Hello Friends!

And a Happy Autumn to you all!! I have been enjoying myself so much these past weeks, reveling in the growing crispness of the air, the incredible glowy light, the magic of so many multicolored leaves blowing through the air. Each afternoon after Rhiannon and I take a chilly dip in the river we stand and watch the leaves and the light on the cliffs and exclaim to each other about how amazingly lovely everything is! Yesterday it was mostly cloudy when we went for our dip, and I was so impressed that she was still brave enough to get in the water with me! I had gotten a fire going up at the kitchen and supper was warming up on top of the woodstove, and with warm robes to put on, it made it a much easier to think about getting a little cold! We had a very special supper, using fresh pomegranate (a sweet gift!) a chicken I’d roasted that morning, a very delicious squash (another gift, from our friend Marc’s garden), some wild mustard I’d harvested from a parking lot in town, Chardonnay and pine nuts from Resolute, farmer’s market apples mailed to us from dear Steve and Val, homemade elderberry wine Kiva made from elderberries the same friends harvested themselves, freshly made kefir cream, also made by Kiva,  and some incredible apricots and goat cheese, yet more gifts, from our recent quester Rebecca! What thankful hearts we all had, sitting down after a day of much work, to this feast of so much gathered love and caring, and harvestime abundance!

Harvesttime Celebration Chicken

roasted chicken, free-range organic if possible!
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, sliced
1 butternut (or similar) squash
1/2 cup Chardonnay
5-6 cloves fresh garlic, minced
5-6 leaves fresh sage, minced
a bunch of fresh mustard or other flavorful greens, wild or domestic, rinsed and chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
about 12 unsulphered turkish apricots, chopped coarsely
2-3 golden delicious or similar apples, cored and medium diced (about 1-2” pieces)
some fresh plain kefir, or sheep’s milk feta, to garnish (optional)

Strip the chicken and chop or break into bite size pieces about 2-3 cups of meat. I save the rest for making soup the next day. Peel the squash using a vegetable peeler, and remove the seeds (and save for roasting!) and chop into medium dice. Saute the sliced onions in a large skillet with the olive oil over medium-high heat for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, until they turn translucent. Add the garlic as you’re stirring, with a tiny bit more olive oil. Push the onions to one side of the pan, add the squash and a little bit of water to the pan, reduce the heat a bit, and cook covered for a few minutes, or until the squash begins to soften. Stir everything together and cook uncovered until everything begins to get golden-brown. Add the chicken pieces and the wine, sage, apricots, salt and pepper. Let everything come to a simmer, then taste, and adjust things as you like.

This is fantastic on its own, especially with the kefir or feta garnish, and even more fun to serve with whatever accompaniments you like! Perhaps some fresh sourdough bread, some special cheese, more fresh greens, special olives or some Preserved Lemons (have I given you the recipe before?), buttered wild rice or quinoa, and if you really want to make it feel like a feast, try making the Green Olive Pomegranate Relish! If you could imagine a Mediterranean cranberry sauce, without the cranberries, this is it!

Green Olive & Almond Pomegranate Relish
This relish is an Enchanted Pantry twist on one of the more unusual Mediterranean recipes.  You can eat it right away, but it gets even better overnight.  It’s great mixed with some goat cheese or feta and eaten with pita or other fresh bread, with maybe a little hummus alongside.  Carnivores will especially enjoy it served with any wood grilled cuts, wild meats, a pork roast or chicken, or even atop a perfectly seasoned meatloaf. Feel free to experiment will the ingredients, and the amounts of things– it’s a very flexible, fun recipe! Just don’t leave out the pomegranate seeds or the olives!

1/2-1 cup good quality green olives, pitted and chopped (kalamata olives will work too)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 cup minced toasted walnuts
1/4 cup chopped parsley or watercress
1/2 -3/4 cup fresh pomegranate seeds
1/2 cup finely chopped crisp-tart apple
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses (available at Mediterranean stores), or 1-2 teaspoons brown sugar, to taste
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/4 tsp. allspice

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight. Return to room temperature before serving. Enjoy the magic! I highly suggest taking the pomegranate out into the sunshine to sit and enjoy its jewellike beauty as you fill your bowl with seeds. I sat on my kitchen stoop as I filled mine, and was really glad I was wearing an apron (a red one!), getting pomegranate juice all over me! A special autumnal pleasure to celebrate!

Hope you’ll try these, and let me know how they turn out! And don’t worry, those of you who are awaiting the Green Chile recipes I promised, I haven’t forgotten, they’re still coming!!  Feel free to share this recipe as always.

With Lots of love and happy autumn hugs to you all!,

Loba (www.animacenter.org)

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Categories: Loba's Loving Kitchen

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 9:25 am and is filed under Loba's Loving Kitchen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.