Autumn recipe dump.
AUTUMN PUMPKIN SOUP
Ingredients:
1 whole sugar pumpkin, peeled & cubed
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
Several slices fresh ginger root
1 apple, cored, peeled & cubed (I used golden delicious)
3 cups chicken stock (or veggie)
2 teaspoons allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup cooking sherry
Mascarpone cheese
Heavy cream
Carmelize the onion (or, start the while you're finishing up preparing the pumpkin, which I did). Add the ginger, and add oil as needed; give the pumpkin a little sear over medium-high heat until the edges begin to brown. Deglaze the pan a couple of times with the sherry. (I had to do two batches). Put pumpkin, ginger, onion, and apple into the crock pot. Add enough stock just to cover, add spices and stir.
Cook on high for 2-3 hours. The pumpkin should be soft through (you should be able to easily mash it into pulp with a spoon). Blend until velvety (immersion blender=super useful for this). If adjusting spices, I'd recommend adding what you like (you may want salt - I didn't add any extra, but my cooking sherry comes 'seasoned' with it). Just before serving, whisk in the cream to taste. Spoon a couple of tablespoons of mascarpone in the bottom of bowls or mugs, and pour the soup over top.
My pumpkin was about the size of a basketball, or a hair smaller. It takes some work to deal with the raw pumpkin, especially if you fail at having good knives in your kitchen which I really do. Also workspace, but that's my kitchen's fault (I promise; it used to be a dressing room & my 'counter' is boards on cinderblocks which is also half my storage.). HOWEVER, in regards to this as well as pies, I feel strongly that using fresh pumpkin over canned is worth it. That's my taste - I'm not sure how much canned pumpkin makes a whole pumpkin, but feel free to convert if you prefer of course!
I didn't actually measure the spices, so I'm interpreting 'several healthy pinches of allspice, a good shake of cinnamon and as much cayenne as I thought I'd be comfortable with given that a lot of the flavor was going to render over the long cooking time. Use your wits and spice as you like :)
The sherry is pretty optional; I imagine white wine would also work nicely but you could probably omit it if you didn't have it on hand without much change to the flavor.
The mascarpone was divine; the cookbook recommends clotted or Devon cream, or plain yogurt. I imagine plain soy yogurt could be substituted, as well as a little soymilk for the cream (if you wanted a vegan preparation of the soup), or they could be omitted with a little more stock and the soup would still be delicious.
APPLESAUCE
4lbs (approx) fresh apples (I used honeycrisp; a crisp apple with some tartness will do best)
1/3 c water
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt
pinch allspice
Peel, core, and chunk the apples. Put them into the crock pot. Add water and seasonings. Cook on low 8 hours, or on high 4 (or some combination of the two, as I started mine on low and turned it up a little while later). When done, stir well to break up most of the chunks and, if desired, buzz with an immersion blender for a more even texture.
BAKED APPLES
(this recipe is very easy to adjust for size - this is just what I happened to use. Measurements, except the count of apples, are extremely approximate)
9 small apples, cores removed to a half inch or so of the bottom.
2/3 c pecan pieces
2/3 c chopped dates
1/2-2/3 c brown sugar
1/4 c (half stick) butter
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt
pinch allspice
pinch cayenne powder (are you getting a sense for WHAT IS IN MY KITCHEN?!)
1/2 c water (ish)
Preheat oven to 375. Prepare the apples and arrange in a glass baking pan (the sides can touch). Chop the dates and pecans together, coarsely, and set aside. Using forks or a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour and brown sugar until well blended, mixture should be fairly dry but not mealy - feel like mostly sugar and be able to ball easily between your fingers. Add the dates and pecans, mix well (also a good task for the pastry cutter). Pack this filling firmly into the wells of the apples. Pour the half cup of water into the bottom of the pan. Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until apples are fairly soft but not mushy. Spoon a little of the pan juices over the apples and serve (the liberal application of vanilla ice cream, here, is highly recommended).