We’re at the peak of fall here in New York City and it hardly seems to be showing. While the trees are brilliant golds, mums are popping open, and bulbs are heading into the ground, the sun is blasting down and the days are mild in the upper 50’s and 60’s. I thought I lived on the east coast, not west.

I await a steady stream of cool, crisp fall days– Fall is my favorite season and there is nothing like cuddling up to a bowl of hot soup on a cold night, or a nice hot toddy. And as we sit practically beach side in the City, northern New York and the surrounds have already seen snow. These truly cold temps around the City bring fall produce into farmer markets and my CSA drops, even if it’s the last thing on our mind.
So now I have a pileup of butternut and acorn squashes awaiting temperatures to dip low enough to justify turning the oven on for extended lengths. And as I thought about those squash the other day, I thought about potatoes and home fries and hash, and how sweetly seductive a butternut hash might be with a morning egg.

Peeled, seeded and chopped into 1/2-inch cubes, squash will cook up in less time than the same sized potatoes on the stove top. Left alone, those sauteed squash can top salads, get mashed for sides, or, turned into cookies or pies– Or, as above, mixed into a sweet and savory hash to accompany an egg.

Squash Hash
Serving size= 4 persons. Prep time= 15 minutes. Cook time= 15 minutes
1 butternut squash (acorn, sunshine, delicata, or other winter squash will work), Peeled, halved, seeds removed, slice into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup crimini mushrooms, quartered
2 red peppers, sliced into long 1/2-inch strips
2 tablespoons fresh chives (or 1 scallion), minced
salt/ pepper to taste
2 tablespoons lard, olive oil or butter to cook

Method: Heat preferred fat in skillet over medium-high heat. Add squash and mushrooms, toss to coat in fat, then let cook for 5 minutes to brown. Add red peppers and a pinch of salt. Stir and cook about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until squash is soft and mushrooms are browned. Remove from heat, add pepper to taste and chives. Toss to coat and serve.

There are few things that remind me of the marvelous gifts of winter. Simply that a little bivalve can bring so much happiness. Or best yet, something that can make me believe I am sitting in front of my very own fireplace, in a cozy cabin, on a precipice overlooking a spraying bay. A bowl of chowder accomplishes all these things and more.

Clam chowder. Not that poor excuse of a chowder– the thin Manhattan tomato-based variety. Thick and creamy New England style, loaded with clams and root vegetables. The bounty of winter in a single bowl.

Clam chowder is a soup that makes me feel like a fisherman. Each time I finish a bowl it’s with an affirmative “arrrr, maty, t’was mighty fine gruel.” I smack the lingering ocean brine from my lips as I sadly realize no parrot sits on my shoulder, and I am simply in my New York City apartment (perhaps I believe I am a pirate?).

Oh you wicked tease clam chowder.

The best chowder I ever ate was along the New Jersey coast. I’m sure the late fall frigid temperatures played a part in its greatness. Or maybe because it was the only eating destination open. Possibly it was the giant yellow whale engraved against the blue hut that sold it. But there were four of us in total, taking a cold road trip to the shore for some R&R on the abandoned coast. That was good chowder.

The above chowder might be just as good. It smells of warm cream and ocean water and sticks to the bones just right on these wintry afternoons. It is not as heavy as other clam chowders you find. To thicken the broth and add some extra flavor, I added a puree of roasted root vegetables along with a scant 2 pints of heavy cream (2 pints is scant when you make a 20-quart pot of chowder). I also used a combination of smaller littleneck clams and larger cherrystones that were removed from their shells and chopped into the soup. I’ve adapted the recipe below to a simpler cherrystone-only version. Additionally, I had leftover lobster stock (frozen from mine and D’s Valentine’s lobster feast) that I used as stock. Any fish stock or a bottle of clam juice will work equally well.

New England Clam Chowder
Serving size= 6-8. Active time= 20 minutes. Inactive time= 30 minutes.
1 dozen cherrystone clams
2 strips bacon, chopped
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb assorted root vegetables (potatoes, rutabaga, parsnips, carrots, turnips all work well), cut into 1 inch pieces
1 sprig thyme
2 8-ounce bottles clam juice (or a fish stock, 8 cups total)
2 cups water
1 pint heavy cream

1) Soak clams in lightly salted water for 30-60 minutes. This helps them spit out trapped sand from their shells.
2) In a 6-quart pot, bring 2 cups of lightly salted water to a boil. Add clams and cover, cook 2 minutes. Stir, cover and cook 2-3 minutes more, until all clams have opened up. Set clams aside and toss any clams that do not open. Strain the cooking liquid and set aside.
3) In the same pot (now without liquid), fry chopped bacon on medium-high heat until crisp. Remove from pot and set aside. Do not drain fat. Add chopped onion, saute 3 minutes. Add garlic, saute 1 minute more. Add chopped root vegetables, thyme sprig, bottled clam juice, retained clam juice cooking liquid and water. Cover, bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, until root vegetables are soft.
4) While warming, remove clams from shells and chop roughly.
5) Once vegetables are soft, add heavy cream and stir to incorporate. Just before serving, stir in clams and bacon, season with salt and pepper and serve.

What is with me and beets? You ask.
What is this recent obsession with using them in strange applications? You wonder.
An early start on Valentine’s Day?

I wanted pink pasta. No, truthfully I am still looking to use up my beets in interesting ways. I have eaten them plain, braised, pickled, in chocolate cake, and now beets have fallen into gnocchi. I really wanted to utilize that unique coloring that I love into something that would be truly fabulous. I think this takes the cake. How fabulous they are, both taste and visually. Look at them! Lovely magenta dumplings! So bold on a plate, screaming to say, look at me at eat me!

With my new food mill a willing collaborator, I had to give these babies a try.

Step back. Food mill?

I know, it sounds very old fashion, right? Even D was a doubter (and now newly converted). For months I have been looking into purchasing a new potato masher. No joke, months. I take my kitchen purchases very seriously. I have been using an old pastry blender with wires that just don’t stick in place. (Poorly constructed.)

Debating between hand-held mashers, I could not bring myself to make the buy. Not enough uses for a single instrument that can cost a good deal for the style I wanted. Potato ricers are great, but they ultimately feel like giant garlic presses to me (they also do a lousy job pushing celeriac through I recently found out borrowing a friend’s). So after much contemplation I went with a food mill. Good not only for mashing or ricing potatoes, but will bring sauces and soups smooth, make applesauce, and somewhere down the road can make baby food or grandparent food (zing!).

So with my new food mill I pushed potatoes and beets through and out came what D exclaimed as the “Sweeney Todd Special.” Pot pies anyone? I am ecstatic I have this instrument.
Really, the beet in this recipe is so faint it is difficult to detect. Another great way to slip beets to the haters. I also think it’s a great way to get kids interested in vegetables. Forget slipping it into their food, how about letting them make pink pasta, black pasta (with sepia), brown (chocolate), you get it. I had fun, I’m sure a child would have even more. (And how rewarding to make something delicious the whole family can enjoy).

This recipe made a good deal of gnocchi, enough for two portions and plenty to freeze for later. The best part of gnocchi is that once it’s frozen, it just takes an extra minute or so in boiling water to bring to temperature. Easy, delicious and easy on the eyes. Make the beets a day before to cut some time off.

To make regular gnocchi, just remove the beets from the process and reduce the flour amount (or follow this link). Beets have so much moisture that a good amount of flour is needed to counteract the stickiness of the dough Alternatively, I could have used less beet, but I love how this gnocchi radiates (really, sort of radioactive).

Beet Gnocchi
Serving Size= 8-10 portions
Special equipment: box grater, potato ricer or food mill
2 large (I used 8 small) russet potatoes
2-3 beets
2-3 cups flour
2 eggs
2 teaspoons salt
pepper to taste

1) Snip greens from beets and boil until soft, 30-45 minutes. Remove skin under cold running water, set aside. Boil whole potatoes, skin on, until soft (do not puncture initially with fork). Work carefully and quickly with two towels to slip potato skin off (you want to rice the potatoes while still warm).
2) Working in batches, place potatoes and beets through the ricer and spread gratings over a cookie sheet to dry out as you work.
3) Create a mound with the potato and beet shavings. Add the flour, salt and pepper to the center and create a moat, cracking the eggs inside. Work and knead the dough together, adding more flour as necessary, until dough is no longer sticking to fingers. (As D said, until it looks like a giant pancreas, see photo left).
4) Working in batches on a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into snakes a little thicker than the width of your thumb. Slice into 1-inch pieces. Finish shaping on a lightly floured cutting board and imprint with a fork (this helps hold the sauce and cook more evenly). Assemble, slightly apart, on a cookie sheet and freeze if saving some for later use (this keeps the gnocchi from forming one giant gnocchi). Transfer to freezer bag once frozen through.
To Cook: Boil salted water. Add gnocchi and cook 3-4 minutes, until gnocchi float to top, remove with slotted spoon.
Note: Use your gnocchi just like regular pasta, though in my opinion, stay away from tomato based sauces as this will just be a large bowl of reds. Light olive oil and Parmesan, cream sauces or pesto, work very nicely with these. More in the days to come.