Applesauce, Salt Pork & Cooking for #Occupy

The Virginia creeper leaves on the old wires above my garden are turning scarlet. The maple tree around the corner from my subway station is blazing with color. People have pumpkins out on their Park Slope doorsteps. I’ve got eight pounds of apples to do something with before next week’s CSA distro. Must be fall.

Ricky came to visit this month, and we drove up to see Sean, Jenny and Liam in Massachusetts. Hurricane Irene took her toll there, and a lot of the foliage had been stripped from the trees before it had a chance to change colors. But there were still plenty of brilliant hues to enjoy.

We did a bit of mushroom hunting and found a couple of tooth mushrooms and some good boletes.

The excellent company would have been reason enough for the trip, but hey, if you’re in New England in October, there’s some iconic food to celebrate.

Apple cider, maple syrup, chowder (by the water, on our way back to New York)…plus Jenny’s tasty ragu, and did I mention that we drove up with the ingredients for a port-laced rabbit stew?

I clung to New England mode for a few days after getting back to Brooklyn. I made chowder with homemade salt pork, and came up with a maple triple applesauce that turned out really well.

Yesterday I picked up a double CSA share - mine plus that of a fellow member who was out of town (hence the eight pounds of apples). Some of the veggies and fruit I’ll preserve in various ways, but I decided to cook some of them up and take them to Occupy Wall Street tomorrow.

This will be my fourth trip down to Occupy. I’m making a couple of pies and a quinoa salad loaded with locally grown organic vegetables plus herbs from my garden.

I’ve also got a heap of green beans to do something with. I’m thinking I’ll make Mediterranean salad beans, which I’m happy to eat straight out of the jar in winter. Maybe a jar of those will go to Occupy as well.

Other than that, I’m busy teaching, writing, foraging, doing food preservation demos and directing Nutcracker rehearsals…my usual crazy busy fall schedule. What are you up to?

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