Bountiful crops, freshly picked, offer an array of delicious opportunities.
By Janet Groene, F47166
September 2019
Autumn is the season for Oktoberfests, fall foliage celebrations, and countless hometown harvest festivals. It’s a perfect time for RV foodies to roam the countryside, stop at roadside stands, talk to farmers, and ask the locals how to cook a strange-looking squash or make elderberry pie. Then set your RV kitchen to simmering with these recipes using fresh-from-the-field ingredients.
Caramel Topping
Apples, one of the most common fall harvests, are celebrated with festivals in many places. Drizzle this heavenly topping warm over baked apples, fried apples, apple cake, pie, cobbler, and other autumn apple desserts. It’s so easy to make.
1½ sticks butter
2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup milk or light cream
Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar. Cook for two minutes. Serve warm. Makes about 1½ cups.
Buttermilk Pecan Pie
Pecans are an autumn crop in the South. Put a different complexion on traditional pecan pie when you make it with Dixie’s all-purpose baking aid — buttermilk.
Pastry pie shell
Pecans to cover bottom of pie shell
3 eggs
1/2 stick butter, softened
3 tablespoons flour
1¾ cups sugar
Pinch salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup stirred buttermilk
Spread a solid layer of pecans on the unbaked pie shell. Beat the eggs, butter, flour, sugar, salt, and vanilla, adding the buttermilk last. Pour the mixture over the pecans and bake at 300 degrees for about 1 hour. Makes six servings.
Concord Grape Pie
Full disclosure: This recipe is a heap of work, unlike the shortcut recipes this column seeks out. I first tasted it on my Aunt Jenny’s farm in Ohio and promise that it’s worth it. Concord grapes have tough skins that must be separated from the pulp. It’s an ideal job for kids. Let them squeeze and plop.
Pastry for a two-crust pie
5 cups Concord grapes, stemmed and picked over
2 tablespoons butter
1¼ cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
About 1/2 teaspoon sugar
Squeeze the pulp out of the grapes and save the skins. Put the pulp in a pan and mash to release some juice. Cover and cook the pulp over low heat until it’s juicy and tender enough to press through a sieve or food mill to remove the seeds. Discard the seeds. Stir butter into the warm pulp.
Mix the 1 ¼ cups sugar, flour, and salt and toss together with the grape skins. Stir in the pulp and the zest. Line a pie pan with the pastry and add the filling. Then add a top crust and flute the edges. Cut slits in the top to release steam and prevent boil-over. Sprinkle the top crust lightly with ½ teaspoon sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbly.
Baked Collard Greens
Collards are one of the most cold-tolerant garden vegetables, available fresh at fall festivals even after a freeze. They’re traditionally served swimming in a rich, meaty pot liquor (the leftover water of the boiled greens). Here’s a different way to serve them.
6 cups chopped collard greens
4 thick slices bacon, cut up
Large onion, diced
2 teaspoons minced garlic
3 cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
Topping:
½ cup panko crumbs
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
Cook the greens in water or broth until tender. Drain well. In a large pan or skillet, fry out the bacon, gradually stirring in the onion and garlic. When the bacon is crisp, stir in the collard greens. In a bowl, whisk the cream, salt, pepper, and cornstarch. Add the cup of cheese, and then combine the cream mixture with the bacon mixture.
Bring to a boil and cook, stirring for about 2 minutes. Place in a greased baking dish and top with a mixture of the panko, oil, and cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. Makes six servings.
Cook’s note: If you have no oven, put together as above and cook gently in a heavy, covered pot. Sauté the panko with oil in a skillet. Sprinkle the hot greens with cheese, and then top with the browned crumbs.
Fruited Wild Rice
Wild rice, harvested in Canada and the northern United States in late summer and early fall, is actually the seed of a wild grass. Serve this as a side dish or add more sugar and fold in whipped topping to serve as a dessert.
1 cup wild rice
3 cups water
1 cup chopped apples, cranberries, pears, or other autumn fruit
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup to 1 cup sugar
Bring everything but the sugar to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes or until the rice is al dente. Drain excess water. Sweeten to taste. Makes six servings.
Bolivian Peanut Soup
Bolivian peanut soup
In late summer, travelers in the South see signs for “boiled peanuts” along country highways everywhere. They are raw peanuts in the shell that have been soaked in salt water and then boiled. The taste isn’t for everyone, but the humble goober, groundnut, or peanut is a major food source in many parts of the world.
This nourishing campfire soup can be vegan/ vegetarian if you use the vegetable broth, or made traditionally with beef or chicken broth. The Bolivian soup sopa de mani is authentically made with ground raw, skinned peanuts.
8 cups water
3 bouillon cubes (vegetable, chicken, or beef)
1 cup extra-chunky peanut butter OR 1½ cups finely chopped raw peanuts
4 potatoes, diced
4 carrots, diced
1/4 cup raw rice
Large onion, diced
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
Minced or dried parsley
Bring the water and bouillon to a low boil. Add the peanuts or stir in the peanut butter a little at a time. Add the potatoes, carrots, rice, and onion. Cover and simmer 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Stir in the peas and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add fresh or dried parsley. Makes six servings.
Pueblo Green Chili
Pueblo, Colorado, is known not only for its harvest of homegrown green chilies; it’s famous for a unique chili filled with them. The chili may be served in a bowl, scooped with tortillas, or ladled over open-face hamburgers known locally as Sloppers. The city’s Chile & Frijoles Festival is September 20-22, 2019, and you can enjoy the chili in local eateries all year.
20-ounce package coarsely ground lean pork or beef (sometimes called chili grind)
1/4 cup vegetable oil, preferably corn oil
1 onion, diced
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/4 cup flour
32-ounce carton of chicken broth
1 to 1½ cups roasted, skinned Pueblo green chilies, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
Salt, pepper to taste
Fry out the meat in hot oil, gradually stirring in the onion and the 2 tablespoons of minced garlic until the meat is browned and broken up. Whisk the flour into a cup (8 ounces) of the cold chicken broth. Stir this broth into the meat mixture and then add the remaining broth, the chilies, and the other ingredients. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer over low heat at least 20 to 30 minutes. Makes four to six servings.
Cook’s note: To roast the chilies, hold them in tongs and pass them over a flame or put them under a broiler until the skin is blackened. Remove the skin, and dice the flesh.
Ruby Port Cranberry Gravy
Ruby port cranberry gravy
Medium red onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup ruby port wine
2 cups fresh cranberries
1½ cups chicken broth
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
In a saucepan, stir-fry the onion in butter until soft. Add the wine and bring to a boil for two minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer over medium heat about 10 minutes or until the cranberries pop and the sauce thickens. Spoon the warm gravy over grilled chicken, salmon, pork chops, rice, plain quiche, or sweet potatoes. Makes about 4 cups.
A Sampling Of Fall 2019 Harvest Festivals
September 5-8: Ayden Collard Festival, Ayden, North Carolina
September 11-14: Murphysboro Apple Festival, Murphysboro, Illinois
September 14: Wild Rice Festival, Roseville, Minnesota
September 21: The Original Collard Greens Cultural Festival, Lithonia, Georgia
September 21-22: Naples Grape Festival, Naples, New York
September 27-29: Warrens Cranberry Festival, Warrens, Wisconsin
September 27-29: Valley of the Moon Vintage Festival, Sonoma, California
October 5: Central Florida Peanut Festival, Williston, Florida
October 5-6 and October 12-13: National Apple Harvest Festival, Biglerville, Pennsylvania
October 16-19: Circleville Pumpkin Show, Circleville, Ohio
November 1-2: Urbanna Oyster Festival, Urbanna, Virginia
November 2: North Carolina Pecan Harvest Festival, Whiteville, North Carolina
November 2: South Carolina Pecan Festival, Florence, South Carolina
November 9: Sahuarita Pecan Festival, Sahuarita, Arizona