Welcome, Fall Flavors!
Of all the seasonal foods of the year, fall flavors are my favorite! So, when a client asked us to cater an in-home party on the first weekend of fall this year, my thoughts went immediately to two of the colorful, flavorful harbingers of autumn: sweet potatoes and squash!
Sweet Potato Canapes
Sweet potatoes led off the evening, starring in the eponymous first hors d’oeuvre of the cocktail hour: Sweet Potato Canapes. As complex as they were in flavor and texture, they were surprisingly simple to make.
First, our team used mandolins to prepare uniform little slices of sweet potato. Easy enough. These went into the oven to bake so they could form the foundation on which the rest of the hors d’oeuvre would be built. We wanted to add the crunch of a fresh bosc pear, but how do you keep it from falling off the sweet potato slice? A little dab of honey worked perfectly as a tasty glue! Now, that’s a fair amount of sweet in one bite, so we knew we needed something savory to balance it all out. We pulled out our food processor and whipped up a batch of fresh hummus—creamy, lemony, garlicky, cumin-y (OK, that’s not really a word, but you get the idea), and we piped it out on top of the pear. Then, to finish the whole thing off, we topped it with a spicy candied whole pecan. The flavor-and-texture explosion was amazing: sweet, spicy, bright, soft, creamy, crunchy . . . and even vegan. WOW! It started off as an experiment, but based on the reactions of the diners, we’ll definitely be serving up this tasty little fall hors d’oeuvre again and again!
Butternut Squash and Apple Bisque
Once the guests sat down at their tables, two kinds of squash made an appearance in the meal. The first was in the soup—a butternut squash and apple bisque.
We started with a mirepoix, like so many great soups, though in place of the onions we substituted the gentler flavor of leeks. Fresh butternut squash was the star of the show, of course—oven roasted, with just a touch of fresh sage, to concentrate and deepen the flavor before it took the plunge into the soup pot, joined by some delightfully tart Granny Smith apples. A dash of white pepper provided just the hint of warmth the soup needed to balance the sweetness of some locally produced maple syrup. A sprinkle of toasted pepitos floating on top added some crunch, and a tiny splash of cream gave the bisque a rich, silky finish. As a little salute to the Halloween season, we garnished each bowl with a floating spider web of crème fraiche—which we made from scratch over the previous three days because … well, that’s just how we do things! Yum.
Roasted Delicata Squash
The other squash of the evening was intended as a simple accompaniment, but for many of the guests its flavor stole the show! I love delicata squash—with its colorful, edible rind and its sweet, nutty flesh. I have to admit: When it came time for the main course, all my focus was on the Cornish game hens that we had been marinating since the day before and then carefully roasting to golden crispiness in our client’s wonderful convection oven (a treat we don’t often get to work with!); the squash wasn’t asking for a lot of my attention. We gave it a simple treatment: a little brush of butter and a sprinkle of salt and pepper, letting it roast until its soft flesh was ready to become the vessel for presenting a serving of Israeli couscous that we had laced with chopped dates and toasted pecans. Now, to be sure, the game hens did not disappoint! But when the meal was finished, I can’t tell you how many of the dinner guests commented, “What was that squash? It was amazing!” I agree, it was delicious—but I can’t take much credit: that was mostly Mother Nature’s doing! This beautiful squash never disappoints, even if you don’t give it much effort. If you’ve never tasted it, give yourself a treat and pick one up in the produce department on your next trip to the grocery store. Or better yet, at the farmers’ market. Or better still: Let me pick it up for you when I come to cook in your kitchen!
Many thanks to our delightful client, who gave us the freedom to design a menu that celebrated the season, turning his gathering into a festival of fall flavors! What a great kickoff to the tastiest season of the year!
