Greek Chicken with Sage

We have two varieties of sage in the herb garden at present. I don't know their names but I certainly admire the way they hung in there over our record-hot summer. I don't use sage very much except at Thanksgiving, so I was happy to find this vinegary, flavorful recipe in Susanna Hoffman's The Olive and the Caper. A bonus: it's very easy.

Chicken with Onions, Tomatoes, Capers and Sage

2-4 tablespoons olive oil

3-4 large boneless, skinless chicken thighs, halved

1 sliced onion

1/3 cup dry red wine

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

1 cup canned diced tomatoes

3 tablespoons capers, drained

1 teaspoon or more fresh chopped sage leaves

Salt and pepper

Heat the oil and brown the chicken and onion for about 10 minutes. Add all the remaining ingredients and stir to mix. Simmer, partially covered, until chicken is tender, perhaps about 45 minutes. Reduce the sauce at the end if it's too liquid.

Pork Tenderloin with Sage and Mustard

I heard Michael Pollan on NPR today talking about his open letter to the next president. He eloquently summarized his ideas, notably that the unhealthiest foods (hydrogenated fats, high-fructose corn syrup) are the cheapest because they are subsidized by the government, and that we should be subsidizing broccoli instead! So we are going to have broccoli and tofu tonight.

Last night, however, we had a teeny pork tenderloin pan-fried with garlic, sage, and rosemary, and finished with a sauce of pan juices, Dijon mustard, and vermouth. With it we had baked butternut squash and Jack Bishop green beans, a preparation I can't seem to get enough of.

Butternut Squash Soup

We bought some winter squash at that Hendersonville farm stand last week: one butternut, one buttercup, and several entertainingly lumpy gourds. Last night I made soup with the butternut squash.

The problem with winter squash soup recipes is that they require peeling the squash, which is a giant waste of time, and can actually be dangerous if you lack sharp knives and/or knife skills. I think that, like sweet potatoes, winter squash is best when roasted -- it seems to concentrate the flavor and intensify the sweetness. So instead of peeling and boiling, I started my butternut squash soup by roasting the squash at 400 degrees for about an hour. I cut it into 4 pieces first and sprayed it with a little olive oil.

The skin slides right off of roasted squash. Problem solved.

I sauteed a sweet onion and a tiny clove of garlic in 1 tablespoon each of butter and olive oil. Then I added a chopped Yukon Gold potato, the scooped-out squash innards, a cup of white wine (begging the pardon of Julia Child once again: it was a Chardonnay that I saved for cooking because it tasted like soda pop), and several cups of chicken broth.

I seasoned it with:

- a few fresh sage leaves, chiffonaded
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- a few thyme leaves
- salt

I simmered it until the potatoes softened, about 35 minutes, then pureed it with a little water so it didn't become gluey. I reheated it, stirred in a few tablespoons of chopped chives, and topped the bowls with:

- sour cream
- fresh black pepper
- sage leaves fried in butter and drained on paper towels
- whole fresh chives

(Fried sage leaves are amazing. Lawson makes tomato sauce with cannellini beans and fried sage leaves...simply the best pasta I've ever eaten.)

In the picture you also see a popover, and some mixed lettuce tossed with rice vinegar.

The soup was even better the next day. And now it truly feels like autumn, even if it is 90 degrees in Columbia today.