Get unlimited access for $1 a week You heard it here first. Read the rest with The Post. →

PUBLISHED BY

Recipes
What to cook during the week ahead, from Post Food editors.

By Becky Krystal

It's that time of year when everything is (seemingly) pumpkin. Of course, pumpkin spice — the lattes, but also every possible product you can think of — is top of mind. And as I walk around my neighborhood, I see stoops decorated with pumpkins of many sizes and colors. The squirrels are having a field day. Can you blame them? Pumpkin is, after all, delicious.

The grocery stores have rows and rows of canned pumpkin puree. I almost always have a can or two in my pantry, because I enjoy cooking with it so much. My No. 1 use is my family's pumpkin cake, which I riffed on last year for a holiday-appropriate Skillet Pumpkin and Apple Cake. One of my longtime favorite Post recipes is Pasta With Creamy Pumpkin Sauce. Just like many readers, I was enamored of Aaron Hutcherson's more recent Black Bean and Pumpkin Stew With Pasta. And Pumpkin Chicken Chili made the cut as one our reader-nominated top 30 recipes of all time.

So you better believe I was excited when Aaron returned to the pumpkin well with his new Pumpkin Pasta With Bacon and Goat Cheese. After bacon gets crisped in a skillet, onion is cooked in some of the rendered fat as the base for the pumpkin sauce that also includes thyme, allspice and goat cheese. Toss with any medium pasta shape you like, though fusilli and rotini are ideal for catching the sauce and those smoky bacon bits.

Ellie Krieger turned to another fall staple ingredient in Skillet Pork With Apples, Spinach and Curry. This one-pan recipe features slices of pork tenderloin in a spiced coconut milk broth. The apple slices are barely cooked so they retain their shape and texture, and right after that, spinach is tossed into the mix just to wilt. "This dish is quick to make, flavorful, and healthy; I'll definitely be making it again," reads one early review.

If you're interested in Ellie's recipe, you might as well double up on that quick-cooking cut of meat for Daniela Galarza's Pork Tenderloin With Balsamic Kale and Grapes. This, too, is a one-pan meal, boasting herby, juicy pork — cooked whole and then sliced into medallions — with a built-in, agrodolce-inspired side of sweet and sour greens.

You'll want to keep your deep cast-iron skillet out for Beans and Cheese, a comfort food riff that Joe Yonan shared from cookbook author Jenny Rosenstrach. In this 25-minute recipe, legumes take the place of the pasta, but you still get what is often the best part of mac and cheese: the golden breadcrumb topping.

What else are you feeling like cooking this fall? I'll be away next week, but Aaron will still be hosting our live weekly chat Wednesday at noon Eastern. Be sure to send in your questions early and then return when the conversation starts.

You'll have a special guest in this space next Saturday. Until I return, be well and happy cooking.