carrot salad, Welsh rarebit as an entrée, and maple apple tartlets for dessert or an orchard buffet featuring pork chops with apples and brandy, wild rice pilaf with cherries and pecans, and Poire William ice cream. Feasts for all the festive occasions, Thanksgiving, Guy Fawkes Day and Halloween are all included as well.
In many people’s minds, two words signify the flavours of fall: pumpkin spice — and not just in lattes. Recipes featuring this flavour are abundant in Stephanie Pedersen’s pocket-sized Pumpkin Spice Cookbook: Delicious Recipes for Sweets, Treats and Other Autumnal Delights. Make pumpkin-spiced beverages, appetizers, desserts and whole meals as well as condiments and a variety of pumpkin spice blends easily by following fairly simple and straightforward recipes. Standouts include the Sweet Potato Fritters, Spice Apple Cheesecake, Pumpkin Sloppy Joes, Afghani-Style Sweet Stew, Healthy Winter Gratin and Spicy Ketchup. Clearly, all of these are light years away from muffins and lattes.
Finally, you can wash all of this down with Drink the Harvest: Making and Preserving Juices, Wines, Meads, Teas and Ciders by Nan K. Chase and DeNeice C. Guest. This book first gives tips on juicing and canning basics as well as harvesting and preparation. Then readers can learn how to make a wide variety of fruit and vegetable juices and ciders, herbal and fruit wines and meads, fruit syrups and teas. The tea section includes tips for making the very trendy kombucha tea.
Check these and others out from your local library — and bon appetit!
A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published on Wednesdays. Vanessa Colantonio works at Coquitlam Public Library.
