Fall Party Dinner: Pumpkin Soup, Latkes, and Applesauce and Apple Pie

Last weekend we went apple-picking with a bunch of friends and oh my gosh, the apples were so much better than you can get in the store. Our favorites were the macintosh. we made about 1/4 of them into applesauce, another 1/4 into apple pie, used a few in a salad and a few in the soup, and then covered the rest in caramel. We also got a few little pumpkins, which I spent an absurd amount of time hollowing out to make ugly little soup bowls for some simple yet delicious improvised pumpkin soup. Gabe said the soup was his new favorite soup and the applesauce was the best he ever tasted. These latkes were also the best I have ever made. The only low point in the meal I would say was the pie, which was great, but not the best it could be - we overmixed the crust and made it a bit tough, and there was a bit too much cardamom in the filling and not enough salt in the topping. Don't repeat our mistakes!

Pumpkin-Apple Soup

2-3 smallish pumpkins, peeled and cube

~3 medium apples, cubed

~1 medium onion, chopped

~1 cloves garlic, minced

~1 thumb-sized piece ginger, minced

Cinnamon and curry powder

vegetable broth

a bit of half and half, yogurt, or cream

Heat your oven up to 450. Put the pumpkin cubes on a baking sheet with some olive oil and roast until soft. Meanwhile, heat some butter in a pot and saute your onions with a pinch of brown sugar on medium until they get translucent. Add the garlic and ginger, salt and pepper, and a bit of curry powder and cinnamon to taste (I went low on the spice to not overpower the mild pumpkin taste), and keep cooking until the onions are browned. Once the squash is ready, toss it in, plus a few cups of vegetable broth. Puree it all together, add more broth if necessary, and adjust the seasoning. Stir in your cream or yogurt to taste, and enjoy! I served it with some cinnamon-maple yogurt and lots of toasted bread.

The Best Latkes

each of the following ingredients are per person. one baking potato will feed one person as a main course fo sho, and make probably too much for a side... but there's really no such thing as too many latkes.

1 baking potato, grated

1 small onion, grated

1/3 cup flour

1 egg

tsp salt

pepper to taste

Lots of oil to fry

Mix your grated potato and onion in either a cloth (cheese cloth or old t-shirt) or a colander. Press/squeeze as hard as you can to get out all of the water. If you have time, let it sit for a half hour or more and then squeeze it again.

Once you are satisfied with the dryness of your potatoes, add in the flour, egg, salt, and pepper.

Heat up a good amount of oil in a pan - you want the latkes to be well lubricated but not submerged (a few tbs should do it). Drop small hunks of dough into the pan and press them flat. Fry on both sides until brown and crispy, then transfer to a paper towel to blot off the oil. After that you can keep them in a warm oven while you cook the rest. Serve with ketchup, sour cream, and/or delicious homemade applesauce. Enjoy!

Applesauce

3-4 lbs excellent quality apples, partially peeled and diced*
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup+ brown sugar
1 cup of water
1/2 teaspoon of salt
cinnamon to taste (cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, etc. also welcome, but don't kill the apple taste with too much spice.)

*if you have a food processor, go ahead and leave some/all of the peel on. i think it adds a nice bitter tartness and it's easier. but if you're going to mash 'em by hand, take off all of the peels.

Put all of the ingredients in a pot. Simmer for about 20 minutes until all of the apples are soft but not disintegrated. Puree in a food processor/blender or mash with a potato masher or fork. Adjust the salt, sugar, lemon, and cinnamon. You can eat it right then, but I'm pretty sure applesauce is like soup and gets better if you refrigerate it and then reheat it.

This will make about 2 cups.