Autumn Orchard

Our fall festival load was a bounty of pumpkins and apples.

The smell of vinegar permeate our nostrils as the boys, true to form, pulverized the mushy pulp deeper into the earth beneath their boot heels. As we tramped through discarded sour apples, we sampled freshly plucked varieties of low hanging fruit.

Sun-crisp was a forerunner for me. Crisp as all get out, as the name suggest, but also large and perfectly sweet with a hint of tartness. The thin skin would save me on peeling for dessert recipes.

Perhaps, I’ll make a not-so-fancy tarte tatin for moi. Then annual favorites like apple upside-down cake for the children and salted caramel apple pie for darling, Zachary. A nostalgic recipe from Four and Twenty Black Birds that transports us back to days in Brooklyn. We used to take a long walk to the Four and Twenty shop and return to the apartment cheerfully claiming the mileage burned all the decadent calories.

Our pumpkins are usually for carving but this year, I may challenge myself to cook with them. With a few baking pumpkins added to the wagon I visualize an ambitious saucy chicken bake and maybe a sweet custard or muffin to put them to good use.