The Royal Chef At Home: Easy Seasonal Entertaining

For years after I moved to Texas, I could never remember if my extended family visited us in the spring or fall. Inmymind it was always summer. After all, wasn’t it hot and weren’t we grilling out in the backyard? But over the years, I’ve begun to notice more subtle changes. The afternoon light slants lower across the kitchen counters, and the mornings are just a touch cooler. The languor of summer heat begins to lift. There is something too about the school calendar that even now makes me think that September really starts a new year. It’s supposed to be January, but to be honest, I’m more interested in taking stock of the upcoming year in September. Fall is a busy time. There are end of summer events, followed by school activities, Halloween tricks and treats, Thanksgiving celebrations and the mad sprint to Christmas. There is so much to look forward to and experience. I silently promise myself that this year I’m going to… brush up on my Spanish, make time to coach soccer, immerse myself in some new cooking techniques, etc… But mostly I’ll map out my upcoming year and set goals, culinary and personal. Fall entertaining bridges the casual, “drop in anytime” feeling of summer with the more intimate dinner parties of winter evenings. We’ll open the house during early fall for family barbeques with loads of kids shrieking around the garden and pitchers of sangria for the grownups. There are still plenty of tomatoes, pepper and summer squash coming in from

the garden to enjoy perfumed with the potted basil’s last leaves. Melons, big and small, are soft and filled with juice. The final corn crop from a nearby farm is being harvested, and the deluge of fresh plucked ears is sweet and inexpensive. We eat a lot of it. But soon I’ll roll the grill into storage and start roasting again. Entertaining may still be casual outdoor buffets, but now we’ll need votive candles and light cardigans for later in the evening. My ever organized wife begins to plan out our fall calendar including parties, school fundraisers, quick trips, and guest lists for Thanksgiving. I, on the other hand, look forward to carving pumpkins—something I never did as a kid—and enjoying all things ghostly and ghastly. As the cooler weather draws in, I turn to slow cooked braises. Nothing beats buttoning up to walk the dog for an hour than returning to the smell of Guinness braised pork shanks with apples and prunes wafting through the house and one of the kids shouting, “Dad! How long will dinner be?” Our local farmers markets are filled with onions, leeks, new potatoes, hard squashes, root vegetables and greens, greens, greens. I love to cook them all. At our house a pan of vegetables roasting alongside a pork loin or standing rib roast in the oven and a great bottle (or two) of wine have been at the heart of some of our most memorable get togethers. The holidays are right around the corner, and the wine has everyone feeling just a bit festive. Cheers.

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