Skip to main content

Glass Pumpkins and Autumnal Dishes



We celebrated the advent for autumn with a trip to the glass pumpkin patch at MEarth. You all know my season obsession with pumpkin, right? Well, these won't cause me to break out in hives from pumpkin overload!

We wandered the tables and picked our top three pumpkins each. Organized mostly by color, Dylan gravitated toward the table with pumpkins in every shade of blue from the palest cerulean to stormy navy. Riley liked pumpkins in the sunny shades of yellow. Jake preferred the green ones; and I loved the ones that were funky. My favorite one was a quince-hued pumpkin - you know that rosy color they take on after they are poached? - with deep cantaloupe-colored spots. Some looked downright edible; others were fanciful in their colors and textures. They were all vibrant and gorgeous. And, though it was for a really good cause, we walked out pumpkin-less. They were pricey and I don't keep anything breakable and expensive in my house. Maybe when the boys get older...


But we did leave with full bellies because Chef Brad Briske and Emanuele Bartolini of La Balena Carmel and Chef Sarah LaCasse of Earthbound Farm were there, serving up some autumn-inspired dishes.

Sarah served a quinoa salad with slices of sweet red onions and sea salt-encrusted breadsticks.

Brad manned the wood-fired oven, caramelizing slices of delicata squash and tossing them with fresh apples, housemade pancetta, crisped pieces of fresh sage, and chunks of bread. And Emanuele took goat cheese mixed with butternut squash puree and rolled them in a coating of chopped pumpkin seeds and nuts.




My boys - and I mean Dylan and Jake, not Dylan and Riley - dueled over the pieces of the housemade pancetta. I think Jake won this round!


Chef Brad can make culinary magic wherever he goes...even in a garden. He mentioned that he'll be at opening event for the Big Sur Food & Wine: Gateway to Big Sur at the Hyatt Carmel Highlands on Thursday, November 7th. Forty wineries and twenty-two chefs. Can't wait!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Connecticut Lobster Rolls, Canned Lobster Bisque, and a 2019 Henry Fessy 'Maître Bonhome' Viré-Clessé #Winophiles

This month the French Winophiles group is looking at affordable wines from Burgundy.  Host Cindy of Grape Experiences wrote: "Burgundy, or Bourgogne, is known for its wines of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir... as well as Aligote, Gamay, Sauvignon, César, Pinot Beurot, Sacy, Melon in lesser quantities. Many of the well-known wines are quite expensive, but there are plenty of values to be found." Read her invitation here. And there won't be a Twitter chat for this event, so you will have to dive into the articles themselves to read about our pairings and findings. Here's the line-up... Wendy Klik from A Day in the Life on the Farm enjoys Domaine Chevillon Chezeaux Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Nuits, 2018 Paired with a Maple Pecan Chicken . Camilla Mann from Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares her love of Connecticut Lobster Rolls, Canned Lobster Bisque, and a 2019 Henry Fessy 'Maître Bonhome' Viré-Clessé. Jeff Burrows of FoodWineClick! explains why we should Look t

Meyer Lemon Custard-Filled Matcha Turtles #BreadBakers

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our  Pinterest board  right here. Links are also updated after each event on the  Bread Bakers home page .  We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. This month Stacy of Food Lust People Love  is hosting and she wrote: "Your bread can be large, as in one big animal, or small - animal-shaped rolls. Use your imagination! Points for flavor and shape!" If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to Stacy at foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. Here's the animal-shaped bread basket from the #BreadBakers... Beef and Sweet Onion Dim Sum Pandas from Karen's Kitchen Stories Bird Bread Rolls from Ambrosia Easter Bunny Buns from Cook with Renu Ham and Cheese Elephant Rolls from Food Lust People Love Hedgehog Bread from Making Mir

Homemade Lorna Doone Cookies #SundayFunday

Today the Sunday Funday group is celebrating childhood favorites. Thanks to Stacy of  Food Lust People Love , Sue of  Palatable Pastime , Rebekah of  Making Miracles , and Wendy of  A Day in the Life on the Farm  for coordinating this low-stress group. Today Stacy is hosting and she's given us the following prompt: "Childhood favorites. Did you have a favorite dish growing up? It could be something your family cooked or a restaurant dish, even a Chef Boyardee canned good or packaged ingredients like Rice-a Roni or mac and cheese. Recreate THAT dish from SCRATCH for this event."  Here's the #SundayFunday childhood favorites line-up... Chili Mac from A Day in the Life on the Farm Ham and Mushroom Breakfast Burritos from Making Miracles Homemade Lorna Doone Cookies from Culinary Adventures with Camilla Homemade Wonder Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories K-Mart Sub Sandwiches from Palatable Pastime Kempakki Dosa from Sizzling Tastebuds Meat Chilly Fry by Sn