Summer Fall Salad and Curry

Anyone else feel caught between two seasons? Don’t get me wrong, I love this time of year, especially the warm afternoons and chilly, great-for-sleeping weekends, but I find it a tough time to get dressed and a tough time to plan meals.

I always wake up freezing, dress too warmly, and by mid-day am too hot. Or I plan a meal that is perfect for a summery day, only to be eating chilled soup on a dreary evening.

Last night this was not the case. We woke up to the perfect day to sleep in, but alas we had work. I was freezing all day, went to the farmers market in the rain, and had my mind set on an evening with a hot, spicy, veggie curry, Shipyard pumpkin beer, and maybe a little Travel Channel ghost show. 🙂

The market is also trapped between summer and fall, and that is a very good thing.Squash, heirloom tomatoes, and honeycrisp apples in the same place might just be heaven.

The colors of the market splashed across Copley Square against the gray, rainy backdrop like an abstract painting. It was quite beautiful and made me feel SO much better than I did inside my office.

I bought a ton, a head of broccoli, some shallots, a bag of apples, a few acorn squashes, an heirloom tomato the size of my head, the sweetest corn I have ever eaten (raw!), and some spicy peppers for my curry.

We had a very veggie dinner, starting with chopped heirloom tomato with a simple dressing of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, shallots, and black pepper. After eating some of the corn raw, I roasted the rest with olive oil and added a tiny bit of sea salt at the end.

The curry contained one whole red onion, roughly chopped, 6 carrots, a head of broccoli, a green bell pepper, acorn squash, and some hot peppers, seeds and all.

To prep the veggies, I simmered the onions on their own in a tiny bit of olive oil so they would soften and sweeten up. While doing this I roasted the acorn squash at 400 for about 20 minutes. Everything else got tossed into the big pot, then covered in a can of coconut milk, a couple spoons of red curry paste, a bit of lemongrass paste, Burmese curry powder, and cayenne pepper.

It was so simple, yet so delicious and comforting. I enjoyed a bowl of curry alongside my summery tomato salad and corn and a Shipyard brew.

I needed a quiet night in. It was a very trying week. Luckily I have a fun weekend trip ahead, heading on a blogger road trip to Vermont to take some baking classes at King Arthur Flour! It should be a very exciting weekend!

And next week is Boston Wine Week and then the Newport Mansions Food and Wine Festival, my favorite event of last year. Too many fun things happening, too little time!

Do you feel like you are still savoring summer, or have you made the leap to fall?