September marks the end of summer and the start of fall, giving it somewhat of a split personality. What you choose to eat may depend upon your own feelings towards these seasons as well as the weather.
Sure, there’s still a week or two of summer left; but pretty soon, sunny days yield to chilly evenings, and barbecues turn into pig roasts by the fire pit. September starts a season full of lush eats! All you have to do is taste the season…….
Fall’s wet and sunny weather brings forth harvests of juicy plums, apples, and wild blackberries and blueberries. Crisp vegetables like carrots, arugula, sweet corn and kohlrabi are plentiful.
Hearty meats like lamb and venison, come into play; and for fish lovers, trout and lobster are on the chopping block.
Shopping for seasonal ingredients not only makes you savvy chef, but can save you some serious dough.
Here’s a quick list of what ingredients this season has to offer in alphabetical order:
Artichokes (globe), aubergines, beetroot, black bream, borlotti beans, broad beans, brown shrimps, brown trout, carrots, cauliflower, chard, chillies, courgettes, crab, cucumbers, fennel, French beans, garlic, John Dory, kohlrabi, langoustines, lettuce, lobster, mackerel, mushrooms, mussels, onions, oysters, pak choi, peas, peppers, pollack, potatoes, prawns, purslane, radishes, rainbow trout, rocket, runner beans, samphire, sardines, scallops, sea bass, signal crayfish, sole, sorrel, sprats, squash, squid, sweetcorn, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, trout, venison, watercress, grouse, rabbit, lamb, wild salmon, wood pigeon
Is your mouth watering? Well, I’m giving you two recipes to get started: My seasonal vegetables with shallot butter and my pan seared lamb chops with blueberry merlot reduction. Remember, food is fun! So make it your own.
As always feel free to hit me up on twitter with you culinary questions @EliseTDC and for more recipes visit my website at www.elisethedivachef.com
Seasonal Vegetables with shallot butter
by The Diva Chef, Elise Wims
8 lbs. fresh, whole green beans
30 ears of corn, cut into 4 to 5 pieces each
4 each, yellow, red, and orange bell peppers
12 heads of fresh broccoli
10 large shallots
1 block of salted butter
2 boxes of vegetable stock.
Blanch green beans, corn, and broccoli, in salted boiling water.
Drain, and place in ice bath to prevent over cooking. Slice on a bias all of the peppers. Set aside. Thinly slice the shallots. Melt ½ of the block of butter. Sweat shallots on low heat until translucent. Add other half of butter, and sauté your peppers. After about 2 minutes, add remaining vegetables. Cook 1 minute, and add stock, cover on low and allow simmering for 2 minutes, until fork tender but not overcooked.
Pan Seared Lamb Chops with blueberry merlot reduction
by The Diva Chef, Elise Wims
Ingredients:
Lamb chops
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Himalayan pink sea salt
Fresh cracked pepper
Pixie Dust no salt seasoning blend
Blueberry Merlot Reduction
2 cups of merlot
1 tablespoon of dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon of fresh blueberries
Procedure:
-Preheat oven to 375
-Allow lamb-chop to come to room temperature.
-Pat both sides of the chops with a paper towel.
-Season both sides of lamb-chop with salt and pepper.
-Preheat a large skillet, (2 minutes should do it).
-Add a tablespoon of olive oil.
-Set your timer for four minutes.
-Place the chops in the skillet, and sear at high heat on both sides.
-Remove from skillet and place in a roasting pan covered for 5 minutes for medium rare
-Keep the skillet on the flame and add the ingredients for the reduction to it. Allow it to reduce by a third.