Edible Paradise

RECIPES:  Celeraic Salad, Caramelized Tokyo Turnips, Tomato Liquor, Basic Burdock and Salsify, Braised Cipollini Onions with Orange and Balsamic Vinegar Glaze

This is one of my favorite times of the year at market. It is a time of amazing colors and lots of little treasures to be found among the stalls. It is still a great time for outdoor grilling, but it is also getting cold enough that braises like pot roast and vegetable stews are welcome, too.

Beautiful bell peppers can still be found all over the market, and chili peppers are making a late entry this year. At the milder end, try Japanese shishito (pronounced shee-shee-too) peppers or padron peppers. They are both excellent lightly oiled and grilled, or fried in a little oil. Put them on a paper towel to drain a little, then sprinkle liberally with coarse salt for an appetizer. Be aware that the larger the padron, the hotter it gets, and even with the small ones you get one or two per pound that will have some heat.

Turning up the heat, you’ll find Italian peppers, Hungarians, jalapenos, and serranos. KT Farms even have priki nu, also known as Thai, or birds-eye chilis. Quite small, but can be searing hot. These are great as a condiment – clean them in hot water, then put into a bottle of rice vinegar with sliced lemon grass and Thai basil, soak for a few days and remove the basil and lemon grass. Sprinkle this on anything you want to “hot up”. Look for the chilis and peppers at Mello-Dy Ranch, Route 1, Netto Farms, and Nagamine Nursery, and Foster Ranches, among others.

This is the time to get your fill of tomatoes, as they will soon be gone. Beautiful colors, nice full flavors. I like to get the over-ripe ones and make something I call “Tomato Liquor”. No alcohol involved, it entails roasting the tomatoes in a non-reactive pan and collecting all the liquid that comes off the tomatoes. As the tomatoes cook, the sugars caramelize and flavor the liquid and thicken it. This is the “liquor”, and is an intense tomato flavor that can be frozen all winter long without suffering. It can also be reduced to a syrup and used in lots of ways, including on ice cream. After the liquid has all been rendered, add oil to the roasted tomato hulls and leave to steep for a while. The oil will become infused with a lovely roasted tomato flavor.

Apples are hitting in all their varieties, sweet, tart, crisp and not so crisp. Look for quince, too. Even if you do not want to cook with quince, the fragrance is lovely. I sometimes buy them just to perfume the kitchen. Be sure to check out the winning apple pie recipes from the October Harvest Fair.

Root vegetables are arriving, too. I love the ease of roasted roots, and the subtle bitterness of turnips can be a nice foil to the sweetness of parsnips and carrots. I am especially fond of Tokyo turnips, the small white ones, which you can find at T&L Coke Farms, Route 1, and elsewhere. I find that these roots are a great make-ahead dish to ease dinnertime rush. Roasted, or pan glazed, you can make these the day before and then re-heat and finish the next night in the last 15 minutes before serving.

These treasures are available in many booths, sometimes sort of tucked away as there may not be a lot of them. Lowell at Webb’s Farm has dried heirloom beans that are worth getting just for how pretty they are. I put them in a jar on the counter or table for a couple days before I cook them. Look for Scarlet Runner, huge white beans, and a chocolate runner as well. These cook up intact with a nice deep flavor and creamy texture. By the way, I recommend that you do not salt beans while cooking them. Wait until they are done, and then salt them. Also, if it seems that no matter what you do, your beans never cook or are always hard, you probably have hard water. This is really common in Santa Cruz County, so you might think about using a filtered water for you beans. It made quite a difference for me.

Other autumn delights to look for include chestnuts from Minazzolis. (See also: How to Roast Chestnuts.) These freeze wonderfully after cooking, so stock up now. Jerusalem artichoke, a.k.a. sunchoke, is also making its appearance. It has a nutty flavor, reminiscent of sunflower seeds. Roasted, sautéed, or mashed into potatoes, they are great. It also helps lower blood sugar and is used by diabetics for this purpose. If you think they can help you or someone you know, I recommend looking into them.

Celeriac also has a distinctive flavor, like celery, but more subtle. Great for salads or roasted or mashed, it is also good in soup. Now is a good time to try salsify, also known as oyster plant and gobo.