T'is the Season...

T’is the Season,

Ahhhh Autumm, my favourite time of year.

I was looking over my last posts, and thought: Holy Mackrel Batman what crawled up her tuckus, they were a little soap boxy were they not? Someone pull the stick out of her butt and beat her with it! So I thought for this blog I would save y’all the fire and brimstone and write about something a little more errmmm happy for want of a better word. So I thought, Kate (yes I am an only child I talk to myself and also have a tendency to refer to myself in the third person) what makes you happy? The answer is simple, Fall, outdoors and braised meat baby!

One of the most exquisite and formidable things in this world is change. Change, paradoxically, is the only constant we have and we can either go with it, embrace it and to quote Thoreau (and the Dead Poets Society: cliché alert) suck the marrow out of life, or sit in the same ‘ol same ‘ol and remain constant. Your choice, but I promise you, the latter is wholly detrimental. To remain in the safe and secure blanky that is you present state is stagnation pure and simple, and if you have ever walked past long standing water, y’all know that stuff stanks!

Nature is all about change. Change is the fundamental essence of nature. Without change the world simply would not be, it couldn’t exist. My garden depends upon my changing the crops and the soil otherwise it becomes useless and depleted. Likewise, the very fabric of the earth and, by extension, our lives depends upon the natural shifting of the moon, the sun and of course the seasons.

This is why I love autumn. To me autumn does not signify the dying of summer, but it is the manifestation of change as such. It signifies the movement away from that which was; preparing the earth for winters silent meditation and the promise of spring and new growth.

Autumn is also the time of pumpkins, root vegetables and slow cooking!

I was chatting to a market friend today and we decided we must have been Russian peasants in a past life because we both have a love affair with anything slow cooked and containing a permutation of cabbage, roots and some unfavourable cut of meat… or maybe it is my Englishness that sways me towards food that has had the nutrients stewed out of it. Either way, give me braising or give me death.

To me there is nothing more comforting, more reassuring and forgive me more sexy than spending a chilly Sunday afternoon at home with something merrily simmering in red wine and stock in the oven.  I begin to conjure up images of bonfires, moon halos and childhood; memories of walking through crunchy leaves and the smells of woodsmoke and damp earth.

But back to reality, truth is I live in Georgia and whilst my vegetable garden appreciates the long growing season and the promise of another couple of months of high 70 degree weather, my nostalgia remains unsatisfied. This leaves me with only one option: turn that A/C down waaaaaay low, put on something flannel and throw a brisket in the oven.

So in this spirit I thought I would share a favourite autumn recipe. A “stick to your ribs” kind of affair that warm those heart cockles and your belly all at the same time.

I give you: Kate’s Krauts and Brats!

Recipe

4 large pork sausages: my choice Spotted Trotter’s Toulouse Sausage http://thespottedtrotter.com/ (all ethical and sustainable, cos y’all know how we roll here at VA)

4 THICK cut rashers of smoked bacon: I use Pine Street Market’s applewood smoked bacon – yup you guest all humane blah blah blah- www.pinestreetmarket.com.

1 large onion thinly sliced
1 leek thinly sliced

1 ½ cinnamon sticks

6 cloves

1 tsp fennel seeds

2 bay leaves

1 head of green cabbage, sliced into ribbons

1 1/2 12 oz bottles of hard apple cider… scrumpy preferably, something dry

1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1tbsp honey.

S+P to taste.

1 tbso canola oil.

In a large pot- I use my French oven for this- render the bacon in the oil (it is a pork fat thing baby and Pine Street knows where it is at!), then add the onions to the fat and sweat until the onions are tender and translucent. Add the cabbage to the pot (don’t worry I promise it will cook down!). Give it a few minutes and a few good stirs. Season well with salt and pepper and then add the liquids. Allow pot to come to the boil, then turn down to super low and add cinnamon, cloves, fennel and bay leaves. Leave to braise away happily for a good hour and a half.

The sausages- so long as you have the hook up, which I do (thanks Kevin!)- speak for themselves. Prick the sausages a few times with a fork so they don’t explode (I would not wish this culinary Armageddon on anyone, t’is both messy and terrifying)  Heat the oven to 350 degrees, rub the sausage in a wee bit  of oil and roast until the skin is crispy; a good sausage skin should crack when you bite into it. When the sausage is done (about 15-20 mins, you don’t want it to be overcooked) remove and rest for 15 minutes.

Remove the cloves (as best as you can), bay leaves and cinnamon sticks, and ladle a generous serving of cabbage into a large pasta or soup bowl. Cut the sausage in half on a bias (for no other reason then it looks fancy and like you know what you are doing) and arrange on top of the cabbage and serve.

NB// I would highly recommend pairing Kate’s Krauts and Brats with a Belgian, or Belgian style beer. My two choices are either Affligem or Delirium Tremens.

So there it is, the perfect fall recipe… at least in my humble opinion. I hope you enjoy it.

So why all this? Why my romanticising? Why this insistence upon seasonal compliance and cabbage?

I guess my point is this: There are seasons for a reason, and as much as we would like to think of ourselves as masters of our environment (oooh there is that stick again) we cannot divorce ourselves from nature, so why not just go with it.  Let yourself flow with the changes and hell, put on a pair of long johns if it helps get you in the mood. The main thing is to savour it!

I am not a religious person. However, I do believe in the Spirit of the Universe, Mother Nature and the wisdom of my elders so I shall leave you with this quote  “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven”. Ecclesiastes 3:1

Good eatin’ y’all love THE EPICUREAN