Autumn Days
Roasted pears, stuffed with goats cheese and wrapped in bacon.
“Some weather’s coming; you can taste on the sides of your tongue a quince tang in the air”
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek - Annie Dillard
Yes it’s true, the days are becoming cooler, and the beautiful bowl of quince that graces our living room releases their ancient perfume which smells of autumns past and future. Amazingly another year has passed; it seems like only yesterday that we had a line of pumpkins resting against the side of the house and a sheet of walnuts drying alongside. Autumn is always the best time to have a big lunch and invite all your friends before it gets too cold to sit outside and we shift into hibernation mode. If you can drag a big old table out under your largest tree you have a setting, which will be perfect until the sun goes down. Now you just need the menu and you’re away laughing!
These pears are perfect to serve as an entrée. They are easy to prepare and look stunning on the plate. Yet another dish which casts Averill Turnbull’s goat’s cheese as the star of the show.
Roasted pears stuffed with goat’s cheese and wrapped in bacon
200g Meadowcroft goat’s cheese “Provence”
4 Bosc pears, firm but ripe
8 rashers of thinly sliced streaky bacon (or use prosciutto if you have some)
A bowl of small salad leaves, including watercress, rocket, and beet leaves if possible
Fresh walnuts, lightly toasted (watch closely) and coarsely chopped.
Cut each pear in half lengthwise and scoop out the core using a teaspoon to leave a nice hole for the cheese. Remove spoonfuls of the goat’s cheese from the oil and place into the pear’s cavity, mounding slightly. Wrap a slice of the bacon around the pear, covering the goat’s cheese. Brush a little of the herby oil from the cheese container onto the cut exposed edges of the pears. Place into a roasting dish, cheese side up, and roast in a 180°C oven for about 20 minutes or until the bacon is crispy and the pear is tender. Remove from the oven and cool for five minutes before serving. Make a nest of the salad greens on each plate. Dress very lightly with a drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice and a small grinding of pepper. Place the warm pear half in the centre of the greens and scatter with the walnuts. Serve immediately. Serves 8.
The main course can all be prepared ahead and served on platters so everyone can help themselves. Grazing is always enjoyable when you have set the afternoon aside to do just that. Passing around plates of food and breaking bread with friends feels so relaxing and always makes you wonder why you don’t do it more often. Vegetables are abundant right now, so take advantage of all their beautiful colours and roast peppers with red onions, basil, garlic and cherry tomatoes. Serve a green salad of assorted leaves, sliced avocado, toasted pumpkin seeds, and blanched beans. Try a plate of thickly sliced tomatoes drizzled with your own pesto, and another of potato salad with a mint and olive oil dressing. Season generously.
Roasted chicken legs are delicious. Drizzle with some soy sauce, honey and lemon juice and bake until golden and sticky. Presentation is everything, and if you want your guests to go “wow” then don’t hold back on the fresh herb department. A scatter of basil leaves over a tomato salad shouts “wow” AND adds the perfect partner for flavour.
Set the table with care and make sure there are plenty of pitchers of water to drink. Long lunches are thirsty work. Autumn leaves, nuts (and nut crackers), cape gooseberries in their husks, bunches of grapes on grape leaves etc, can all be used to decorate the table. Then some bread can be placed at intervals along the table for everyone to help themselves.
For dessert we seem to eat a massive amount of crumbles as they are the easiest way of disguising yet more poached fruit, and the combinations are endless. Quince and apple, apple and blackberry, pear and raspberry, peach and blueberry…well, just for a change it’s quite nice to have a cobbler instead. If you were having a party then I would serve this with ice cream, runny cream and softly whipped cream. Custard too if you like…the fruit can be poached the day before and refrigerated overnight.
Blackberry and Apple coconut cobbler
Poached apples and blackberries
2 cups of self-raising flour
½ cup of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
200g butter
2/3 cup of milk
½ cup of coconut
½ cup of oats
Place the flour, sugar, butter and cinnamon into the food processor and process until mix looks like breadcrumbs. Add the milk and pulse just to combine. Stir through the oats and coconut.
Place the apple and blackberries into a large baking dish and place spoonfuls of the cobbler over the top to cover. Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown and it tests cooked. Remove from the oven and cool for five minutes before serving. Serves 8.
Fiona Feasey
