Fall.....? The calendar tells me its here...the cool mornings tell me it's coming...but the farmers around here are sending me mixed messages...tomatoes and pumpkins on the same delivery? Basil and Brussels sprouts?...I've all but given up on zephyr squash and tommy toes in abundance...but I'm not quite ready for butternut squash and kale...whats a chef to do?..
This seasonal purgatory is often skipped over by chefs...not because they can't come up with some creative use for what IS coming out of the soil...but simply (just a guess) it's hard to sell mid-season foods when Wal-Mart and the like are already selling Thanksgiving paraphernalia and fake Christmas trees. People are expecting cinnamon and spice, rosemary and sage, mini candy bars and fruit cake...I say to hell with that! Let mother nature decide when we stop eating tomatoes!
So...here at Ashley's we have pumpkin and tomatoes...peppers and broccoli, muscadines and fingerlings...Open all your windows at home...come on in for dinner and sleep soundly (in your naturaly cooled home) knowing that you stuck it to the man...well, maybe not...but you had a really good dinner!
My play on chicken and waffles: grilled duck breast with corn waffle, Michigan tart cherries and grilled cabbage.
Rabbit 'Pepper-dalle': house made pancetta wrapped rabbit loin, roasted carmine peppers and braised rabbit leg.
Fresh cheese agnolloti with duck, shiitakes, tomatoes and mint.
Seared diver scallop with local fingerlings, muscadines, house made country ham and truffle.
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