We’re done with insalata caprese, right? Even in sunny Napa Valley, where I live, the tomato plants are saying, “Enough already.” Time to move on. I’m looking forward to revisiting some cool-weather favorites, like these six from my personal autumn hall of fame.
Greek White Bean Soup with Feta and Dill
With this recipe as a template, you can make endless different bean soups this fall. I love the fat Greek white beans called gigandes (similar to Corona beans), but you could replace them with chickpeas, lentils, split peas or cranberry beans. Instead of feta, try pecorino or Cotija cheese. Instead of dill, season with oregano and Calabrian chili.
Roasted Butternut Squash with Feta, Pomegranates and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
Every bite of this dish delivers contrasts and bursts of flavor: sweet and tangy; creamy and crunchy; warm and cool. Plus, it’s gorgeous. I like to use butternut squash because it’s thin skinned and easy to handle but substitute whatever autumn squash you like.
Spinach Salad with Queso Fresco, Sesame Seeds and Tortilla Crisps
I buy my queso fresco from a nearby Mexican market, where it’s sliced fresh for me from a big slab. What a tasty changeup from the tired spinach-and-bacon salad. Watermelon radishes, with their magenta interior, are especially striking here but the combination will be just as appealing with familiar red radishes. The crunchy ribbons of fried tortillas make a delightful replacement for croutons.
Amaryll Schwertner’s Liptauer Cheese
One recent piece of unwelcome news is that Amaryll Schwertner has closed Boulette’s, her superb San Francisco restaurant. A Budapest-born chef of immense creativity, intelligence and taste, Schwertner has nourished Bay Area diners for 40 years. Her food has always delighted me, including a private lunch she prepared for my 50th birthday. Her Liptauer cheese (above and top image)—a legacy from her Hungarian grandmother—hardly conveys the extent of her talent, but it’s the perfect companion to dark bread or seedy crackers and dark beer. If you can find Sierra Nevada farmer cheese, it’s the one to buy. Some farmer cheese is dry, and you’ll need to add more sour cream to get a creamy result.
Frisée and Radicchio Salad with Toasted Walnuts, Pears and Blue Cheese
I learned from the late chef Michael Chiarello how to produce fine snowy shavings of blue cheese on a salad by lightly freezing the cheese first. It’s the only time I ever freeze cheese, and it’s not for long. A tangy blue cheese like Point Reyes Original Blue works best here. Switch it up by replacing the pears with crisp apples, persimmons, pomegranates, late-season figs or even dried figs.
Janet’s Beer Cheese
Kentucky’s answer to pimento cheese, beer cheese is a spicy pub spread with its own tasting trail and annual festival. I first learned about it from the woman who wrote the book on it, and then of course I had to create my own. The better the Cheddar, the better the outcome.