10 Fall Fruits And Vegetables And What To Cook With Them
SHARE
Unsplash
Instead of having those post-summer blues, get excited about all of the fall produce coming your way. Cooler temperatures mean we’ll be in our kitchens making stews, soups and roasted veggies. Farmer’s markets during this season will be flowing with juicy pears, winter squashes, root vegetables and crisp apples. Say bye to corn and tomatoes and get ready for all the homemade apple sauce, cider donuts and caramelized butternut squash you can handle. Here’s your guide to fall produce and what to do with it.
1. Sweet Potatoes
You can use sweet potatoes in everything from soups, to cheesy dishes to desserts, or eat them cooked on their own with a little salt and coconut oil. There’s not much a sweet potato can’t do.
What To Make: Sweet Potato Brownies, Sweet Potato Snickerdoodles, Curried Sweet Potato Hummus, Sweet Potato And Turmeric Miso Soup and Coconut Oil Roasted Sweet Potatoes.
2. Pumpkin
Once you scoop out the seeds, the possibilities are pretty endless when it comes to pumpkins. Save the seeds and roast them. They’re filled with vitamins, minerals and fiber. You could make a jack-o-lantern or use the hard exterior as the bowl of a soup or stew.
What To Make: Homemade Pumpkin Frozen Yogurt, Creamy Pumpkin Pasta, Pumpkin-Ricotta Stuffed Shells, Curried Pumpkin And Peas, Baked Stuffed Pumpkin and Pumpkin, Basil, Goat Cheese And Fig Tart.
3. Pear
Fall is the perfect time to experiment with pears. From Boscs to Comice to Bartletts, you can’t lose. Make sure your pears feel firm and don’t have any blemishes or soft spots before you bring them home. They’re best when you let them ripen on your countertop at room temperature.
What To Make: Pear Pie With Red Wine and Rosemary, Ricotta Toast With Pears And Honey and Blue Cheese, Pear And Honey Crostini.
4. Beets
Beets are one of those love-hate foods. Fall is the perfect time to see what side you’re on. Beets are sweet, mellow and earthy and they make a perfect contrast to sharper flavors like citrus or cheese. You can eat them raw, roast them, put them in a salad, pickle them, juice them or use them in a dessert for their vibrant magenta color.
What To Make: Beet And Ricotta Hummus, Beet And Feta Burgers and Beet, Carrot And Pomegranate Salad.
5. Cabbage
There are so many times when cabbage will be your hero in the kitchen. Its refreshing and crunchy texture holds up better with hot foods than other greens, and you can do just about anything with it. Pickle it, add it to a curry, make a slaw, roast it or use it as a carb substitute.
What To Make: Napa Cabbage Kimchi, Fish Tacos With Creamy Lime Guacamole And Cabbage Slaw and Asian-Style Pork Nachos With Red Cabbage and Scallions.
6. Broccoli Rabe
Hearty and bitter, broccoli rabe is a classic Italian side dish that’s packed antioxidants and vitamin A and C. The longer you cook broccoli rabe, the more mellow it gets. This is one vegetable where overcooking it actually adds to its flavor.
What To Make: One-Pot Baked Pasta With Sausage And Broccoli Rabe, Parmesan Bread Pudding With Broccoli Rabe And Pancetta.
7. Cranberries
Late fall is the best time to get fresh cranberries. Buy them at your local farmer’s market, don’t rinse them until you use them and store them loosely in your fridge. They’ll last for about a month. You can turn the cranberries into a sauce, preserve them in cans or eat them raw.
What To Make: Cranberry Negroni, Grilled Shrimp With Fresh Cranberry Salsa and Cranberry BBQ Meatballs.
8. Butternut Squash
This type of winter squash has a naturally sweet flavor that comes out when you roast it. You can eat it with the skin on or off. When it comes to cooking methods, you have endless options. Bake it, roast it or puree it and use your imagination from there. Just like with pumpkins, you can roast the seeds for a nutritious snack.
What To Make: Butternut Squash And Kale Gratin, Orecchiette With Butternut Squash And Sage and Squash Hash With Kale And Baked Eggs.
9. Apples
While we have apples at our finger tips all year long, nothing beats sweet, tart and crisp Autumn apples. Some of the best fall apples include Honeycrisps, Pink Ladys, Jonagolds and Granny Smiths. Apples can work just as well in savory recipes as they do in sweet ones like with pork chops and stuffings.
What To Make: Brown Butter Apple Loaf, Apple Farro Breakfast Bowl With Cranberries And Hazelnuts and Crispy Turnovers With Apple, Bacon And Caramelized Onions.
10. Figs
There are two main seasons for figs, the first few weeks in June and then August through October. The most common variety is the Black Mission Fig. When you have perfectly ripe figs on your hands you can eat them raw, puree them for a sauce, roast them or sauté them.
What To Make: Fig Caprese Salad, Fig Jam Grilled Cheese and Honey-Fried Figs.
Next on
