White Bean Dip with Roasted Garlic

95 cloves of garlic in the ground: an investment in the future.  This sign of fall comes amid our “peak foliage weekend” here in midcoast Maine, a fitting Sunday afternoon activity.  I pulled out the last odds and ends from the bed, added a layer of compost, worked it into the ground, raked it smooth and poked holes with my rake handle.   “Does garlic grow over the winter?” asks K.  Good question, I think.  Why do I always plant the garlic around Columbus Day?  (Because that’s when my garlic guru friend tells me to!)  But K. got me thinking, and I consulted Growing Great Garlic, by Ron L. Engeland, my second favorite garlic resource.  

Tomato’s Last Stand

On this sunny, breezy October afternoon I pulled the tomato plants.  Their yield has been markedly down, with nights dipping into the 40's and days that don’t often break the mid 60’s.  This past week’s harvest basket is more or less empty of tomatoes.  With several weekends of travel on the horizon, I completed the first right of passage, the first step in admitting summer’s end.  The chore was bittersweet; it was a spectacular afternoon.  The kind of afternoon where I could lose myself in the garden.  It felt good to clean up the place, to pull, rake, compost, then tuck in the bed for winter under a blanket of yellow straw.  I love the heat of summer, and sometimes question why I have chosen to live in such a northern state as Maine.  But then I think of cozy Sunday afternoons on the couch, tired from a morning of winter outdoor activity, now wrapped in wool with warm hands surrounding a mug of tea.  I love to be cozy, and winter is the perfect season for practicing this pastime.  (Not to mention the beauty of the four seasons) Nevertheless, I had to capture the last of the tomatoes, the gleanings of a seemingly empty bed that will ripen on the window sill until they become one last BLT, or one last batch of tomato sauce.

First Days of Fall Soup

Molly Katzen, one of the chefs behind the Moosewood Collective, has several versions of lentil soup, and this is my favorite.  The lentil soup base is spiced with paprika, cinnamon, allspice and cayenne, full of late summer vegetables and accented with a secret ingredient: dried apricots.  The dried apricots swell during the cooking and burst with sweetness while you eat.  It’s simple, satisfying and nourishing, and will always remind me of my husband, who first introduced me to the recipe.

Moosewood Lentil Soup

1 1/2 cups dried lentils (I prefer French lentils)

6 cups vegetable stock (or water)

1/2 cup chopped dried apricots

3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup chopped onions

2 to 3 cups eggplant

1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned

1 green pepper, chopped

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1 tablespoon paprika

1 1/2 tablespoon salt

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

Rinse the lentils, then bring them to a boil in the stock or water. Reduce the heat and simmer covered for 20 minutes. Add the chopped apricots and simmer covered for another 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute the onions in the oil until translucent, then add the eggplant and 4 or 5 tablespoons of water. Cook covered on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the eggplant is almost tender. Add the spices and salt, toast to release the flavor.  Add the tomatoes, stir and scrape any bits off the bottom of the pan.  Add the peppers, cover and cook until tender, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.

Add the cooked lentils and apricots to the vegetables and simmer for 15 minutes.  Add the parsley and mint, top with parmesan cheese if desired and serve with crusty bread.