Autumn’s harvest of apples, pears and turnips are tumbling onto restaurant menus and into supermarkets. To help home cooks up their veggie know-how, the James Beard Foundation has released a new smart phone app featuring vegetable recipes from famous chefs with photos and shopping lists. The Glazed Baby Turnips by celebrated chef Thomas Keller of the French Laundry in Napa Valley look delicious and actually pretty easy to make.
I always look forward to cozy fall fashions after a summer of sheer fabrics in whites and brights. The same goes for fall meals with warm plates of earthy and robust flavors, compared to the lighter and often chilled tastes of summer. There’s a change in the air and on the menu.
Woodsy notes from shitake mushrooms transform chef Zeb Stevenson’s grilled whole trout into an autumnal treat at Parish in Inman Park where the dish is served with Swiss chard and spritzed with juice from a grilled orange half. Braised kale and the hearty grain farro (similar to brown rice in consistency and related to wheat) accompany grilled salmon topped with a sweet-tart rhubarb salsa at Food 101 in Sandy Springs.
At 4th & Swift, chef/owner Jay Swift dresses flank steak for fall with satisfying sides of squash, corn puree and king trumpet mushrooms. Swift’s duck breast entrée salutes the season’s appetite for robust flavors with mustard seed, sauerkraut, Brussels sprouts and fingerling potatoes. Apples and pears star on fall dessert menus all over town.
Fall’s healthy harvest: What’s inside?
Apples: vitamin C and fiber. Five grams of fiber in one medium apple. Have a baked apple for dessert.
Brussels sprouts: fiber, vitamin C and folate. There are 3 grams of fiber in just four sprouts.
Cauliflower: vitamin C and folate. Very low in calories — 25 calories per cup. Watch the cheese sauce.
Collard greens, turnip greens and kale: vitamin A, vitamin C, fiber and calcium. That’s right! The mineral calcium, famous for being in milk, is also found in greens. All that and it’s National Kale Day this Wednesday.
Mushrooms: very low calorie, high in Riboflavin; good source of niacin. Mushrooms add rich flavors to soups and stews.
Winter squash and pumpkin: vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, fiber and folate. Try cooked pumpkin in savory dishes. It’s not just for pies!
Sweet potatoes: fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C and potassium. Count 100 calories for one medium sweet potato. Roasting caramelizes the natural sugars. No need for added butter or brown sugar.
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