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2011 October

What One Cooks When It's Fall

Last Modified: 03/30/23
First Published: 11/05/11
Views: 600
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Views: 600

There has been quite a few recipes made lately, all of which can be placed in different categories. One thing these dishes all seem to have in common however is the theme of fall. We've had the pleasure of having beautiful fall weather basically up to now, however in some ways it doesn't much matter in terms of food does it? Because if it's cold and sunny, then soup, stews, bread and crumbles sound good, because it's fall, right! And if it's windy and pouring, then soups, stews, bread and crumbles sound even better, because it's fall, and cold too!

Well, there was an attempt to make vegetarian chili which turned out rather well, flavor wise. The thing with vegetarian chili is, I don't actually mind meat in my chili; well slow cooked meat always add tremendous flavor, and if you're talking authentic chili, then you definitely need meat. But when your fridge stares back at you empty and there is no chuck in sight, then I like the idea that you can make something that captures the essence of good chili (smokey adobo, heat, cumin, tomatoey goodness and heartiness) without having to make a trip to the store.

By using a few different types of legumes you can actually get a lot of structure and a good base. I used red lentils, lentils de puy and black beans which balanced out the dish nicely and didn't give the chili an overly strong "bean taste."

There has also been a few adventures in terms of bread baking, namely a banana chocolate yeast bread that could use some tweaking but which basically turned out well. I'm still trying to wake my sourdough to life after a long state of hibernation in a dry state. The sourdough is proving stubborn and apparently doesn't want to properly awake, but I haven't given up yet.

bread rising