Fall: Recipes in Season

Apfelmus is your basic applesauce that is a typical German accompaniment to roast meats like schweinebraten. Jews of East European origin serve epl tsimes with latkes or use it to top blintzes. Applesauce is perfect as a dessert for children or babies as it is easily digested. It can also be used in many baking recipes to add moisture and cut down on the amount of fat. Read more »

Apple cake is popular throughout the United States, especially during the fall when the new apple harvest is coming in. This simple, moist, rich cake really hits the spot. Read more »

Atole (ah-TOH-lay) is an ancient Mexican beverage with origins in pre-Columbian times. Similar warm drinks, thickened with cornmeal, are found throughout Central America and are especially popular for breakfast. Mexican atole is traditional at dia de los muertos celebrations, and it's chocolate version, champurrado, is popular at Christmastime. The consistency of atole varies anywhere from almost porridge-like to a thin, pourable drink. Read more »

Kimchi, a strongly flavored and odoriferous pickle, is one of the bedrocks of Korean cuisine. Koreans have been salting vegetables in one form or another for over 1000 years as a way of preserving the harvest to last through the hard Korean winters. Late fall is kimchi-making season, or Kimjang, when great quantities of pickled vegetables are placed in large ceramic pots and buried in the ground to ferment. Read more »

Barmbrack is a tea bread popular in Ireland, especially around Halloween. It is best served toasted with a smear of butter and a cup of Irish tea. Read more »

Besan laddu or ladoo is a very easy sweet to make and is popular throughout India, especially at festivals and celebrations. It is said to be the favorite sweet of the elephant-headed Lord Ganesh. Read more »

Blaukraut, also known as rotkraut or rotkohl, is a popular German side dish. It is most often served with pork, sausages, goose, duck or game and a side of mashed potatoes or potato dumplings. In England, the same dish is called Suffolk red cabbage. Read more »

Bográcsgulyás (boh-GRACH goo-YAHSH), or goulash, is one of the classics of Hungarian cuisine. Variations of this basic dish are popular throughout Central Europe. Bogrács is Hungarian for "kettle", and gulyás was originally the word for "cowboy." Today goulash refers to both the herdsmen and the stew they first cooked in their kettles. Read more »

Boxty comes from the northern regions of Ireland and goes well with a breakfast of sausages, bacon and eggs or as a side dish to Irish stew. Read more »

Brasato al Chianti is great Tuscan cold-weather food and goes well with polenta or potato gnocchi. Brasato, Italian for "braised," can also be made with Barolo or any other Italian red wine. Read more »

Caramel apples are a traditional autumn treat in the United States, especially popular with children around Halloween. Fresh apples are impaled on wooden sticks and dipped in sticky, sweet caramel. The caramel-coated apples are often rolled in nuts or candies for the ultimate flourish. Read more »

Challah is the traditional bread that begins Sabbath meals in every observant Jewish home. These braided loaves are a symbol and reminder of the miraculous manna that fell from the heavens to feed the Israelites as they wandered in the desert. For Rosh Hashanah, a round challah is favored and symbolizes the cycle of the year. Read more »

Chicken pot pie is a hearty American wintertime dish that uses produce that is in season during the cold months of fall and winter. Classic recipes have the chicken stew encased entirely in flaky pastry. This simpler version uses a tasty biscuit topping instead. Read more »

Coq au vin is a classic winter dish from the Bourgogne region of France. Use a burgundy, Beaujolais, or any young, full-bodied red wine for this warming braised chicken dish. Read more »

Cornbread dressing is the only dressing there is for many Southerners. It's a favorite for Thanksgiving. The recipe below is a basic foundation for many variations. Each cook has his or her favorite version. Read more »

Cranberry sauce is an essential part of any American Thanksgiving meal. Many families serve it for Christmas dinner too. Some people have to have cranberry sauce in the shape of a tin can; others prefer this more naturalistic version. A less sweet cranberry sauce is served with game birds in northern Europe. Don't limit cranberry sauce to the holidays. Cranberries are a "superfruit" with amazing antioxidant qualities. Use as a side dish at summer picnics or as a spread on your favorite sandwich. Read more »

Empanadas are meat pies popular throughout the Latin world. They probably originated in Galicia in the northwest corner of Spain. Spanish settlers introduced empanadas to the New World, and they are a special favorite in Chile and Argentina. The variety of fillings for empanadas is endless and includes stewlike mixtures chicken, beef, ham and cheese, fish and seafood. Other fillings include spinach, peas, potatoes, pumpkin and beans. Read more »

Fabada, or fabada asturiana, is a rich, warming stew of beans and sausages that originated in the Asturia region on the northwest coast of Spain. Asturians enjoy it as a hearty midday meal. The essential ingredients are fabas, a type of large white bean, and two types of sausage — Spanish chorizo and morcillo, a blood sausage. Fabada is traditionally served with cornbread and sidra, a local hard apple cider. Read more »

Fesenjan, also known as khoresht-e fesenjan or fesenjoon, is special occasion food in Iran. It is traditionally made with duck or pheasant in the north of the country along the Caspian Sea. A thick, rich, sweet-sour dish, fesenjan improves in flavor if served the next day. Read more »

Gajar halwa, or carrot halva, is a favorite Indian dessert, a little like a pudding, with a beautiful color and a wonderful sweetness. It is popular at Diwali celebrations and at Indian wedding banquets, where it is often served paired with a scoop of rich vanilla ice cream. Read more »

Golabki (pronounced ga-WUMP-kee) means "little pigeons" in Polish and is a reference to their size and shape. These stuffed cabbage rolls simmered in a tomato sauce are popular throughout Eastern Europe. In Russia, where they are known as golubtsy. In Ukraine they are called holubtsi. Hungarians refer to them as töltött káposzta. Read more »

Hasenpfeffer is German for "hare-pepper," or peppered hare, and is a famous game dish in Germany. Serve it with spätzle dumplings or with boiled or mashed potatoes and blaukraut (braised red cabbage). Read more »

Lekach is a spiced honey cake that is especially popular for Rosh Hashanah when sweet dishes symbolize a sweet New Year on the Jewish calendar. Read more »

Locro is a nourishing potato-cheese soup that is popular in Ecuador and Peru. A soup with the same name is found in Argentina, but Argentine locro is a vegetable and meat stew. Read more »

Minestra di ceci is a simple and nourishing soup from the Tuscan region of Italy. It goes together quickly and is great for a rainy day. Serve it with a nice chunk of crusty bread for a full meal. Read more »

Pan de muerto, or "bread of the dead," is a sweet anise-scented bread served during Mexico's Días de los Muertos celebrations. The bread is offered up at temporary altars to relatives and friends who have passed away. Loaves are typically round and decorated with a knob of dough on top, representing a skull, and with bone-shaped pieces of dough around its perimeter. Pan de muerto is often sprinkled with colored sugar or glazed with orange juice. Read more »

Pavo, or turkey, is a popular Christmas meal in El Salvador. Salvadoran immigrants to the U.S. often serve it for Thanksgiving as well. The Salvadoran version of roast turkey has a variety of vegetables and spices that are roasted along with the turkey in the roasting pan. This tasty mixture is then pureed and served as a rich sauce to accompany the turkey. Cold leftover slices of turkey with a little sauce are served in sandwiches called pavo con pan. Read more »

As a French dessert, poires au vin rouge is a classic and a fine way to finish an autumn meal when pears are in season. Perfect after a dinner of venison, duck or goose. Read more »

Pollo alla cacciatora, or chicken cacciatore in English, is a simple dish that is popular not only in Italy but around the world. The word cacciatore means "hunter," and alla cacciatora means "hunter style." The ingredients vary wildly, but its essentials seem to be chicken, onions, tomatoes and wine. It is often made with rabbit, and many recipes call for mushrooms, both things an Italian hunter might come across in the woods. Read more »

The origins of Chile's porotos granados reach back into pre-Hispanic times. The basic ingredients — pumpkin, beans, corn and tomatoes — are all indigenous to the New World. Cranberry beans are the traditional choice, but you can substitute other beans. Read more »

Poule au Pot, literally "chicken in a pot," is typical Sunday dinner fare in the French countryside. A whole chicken is filled with a seasoned bread stuffing and gently poached along with vegetables in simmering broth. The broth is served as a soup to start the meal. The chicken and vegetables are then served as the main course along with the stuffing, which cooks up like a large dumpling and is sliced into rounds. Read more »

Like roast turkey and cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie is an essential part of any American Thanksgiving meal. Read more »

So central is turkey to American Thanksgiving holiday that that holiday is often referred to as Turkey Day. The two-step roasting method in this recipe produces a golden brown turkey with moist breast meat. Roasting the turkey breast-side down forces juices into the white meat of the breast that would otherwise dry out. Roast turkey is a also a traditional main course for an English Christmas dinner. Read more »

Known in variously in English as pomegranate molasses, pomegranate syrup and pomegranate concentrate, this ruby red syrup with its deep, luxurious flavor is popular in the cuisine of Iran. It is an indispensible ingredient in fesenjan, a famous Persian dish. Read more »

Sancocho is a nourishing stew popular throughout the Latin World, especially in the Caribbean and northern South America. It originated in Spain's Canary Islands where is is a simple and spicy fish and potato stew. Most New World versions contain a variety of root vegetables, meats and chicken. Sancocho is special occasion food, and families usually make large batches. Simmered slowly, the vegetables breakdown somewhat to thicken the stew. Read more »

Roast pork is a popular Sunday meal in Central Europe. In Germany, Schweinebraten is most often served with braised cabbage or sauerkraut, dumplings and a fine pilsener. In the Czech Republic this dish is known as vepřová pečeně. In Poland, it is called pieczeń wieprzowa. Read more »

These dumplings, also known as Semmelklöße, come from Bavaria. "Semmeln" is the German word for dinner rolls. Serve these dumplings as a side with roasts or pork chops and a sauce. Known as zsemlegombóc in Hungary and houskové knedlíky in the Czech Republic. Read more »

Spaghetti and meatballs has been a favorite of the Italian-American community since immigrants from southern Italy first arrived on U.S. shores early in the 20th century. Although the dish is no longer made in Puglia and Sicily, its popularity continues in the United States and has spread to the population at large. Read more »

Sufganiyot (singular: sufganiyah) are jelly or cream-filled donuts that are a traditional favorite for Hanukkah, when foods fried in oil are customary. Originally enjoyed by East European Jews, these sweet treats are now wildly popular in Israel for during the 8-day festival. Many gourmet versions are available. Read more »

Sweet coleslaw is a type of cabbage salad, or slaw, that is popular in the Midwestern section of the United States. This recipe comes directly from Chef Brad's father, Dan Harvey, in Macedonia, Iowa. Read more »

Torta di mele is a typical Tuscan dessert. Tuscans are known for finding all kinds of ways to use up leftover bread, and day-old bread is best for this recipe. Because this torte contains an egg custard, leftovers should be refrigerated. Read more »

Walnuts (noci) are a favorite of the Italians, and this simple, dense cake makes excellent use of their rich, round flavor. Serve with a capuccino or a hot cup of tea. Read more »

Wild rice is not a true rice, rather a type of grass seed that grows wild in the upper midwestern section of the United States and central Canada. Native Americans would harvest the grains from lakes and streams where the aquatic grass grew. Wild rice pilaf is the perfect accompaniment to duck, goose, and game meats. It is also an ideal addition to a Thanksgiving meal. Read more »