Category

fall recipes

  • Rigatoni with Sausage and Butternut Squash

    Rigatoni with Sausage and Butternut Squash

    Over my twenty years of doing The Amateur Gourmet, I’ve been approached by fans a handful of times. Usually the exchange is quick and pleasant: I feel a thrill for being recognized and hopefully they feel a thrill for meeting their favorite nerdy, gay, old-school food blogger. However the exchange goes, I’m always on the…

  • Quince Preserves

    Quince Preserves

    My first awareness of quince came from the movie White Men Can’t Jump when Rosie Perez, whose character dreamed of going on Jeopardy, memorized “Foods That Start with the Letter Q.” (Besides “quince” there was “quail,” “quiche,” and “quahog.” Not sure of the fifth!) But I didn’t eat a quince — or cook a quince…

  • Sausages Braised in Cider with Apples and Onions

    Sausages Braised in Cider with Apples and Onions

    I can’t channel spirits, but I can channel recipes. Yesterday I was making an apple pie for our friends Jenny and Jared who were coming for dinner and I couldn’t quite figure out what to make for an entree. I knew I wanted it to be autumnal. I knew I wanted to use the apples…

  • “This Is Not A Waldorf” Salad

    “This Is Not A Waldorf” Salad

    You don’t often think about turning on your oven to make a salad, but that’s exactly what I did after flipping through Suzannne Goin’s AOC Cookbook during the build-up to lunch on Saturday. My usual salads are normally quick affairs of tearing up some lettuce, drizzling on some good olive oil (lately it’s Séka Hills),…

  • Kabocha Squash Risotto

    Kabocha Squash Risotto

    Usually I have a gage in my head that lets me know how good the dinner I’m making is going to be. At some point, while prepping this Kabocha Squash Risotto (based on this one in Bon Appetit), I figured it would be pretty good but not great. Several reasons: the squash, which you pan-fry…

  • Easy Butternut Squash Soup with Whiskey Ginger Cream

    Easy Butternut Squash Soup with Whiskey Ginger Cream

    When I got back from my book tour, all I wanted to do was cook cook cook. Comfort foods, mostly. That first night it was my ultimate comfort food dish of fusilli with homemade tomato sauce and a Caesar salad to start. The next night, though, I wanted a different sort of comfort food. I…

  • Gina DePalma’s Zucchini Olive Oil Cake with Lemon Crunch Glaze

    Gina DePalma’s Zucchini Olive Oil Cake with Lemon Crunch Glaze

    There’s a transitional moment that comes every year when zucchini goes from being a summer ingredient to being a fall ingredient. It’s still growing — it just arrived in my CSA and it’s October — and the question is: what can you do with it that doesn’t feel too summery? Enter the late, great Gina…