Kohlrabi & Apple Slaw

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Kohlrabi, Apple & Red Onion Slaw

To be perfectly honest, kohlrabi is not a vegetable I have a lot of experience with.  Sure, I’ve been seeing it at the farmer’s market for as long as I can remember, but its pale green, alien-ish appearance has always scared me away.

At some point, I had it in a restaurant and determined that’s its appearance is the only “weird” thing about it and its flavor couldn’t be more pedestrian–it tastes exactly like green cabbage you’ve been eating all your life.  The advantage kohlrabi has over cabbage though is its intense crunch.  When eaten raw, it’s amazingly crisp and refreshing, especially when paired with julienned apples and a zippy vinaigrette as it is in this slaw.

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Apple Walnut Cake with Maple-Brown Butter Glaze

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Apple Walnut Cake with Brown Butter Maple Glaze_edited-2
If you recall, I spent last fall on the hunt for an apple cake recipe to call my own.  I tried a French apple cake and served it with caramel sauce; I made another that was packed with apples and loaded with an obscene amount of crumb topping.  And this September, as soon as the stone fruits and berries gave way to apples at the grocery store, I picked up right where I left off in my quest for apple cake perfection.  This year I was thinking walnuts and cinnamon, butter and maple.

My persistence is paying off–this cake’s a keeper.  It’s a lightly spiced tube cake, with a moist, tender crumb.  You hit an apple chunk in most bites, a walnut in every other.  All of that goodness is sealed in with a maple and brown butter glaze that is the literal and figurative icing on the cake.  It’s decadent but homey, easy yet impressive, and definitely a cake I’ll make over and over.

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Sour Cream Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Crumble

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Sour Cream Apple Cake with Brown Sugar CrumbleRemember a few weeks ago when I told you I was on the prowl for a go-to apple cake recipe?  I made a French apple cake with caramel sauce and was fairly convinced that I’d found The One.  It was simple and full of apple-y goodness, embellished with a ridiculously good caramel sauce.  Perfect…

…until my mind started wandering.  It wandered off into dangerous territory with thoughts of crumble and streusel.  Thoughts of a cake you might get away with serving as breakfast.  Rings, tubes, bundts.  Buttermilk, sour cream, oh my…I had to bake another cake!

This time around, I went for a cinnamon-spiced sour cream apple cake, loaded with fruit, and topped with an addictive brown sugar crumble.  It’s perfect, warm from the oven with a cup of coffee or your afternoon tea.  Go for decadence and top it with a scoop of cinnamon ice cream and you’re looking at a very worthy fall dessert.  I think it’s safe to say there will never be just 1 apple cake in my life; this is a field I’ve got to keep playing.

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Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder with Pickled Red Onion

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Fennel & Rosemary Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder with Brown Sugar Crust

Every season, it seems you get 1 magical day that’s the epitome of the particular season; a day you get to do exactly what you want, everything goes as planned, and things are just…right.  For me, that day came last Sunday and this pork roast had plenty to do with it.

So what makes a perfect fall day?  For me, I’d say crunching leaves while taking a meandering walk, stopping off for an impromtu cappuccino, fussing over dinner preparations, and enjoying a meal in good company.  I hope whatever you’re up to this weekend, you get to do one or more of these activities.  And if it’s dinner you choose, I am here to help!

It might not be much to look at, but I’m convinced slow roasted pork shoulder is one of life’s greatest pleasures.  This one was particularly good, rubbed with rosemary and fennel, basted with apple cider, and finished with a dark brown sugar crust.  I served it over creamy polenta with pickled red onions and apples and it wound up being the fall dinner I’ll think back on when I envision ideal autumn eating .

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Red Cabbage & Apple Slaw with Toasted Walnuts

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Cabbage and Apple Slaw with Walnuts

There are situations in life that just call for slaw.  I’m thinking any meal that involves bratwurst, is centered around fried items, or involves copious amounts of cheese.

My sister invited me over for cheese fondue this past weekend and I was put on salad duty.  It’s a strange fate to be dealt; normally when given dinner party salad responsibilities, I’d want to show off and make something flashy with gobs of blue cheese or rounds of melty goat cheese.  But when cheese is already the star of the evening, you’ve got to regroup.  You’ve got to eliminate any thoughts of dairy.  You’ve got to go light, fresh, crisp, acidic.  You’ve got to slaw!

Seeing how we’re smack dab in the heart of fall, I opted for a red cabbage slaw with honeycrisp apples and toasted walnuts.  It’s a refreshing counterpoint to rich dishes.  It’s simple, it’s pretty, and I think it’d be a hit at any fall dinner.

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