Fall Comfort Foods

 To those of you who already understand what a rich, full market we can pull together in the fall, we thank you for your continued support of our markets into September and October.

But this week I want to address all of you who have turned away thinking that without corn or tomatoes or peaches, the market has nothing to offer you. We do indeed still have an abundance of great fruits and vegetables, and this is the season when cooking those good things in combination can produce many of my favorite foods. We call them comfort foods, but what does that mean?

When I think of comfort foods, I think first of the aromas that hit you when you come into a home where something full of flavor is on the stove or in the oven. The sauces and spices of fall remind me immediately of Nanna Mommy’s Applesauce Cake and Daddy’s Famous Spaghetti, or my other grandmother’s fried apples and freshly baked rolls.

I make applesauce every year. My house smells great for a week, and I don’t even add spices; it’s just the aroma from the apples cooked slowly in apple cider that wafts through the house and leaves it smelling like fall.

Next I think of those layers of flavors that you can rarely develop in a summer saute or or an ice cream dessert. In the fall, we can start with a mixture of finely chopped vegetables and then gradually add other flavors to build a complex dish that after an hour on the stove or in the oven can soothe any soul.

And while those slow-cooked meat dishes, such as a pork roast with winter veggies, beef stew or chicken pot pie, are the quintessential comfort foods, you do not need meat to make a lovely, slow-cooked stew with those same layers of flavor. That’s what beans and lentils are for — vegetarian comfort foods!

Comfort foods also taste better the next day — re-warming enhances those complex flavors and you can dine on a great vegetable soup, from minestrone to mulligatawny, all week long. Or freeze it and thaw it out later on a night when you don’t have the time or energy to cook. Being able to take a day to make a gigantic pot of chili or spaghetti sauce and know it will be in the freezer when you need it — now that’s comfort.

And last but not least, it’s the spices we use in the winter to heighten our senses that have been dulled by the outside cold and indoor heat. It’s the switch to dried spices that shout instead of whisper their flavors. It’s the chili powder and cumin and oregano, and curry and turmeric and coriander, and cinnamon and cloves and nutmeg. From appetizers like Sweet Potato Sticks to desserts like Applesauce Cake made from that homemade applesauce, the list is as long as your memory can conjure or your curiosity can carry you.

So get comfortable in your own kitchen and cook up a favorite recipe from your past or a new one from the market. Maybe you will have something to add to the definition.

See you at the market!

Jean

This Week at Our Reston Market
Wednesday 3:30–7pm
11890 Sunrise Valley Dr.
Map

Uncle Fred is back where he belongs on Wednesday afternoon — with us! He will have a full range of products and will also be accepting pre-orders if you want to be sure to get what you come for. Call him at (540) 313-2222.

Santa Cruz Produce will not be back until next week — they were hit hard by Irene and then Lee. But they are hoping to have some fall greens and other late summer produce to pick by then. In the meantime, Jose Montoya will be bringing more product than usual, and if he needs more space he will set up in Miguel’s spot. But wherever he is in the market, he should have more great late summer and early fall vegetables.

Fuji apples will appear for the first time at Tyson’s and will join the Galas, the Honey Crisp, Ginger Golds and others I can’t remember. It gets harder every week.

For those of you looking to decorate your yards or doorways this fall, Martin’s Angus Beef will bring cornstalks bundled in groups of three for your creative designs. They hope to have them for a few weeks, but if you want a number of them, be sure to let them know.

Betty’s Chips and Salsa will have chicken and cheese enchiladas again this week and, for the first time, authentic Honduran tamales with masa, pork and lovely, but not fiery, spices.

And be sure to check out the Smart Markets table for Annie’s recipes from last week and others that use the bountiful fall harvest in simple but delicious ways.

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