When the sun finally deserts us come October, and we’re left with cool air, grey skies and wet pavements, I like few things better of an evening than a hot drink and a good (cook)book on the sofa, or some warming food and a glass (or two) of wine in a local Weinstube (wine tavern). On market days, wandering around in the cold morning drizzle, I pick up heavy, wet leaves and grubby roots and tubers, which I love peeling and chopping in the kitchen for dinner as it grows dark outside. There are some wonderful sweet and savoury things to do with the ugly, knobbly, earthy produce on offer this month. Here’s a handful of suggestions…
Pumpkin (Kürbis)

Bright orange, tubby and cheery, I do love a good pumpkin (though please don’t mention pumpkin spice). Hallowe’en still isn’t widely celebrated in Germany, but pumpkins and other strangely-shaped gourds are used to decorate windowsills and shop fronts, and there are whole festivals built around them, too. There’s pumpkin soup on just about every restaurant menu throughout pumpkin season, and it’s frequently on table in various forms chez Dietz. I am a huge fan of:
★ Yotam Ottolenghi’s pumpkin, saffron and orange soup with caramelised pumpkin seeds,
★ Rachel Roddy’s Sicilian-style sweet-and-sour pumpkin, and
★ Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s pumpkin risotto with crispy sage.
Fennel (Fenchel)

Not being much of a fan of aniseed, I was very surprised to discover only a few years ago that I actually very much like fennel (Fenchel). The white and green bulbs have a much milder taste than fennel seeds, a wonderfully crisp texture when finely sliced for salads, and they develop a much sweeter flavour when they’re boiled or braised. I can’t seem to stop making Diana Henry‘s fennel and gruyère gratin (pictured above, from the indispensable Cook Simple), but here are three other recipes I’d like to try out whilst there’s fennel about:
★ Nigel Slater’s pork and fennel pot roast,
★ Mark Bittman’s roast chicken with fennel, and
★ orange and fennel salad (and there’s another nine fennel recipes to browse there, too).
Red Cabbage (Rotkohl)
As far as German culinary stereotypes go, you don’t get much more autumnal (or winter-ish) than a plate of braised red cabbage (Rotkohl). Where I live, it’s often served alongside a thick slice of Sauerbraten (traditional German marinated beef pot roast) and a couple of fat dumplings, however I’d love to try something a bit different this year, perhaps:
★ Jamie Oliver’s spiced lamb flatbreads with red cabbage pickle,
★ fermented red cabbage with apple or
★ Yotam Ottolenghi’s beetroot, carrot and red cabbage slaw.
Celeriac (Knollensellerie)

Another very funny looking root, and one that takes a bit of patience (and strength) to peel and hack apart, celeriac has a milder, sweeter flavour than its long, thin cousin, the celery (the crunchy stalk with leaves). Often used in Germany to add a bit of depth to vegetable stock, celeriac is also good mashed, roasted or even raw and grated. Three of my favourite celeriac sides include:
★ Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s celeriac and apple mash,
★ Yotam Ottolenghi’s tart apple and celeriac salad, and
★ Anna Jones’s celeriac soup with hazelnuts and crispy sage.
That’s it for this month, and I can’t believe there’s only two months left of this seasonal eating guide to go before the year’s out! What are you making the most of this month?
Also in season in October: apples (Äpfel), beetroot (Rote Bete), brussels sprouts (Rosenkohl), chestnuts (Maronen), kale (Grünkohl), pears (Birne), walnuts (Walnüsse), salsify (Schwarzwurzel) and savoy cabbage (Wirsing).
So much deliciousness…so little time. Can’t get enough of the Kurbis. And last week Grunkohl….om nom nom.
I know! I haven’t seen any kale yet, but I’m so busy with the pumpkin and the fennel that I hadn’t even noticed 🙂
I’ve been on a kale lookout since it started getting colder out. I can’t wait until it becomes available! The next problem is fitting a giant head of kale in my tiny fridge…
The wait for kale in Wiesbaden is over, I saw some at the market this morning 🙂 Which means it can only be seconds before the internet is flooded with recipes for kale chips 😉
p.s. I feel your pain with the tiny fridge!!
We’ve been eating so much pumpkin lately! I love it. That risotto sounds amazing, and Jan loves sage so I may have to give it a try. We are also eating a lot of sweet potatoes at the monent, and also the carrot and ginger soup that I posted my recipe for the other day.
My favourite autumn eat has to be cottage pie. I usually make it with carrots and peas, but recently I tried sticking some butternut squash in and it was so, so good!
Ahhh… cottage pie, that reminds me of autumn at my mum and dad’s! I bet butternut squash is good in it. And you should definitely try out the risotto, it’s absolutely delicious 🙂
OMG – I love your seasonal eating guides – am so hungry now… haha 🙂
Thank you!!! 😀
October happiness, all those lovely vegetables :-). I can’t stop marveling at that fennel & gruyère gratin – surely most delicious!
Oh gosh, thank you very much for your comment! The gratin is absolutely delicious – I was very sorry I couldn’t find the recipe online to be able to share it here. It’s essentially just fennel, cream, parmesan and gruyére though… which is probably why it tastes so good 😉
What a great series you have there! Eating seasonally makes one look forward to what is new at the markets 😀
Thank you! 🙂 I absolutely love eating like this – it’s such a dramatic lifestyle change from how I used to eat in London, where you can get anything you want whenever you want. (Although since I’ve been here, that’s definitely begun to change too… but everything just tastes better when it’s from around the corner anyway 🙂 )
Delicious! I am still yet to like rotkohl however, it’s one of the few things I don’t like here! Probably because I was made to eat it as a child! 😀 x
I don’t think I even tried red cabbage till I was a grown up! Maybe that’s why I like it so much 😉
Kathleen recommended your blog to me, and I’ve really enjoyed reading it, especially this most recent post on seasonal eating. Pumpkin is my favorite!
I’ve nominated you for a Liebster award, by the way. 🙂
http://www.travelinghopefully.co/blog/2014/10/23/the-liebster-award-2014
Hello there and thank you so much! That’s very kind of you 🙂 I’m afraid I’m not very good at doing these things, I’m struggling enough with getting my own usual content up at the moment, but I really appreciate that you nominated me and I’ll come over and check out your blog pronto 😀
Also, I know a couple of Kathleens, so thank you very much to the one who recommended my blog! 🙂
p.s. I think pumpkin’s my favourite too 😉
I agree about pumpkin, it’s definitely the symbol of Autumn! Before I moved to Germany, I had never experienced so much pumpkin in my life!
I know!! You can’t move an inch without finding yourself on top of one here 😉
Had to share your blog on the local Foodies of the KMC page on FB. Love the seasonal eating posts!
Thank you so much! I’m really glad you like it 😀
Yum! I also think fennel is excellent chopped into large chunks, put in an ovenproof dish with white wine, olive oil, garlic and seasoning…so simple, but so decadent!
Oh that sounds really good. Really good. I’ll give that a go sometime.
The simplest things are so very often the very best 😀
Thanks so much for including the fest link! It’s really really my favourite time of year! I love it! 🙂
Mine too 😀 And of course, I just love all those photos!