Everything is in balance
We made it. Today is one of 2 days, each year, when everything is in balance. It’s Autumnal Equinox. To some that means it’s time to break out warmer clothes. But, only a handful of people stop to really appreciate the day. At the Solstices, we mark the longest and shortest days of the year. But, on the equinox, day and night are approximately equal. It’s the goldilocks of calendar days. And, it corresponds with the Fall harvest. The downside is that the days are about to get shorter. So, that makes it the perfect time to “get your house in order” so to speak. Maybe that’s why the high holy days of the Jewish Religion center on or around this day.
Rosh Hashana happened last week. And Yom Kippur begins tomorrow. These holidays mark ten days of atonement and repentance (and are often called Jewish New Year). And, what better time to do this than when all things are equal? Think of it as re-balancing and re-tooling. Most people wait until New Year’s day on the secular calendar to come up with resolutions. It’s usually a pretty half-hearted attempt at making things right. You say you’re going to do better around solstice, which is the shortest day of the year. That’s kind of like waiting until you’re at your absolute lowest point, instead of being pro active. Hence, the resolutions rarely stick.
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How do we know everything is in Balance?
While Yom Kippur and New Year’s day base themselves on Judeo-Christian Calendars, Pagans and Wiccans celebrate the actual celestial occurrences of Equinox and Solstice. The name Mabon refers to Autumn Equinox in the northern hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere, they celebrate Ostara. In spring, these are reversed. Although, the holidays and the rituals may seem cultish to most, the observances are actually based on measurable physical phenomena. What actually occurs on this day is that the earth’s axis tilts at just the right angle to create an equidistance between the Earth and the sun. It’s actually a more scientific approach than other religious observations, as it measures our place in the celestial plane.
Since it marks a change in seasons, people give thanks for a successful harvest and sustenance. Throughout history, the second, and often last, harvest of the year happens around this time. Hence, the harvest moon and the celebration of Thanksgiving. FYI: the first American Thanksgiving happened in October, not November. And, in Canada, it still does. This makes more sense, since it comes closer to when the actual harvest would occur. Since we have the hindsight of millennia of human history, we know that it’s about to get colder for the next 6 months or so. So, it’s the perfect time to make sure you are in balance. This is the time to stock up on supplies to get you through a period without crops (not that we have to worry about that in our modern world, but the pioneers did).
Celebration VS Observation
To some, Mabon represents a mournful time, since plants die off or go dormant at this time of year. But, to others it’s a re-awakening of a whole new palette. While spring brings a plethora of colors to the landscape and summer is sun dappled, Autumn opens up a variety of more muted, but just as vibrant colors. Leaf peppers flock to New England this time of year to see the maples, oak, and other indigenous flora change color from deep green to a panoply of Orange, yellow, red, and brown. While the change marks the death of the leaves, it brings great joy to human observers. In a way, it’s like celebrating at a funeral.
Is it morbid? Not necessarily. At funerals, we observe the solemnity of the occasion. At the same time, we celebrate the life that once was, and the transition that is occurring. When we see one form of existence replaced by another, we can see that everything is in balance. The same holds true to the foods we eat at this time of year. While delicate lettuces and succulent fruits and vegetables burst with freshness in the summer, autumn brings on the heavier comfort foods that evoke nostalgia in all of us. Stews, casseroles, roasts, and porridges are welcome staples on every table. We want to curl up with a loved one or our beloved pets (preferably the latter) in front of a roaring hearth and hark back to the days of yore. It’s a time of reflection and, as the food is called: comfort.
So, let’s celebrate with food
Since summer is just coming to an end, we actually get the best of both worlds. The summer vegetables are giving way to the hardier fall crops. Where crops grown on trees and bushes reaching toward the heaven were abundant, the autumn crops tend to burrow into the ground. There was a utopian experiment in New England, started by Bronson Alcott and a group of Transcendentalists, called Fruitlands, in Harvard Mass. They actual forbade root vegetables since they aspired to baser things than trees “aspiring” to the heavens. The experiment was short lived and slightly misguided since root vegetables are what get you through the cold New England winters.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, a friend and Colleague visited them shortly after they started in June 1843. He quickly summed up the venture with the quote: “I will not prejudge them successful… They look well in July. We will see them in December.” Indeed, they didn’t make it through the winter. While nurturing the soul is important, cultivating sustainable crops to feed a community is more important on our human level of existence.
Meanwhile, 180 years later, we have access to the best that summer and fall have to offer. So, today, we will celebrate and observe with both to assure everything is in Balance. Here are your recipes for the most balanced day of the year:
Tempura fried squash blossoms
Ingredients
- 12 each Squash Blossoms (Flower from zucchini)
- 1/2 Cup Diced sweet onion
- 1 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Garlic
- 2 Cups Diced Lion's mane Mushrooms
- 2 Cups Fresh Pea Shoots, chopped fine
- 2 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Basil
- 1/4 Cup Mascarpone Cheese
- 1 Cup Shredded Mozzarella
- olive oil for cooking
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1 Large Egg
- 1 12 oz Beer
- 1 Cup Flour
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- oil for frying
Instructions
- Saute Onion and Garlic in olive oil until softened. Then add a little more oil and add the mushrooms. Saute until soft. Then add in the pea shoots and cook until soft as well. Fold in the basil and season with salt and pepper.
- Mix the cheeses in a bowl and fold in the vegetable mix.
- Remove the stamens from the flowers. And carefully fill the flowers with the stuffing.
- Whisk the egg, and add in the beer, then flour to make the tempura batter. Season with salt and pepper.
- heat oil to fry on the stove or in a fryer to about 350 degrees. Dip the stuffed flowers into the batter and gently place in the hot oil. Cook until the batter is evenly browned and crisp. Serve immediately.
Notes
Beer Braised New England Pot Roast with natural gravy, Root Vegetable Hash, and Buttered Fiddleheads
Ingredients
- 2.5 LB Eye of the round beef
- 1/2 cup AP flour
- 1/2 tsp each, salt and pepper
- 6 each medium garlic cloves
- 1/2 cup each rough chopped carrot, celery, and onion
- 12 oz beer, preferably a medium bodied ale
- 2 qt Beef stock
- 1 quart water
- 1 each bay leaf
- a few sprigs of fresh thyme, rosemary, and sage
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup oil for searing the beef
- Root Vegetable hash (see separate recipe)
- 1/2 lb fresh fiddleheads
- 1/4 Lb unsalted butter
Instructions
- prepare all your vegetables and get your mise en place together.
- rinse the fiddleheads with warm water repeatedly to remove any dirt. Then, soak them in cool water to remove dirt that gets in between. Trim the bottoms if they are black. Remove from water, and drain them.
- mix flour, salt, and pepper. Dredge the beef in the flour mix. Save the extra flour
- Heat the oil in a large heavy duty pot or dutch oven. When it is just below smoking, put the flour coated beef in. Sear each side of the beef until golden brown (about a minute per side depending on the heat from your burners).
- In a separate pan heat the beef stock and water mixed together.
- Add in the garlic, celery, carrot, and onion, stir occasionally. Cook until some color comes into the vegetables. Add in 1/2 of the butter and melt. Stir in the remainder of the flour mix. Stir and cook for a couple more minutes to make a pan roux. Add in the beer and stir.
- Pour the Beef stock mix into the pot with the beef and vegetables. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Then cut back to a simmer. Add in the herbs and bay leaf.
- Allow to simmer for about an hour. Check the beef to see if it is tender. Stick a fork in. It should be able to wiggle relatively freely without pulling apart the beef. If it is still tough, but the sauce has thickened, add more stock or water.
- When the beef is cooked, remove it from the pot, and, reduce the gravy until it becomes a pour-able, not too thin or thick consistency. Strain the vegetables and herbs out of the gravy and keep it warm for service.
- Melt the remaining butter in a separate saute pan, stirring occasionally. Add in the fiddleheads and cook over high heat. Add salt and pepper, and stir it in.
- Slice the beef and plate with vegetable hash (see recipe), the fiddleheads, and drizzle with gravy.
Vegan Black Cumin And Red Lentil Ragout
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Red Lentils
- 1 Cup Diced Sweet Onion
- 1 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Garlic
- 1 tsp Chopped Fresh Ginger
- 1 Cup Fresh Grape Tomatoes, Cut in 1/2
- 2 Tbsp Black Cumin Seeds
- 1 Tbsp Brown Cumin Seeds
- 1 tsp Ground Turmeric
- 4 Cups vegetable Broth (may substitute water)
- 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Saute the onion, Both types of cumin seed, garlic, and ginger in olive oil over medium high heat until translucent. Then add in the lentils. Stir and cook until well coated with the olive oil.
- Heat the stock over high heat. Fill the pan of lentils with stock so that they are completely covered. You may not need all of it, as red lentils cook quickly. Reduce by 1/2 the volume, stirring as needed. Be careful not to overcook the lentils. Add in the tomatoes and Turmeric. Continue cooking . Add more stock if needed. You want the lentils to be soft, but not breaking apart. Fold in salt, pepper, and Cashews. Serve hot. For today's recipe, we want most of the liquid absorbed, so it can stand on a plate. But, you can leave it wetter if you want more of a stew that you can serve in a bowl.