October brings cooling breezes, crisp evenings, clear bright skies, reduced humidity and the sights and smells of autumn. Brightly colored leaves, fall fruits enhanced with cinnamon and the aroma of pumpkin spice in luscious warm beverages or baked goods.
Not in Florida.
A terminally malfunctioning air conditioning system added to the misery of an October plagued by high temperatures and unrelenting humidity. Culinary experimentation for this blog was not a priority under these circumstances, but Covid restrictions continued to demand homecooked meals. Looking back over the past weeks, I discovered a few blog worthy dishes that managed to find their way to our table, and decided to share them here.
Tarte flambée/Flammkuchen
Bacon, onions, and crème fraîche slathered over a thin, light flatbread. That is the essence of tarte flambée, a specialty of southwestern Germany, Alsace in France and the German cantons of Switzerland. I was introduced to this delicious local staple while living in Strasbourg during several opera rehearsal periods in the late 80s and early 90s. During our visit to the area in 2019, Jerry and I stopped off in the old Alsatian medieval town of Eguisheim to enjoy the marvelous circular architecture and feast on tarte flambée and cold Alsatian beer. Yum!
An excellent version is available in the New York Times recipe section. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018508-tarte-flambee
Plums Two Ways
Late summer juicy purple plums, the perfect combination of tart and sweet, lend themselves beautifully to easy early fall desserts. The combination of a roasted plum half, filled with crushed biscotti and a hint of cinnamon, or a mini plum clafouti with homemade vanilla ice cream is the ideal dessert after the rich flavors of a tarte flambee. Simply halve a plum, pit it, and scoop out a little of the flesh with a melon baller to create a small cavity. I filled them with some crushed biscotti which I keep on hand at all times. It can be mixed with a little extra sugar and cinnamon, or one could substitute finely chopped almonds or almond flour for the biscotti with additional sugar to attain the desired sweetness. Place the halves, dotted with butter, in a buttered baking dish and bake for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve with vanilla or coconut ice cream, preferably homemade.
Plum clafoutis (pictured in the header) for two was similarly easy. I chose to reduce a recipe found online down to two portions in small ramekins. Slice plums, toss with sugar and cinnamon and place in a buttered ramekin. Pour in a thin pancake batter and bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes. I served them with ice cream drizzled with a little earl grey syrup.
Pumpkin Spice Scones
Fall wouldn't be complete without pumpkin spice. Now, I am a night owl, and sometimes I find myself unable to sleep late into the wee hours. On those, thankfully rare occasions, rather than toss and turn I often get up and prepare something special for Jerry's breakfast. One such occasion yielded a batch of pumpkin scones. Tender, and unexpectedly cakey largely due to the amount of liquid in canned pumpkin, they came together quite quickly. You will notice the glaze design is sloppy, but that was the best I could do on no sleep. Frankly I prefer scones with a biscuit texture and am not likely to make these again, but if a light muffin-like scone variety sounds appealing, these would definitely fit the bill. https://www.cookingclassy.com/pumpkin-scones-starbucks-copycat/
English Muffins
Sometimes I make scones or some other breakfast delight while binging on the late news or episodes of a favorite Netflix or Amazon series and leave them waiting for Jerry to discover at his early breakfast. To close out the month I was inspired by one of my Facebook food groups to make English muffins. They were surprisingly easy to bring together with the aid of the King Arthur Flour website and a large griddle set over my gas cooktop. Whether split and toasted or just eaten with a little butter they are delicious. I will definitely make them again. https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/english-muffins-recipe
