Getting Started on This Week's Dinners

Okay, with fresh corn gone, rain possible, and temperatures headed only into the 70s (and even 60s), I'm finally ready to acknowledge some of the joys of fall cooking. Making big, comfy casseroles in the oven is one of them, so that will be our starting point for the week, with cod, potato, and fennel casserole from Gourmet magazine. This suggests itself from three directions: the gorgeous fennel bulbs I picked up at the Boulder Farmers' Market two days ago, the organic russet potatoes currently on sale at Whole Foods for $2.50 for a 5 pound bag, and in a twist, the haddock on sale at Sprouts for $4.99 a pound. I'm hoping haddock will work as well as cod in the dish based on its interchangeability (is that a word?) with cod in an old New England classic, scrod. Tradition has it that if it is spelled scrod, it's made with cod, and if schrod, it's haddock. A little asparagus from the sale at Lucky's will go on the side, either steamed or roasted along with the casserole.

Then, no surprise, we'll take advantage of Saturday's clear weather to get in at least one more grilling of fresh, wild salmon, with just a squeeze of lemon to top it off. Since eggplant and tomatoes are still abundantly available, we might turn back to grilled eggplant salad from Cooking Light, since the grill is going anyway. More likely we'll return to our fall thinking and therefore to the oven, roasting an assortment of veggies (no recipe required, although there are many). The rest of my fennel from the Farmers' Market could go in, along with cubes of some of the organic squash on sale at either Sunflower or Lucky's, tossed with a bit of olive oil and herbs.

To finish off the weekend, I'm sure there are plenty of other people in Boulder like me who are looking to use up the fresh herbs in their gardens and pots, since temperatures in this coming week are going to be dipping dangerously low for delicate herbs. One of my solutions will be penne with asparagus and basil from Bon Appetit. This uses the asparagus available for cheap at Lucky's, some organic tomatoes from the Farmers' Market, and plenty of my own herbs. In addition to the basil and parsley called for in the recipe, I bet it would benefit from some of my fresh oregano, too. It could either be left vegetarian as written, or given a little omph with the addition of something like prosciutto or pancetta. Using a touch of meat as a flavoring is a technique heavily championed by Mark Bittman in his new cookbook, The Food Matters Cookbook, which I'm currently checking out. A bit of prosciutto could be sauteed in the pan before starting the recipe, removed from the pan, then crumbled into the finished dish.

That will get us through the weekend, with more planning to come.