Market Memo | November
Your guide to the month’s most beautiful, flavorful produce.
November brings the first holiday invitations, and I’m thinking about dishes to pass around: a leek tart, a bright slaw of red cabbage and apple, pears to serve with cheese. The market offers plenty for Thanksgiving, and just as much for supper with friends.
At Midwestern markets, late harvests sit alongside autumn crops that keep well. Leeks, hardy greens and roots can still be coming out of the ground as the weather allows; winter squash has generally been picked before frost.
Blue Hubbard’s blue-gray shell hides dense, sweet orange flesh. Roasted and blended into a smooth soup, it takes well to a spoonful of crème fraîche and toasted pumpkin seeds.
Savoy cabbage’s crinkled leaves are particularly good wrapped around rice, mushrooms and herbs, then braised in stock. Red cabbage brings a firmer bite to slaw with apple, mustard and cider vinegar, or can be braised with onion, apple and red wine vinegar until tender. I also like making cauliflower rice—try it with toasted almonds and fresh herbs alongside a roast.
Light frost can sweeten Brussels sprouts, giving us a good reason to bring them home again this month. Roast them until the cut sides brown, then finish with browned butter, capers and a squeeze of lemon.
Leeks cooked gently in butter become a sweet filling for a puff pastry tart with Dijon and Gruyère. Serve it with a sharply dressed green salad for lunch, or cut into small squares to pass with drinks.
Sunchokes, or Jerusalem artichokes, are sunflower tubers dug in late fall, often after frost. Their pale flesh has a gentle, nutty sweetness. Roasted until crisp at the edges, with lemon and parsley to finish, they make a good side for chicken or fish.
Small white salad turnips, such as Hakurei, need even less attention: sliced raw for a little crunch, or glazed with butter. Their leafy tops are good sautéed with garlic.
Watermelon radishes and many daikon varieties are grown for a fall harvest and can be stored into winter. Thinly sliced watermelon radishes bring a crisp, peppery bite to salads, while their vivid pink centers brighten a crudité tray. Daikon is especially useful for quick pickles or simmering in broth. Small red salad radishes also have fall crops, so their appearance at the market isn’t confined to spring.
Tuscan kale simmered with cannellini beans, stock, garlic and a Parmesan rind makes a satisfying supper over toasted bread. Tatsoi’s spoon-shaped leaves are more tender: good raw in salads or briefly wilted with garlic and ginger. Growers using covers or tunnels can extend the harvest of these cool-weather greens.
My cranberry, orange and Campari compote makes a Thanksgiving side with a pleasantly bitter edge. It’s also particularly good with roast pork or a sharp cheese. Baked into a pear crumble, cranberries provide a tart counterpoint to the sweet fruit and buttery topping. Pop a few whole berries into cocktails for a bit of merriment.
Pears can take us from the cheese board to dessert. Bosc’s dense flesh holds its shape well when roasted or poached; a ripe Comice is particularly good beside Gorgonzola. For a warm dessert, roast pear halves with butter and a little honey, then serve with mascarpone and toasted hazelnuts.
November’s harvest rewards a little work in the kitchen. Invite your friends, set out the silver and let the holiday season begin.
Your table, beautifully in season.
