November, Sea, Sky, Earth. And Dinner.

November has its own beauty. Shafts of bright sunlight on grey barns and empty fields. Yellows and browns of the few remaining leaves on the grey and brown capillary branches of maples, dark pines and dark clouds and a slate colored sky. You find your beauty where you can.

Last night, I made dinner with some delicata squash that had volunteered in the backyard. We had three or four different kinds of squash (see the picture above) that grew up in the area where our old compost was. I baked the halves, cut side down, then turned them over and sprinkled the insides with salt and butter and some sautéed mushrooms and topped it with breadcrumbs moistened with olive oil and butter-sauteed mushroom pieces and some parsley that was hanging on in the herb garden. I added some farmer’s market fingerling potatoes to the pan for the last 15 minutes.

When I was in Chatham, bay scallops were just coming in. Impudent Oyster had a lunch dish for $32, which I declined. Instead, I bought half a pound of bay scallops for almost half that at Chatham Fish and Lobster. I sautéed a bit of garlic in some butter, made some bread crumbs from a heel of challah I found in the fridge. A quick sauté to heat the scallops in the butter and into a baking dish, topped with the breadcrumbs and into the oven next to the squash. Sarah had brought home some chanterelle mushrooms, so I sautéed those while the scallops were cooking and topped the scallops with them when I served them. A chopped salad of (farmer’s market) red onions, cucumbers, green peppers, and carrots, and dinner was done.