A Proper Fall Picnic for Sunday Supper.

Don’t wait for Sunday to make a special meal.  Monday works!  Ok I admit, this spread is slightly over the top.  We got a bit carried away with the fall picnic theme.  Heinen’s Fine foods makes rounding up all the ingredients easy.

So what inspired our Fall family picnic?  A few weeks ago when I was in France.  Wait, that was fun to say!  Can I say it again…when I was in France,  I picked up a linen table cloth at a farmers market in Gordes, aux Provence that I decided to use as the base for our feast.  I wanted to  share with my family a little of the European experience I had on my trip.  For most of my trip thru sSouthern France, this is how we ate.  Small plates of fresh ingredients laid out beautifully.

Mark, my third son, and I went shopping for our plan on Saturday.  At Heinen’s the vegetables are so easy to choose.  Our favorite is the tri-colored carrots which we roasted.   Much of what you see here is totally simple.  Just the way I like it.

The key is to choose quality ingredients.  Prosciutto wrapped around thin italian bread sticks, heirloom tomato salad, fresh fruits, dried fruits and nuts, olives and sliced meats and cheeses.

Rare roast beef sandwiches with fresh baguettes, tomatoes and basil mayo.

The bean salad and quinoa kale salad are both from Heinen’s salad bar, two of our favorites.

 

The berry crumble pie, apple pie and tarts, you guessed it, Heinen’s bakery.

 

The sliced date walnut bar (next to the grapes) is found in the cheese department.  It and quince paste are my all time favorite things to serve with cheese. Easy peasy.

The bruschetta are simply roasted butternut squash tossed with brown butter and fresh sage. The recipe is almost too simple to write out but I will add it below for you.  So as you can see an autumn picnic is a simple sunday supper.

 

 

Fall Breschetta

one fresh baguette (two if you have family nibbling as you slice it.)

one large butternut squash peeled, cut into cubes.  ( you can buy this already done for you if you wish)

2 Tbs olive oil

10 fresh sage leaves

one stick butter

about 3 cups of fresh arugula

kosher salt and pepper

simply spread the squash out onto a cookie sheet tossed in the olive oil and salt and peppered.

roast them for about 10-15 minutes at 400° until they have golden brown exterior and blackened bits on the corners.

slice the baguette into 1/2 inch slices and toast on a grill pan with a bit of olive oil.

In a large sautee pan meant the butter.  Add the sage leaves and cook until the butter browns and the leaves start to curl on the edges.

toss in the roasted squash and mix, slightly mashing the squash.

spoon squash mixture onto each baguette slice.  Once your tray is arranged toss the arugula with a bit of  good olive oil, salt and pepper.  spread over the bruschetta.

Enjoy!