Mickie Mueller
Many think of Mabon as the Witch’s Thanksgiving or Harvest Home celebration. This day of balance marks the autumn equinox, when the day and night are of equal length. This is the second harvest sabbat, and by now, the feeling of fall is in the air. Even if the weather is still a bit warm, the evenings are probably a bit cooler. We’re starting to see the autumn harvest of squash and pumpkins come in at the farmer’s markets, produce stands, and grocery stores. Many people love to go apple picking at their local orchard to celebrate Mabon. Our thoughts this time of the year turn to sharing fellowship and gratitude for our abundance. Creating a special meal crafted with loving care can fill our hearts and keep us focused on how much we have to be grateful for, thus magically creating more abundance in our lives.
Hungarian Mushroom Soup
My family loves this soup. It’s got a perfect duality of warmth and creaminess, making it the perfect starter for a meal to celebrate this day of balance. This comforting soup warms the spirit.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter or margarine, divided
4 cups sliced mushrooms
1 large onion, diced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 teaspoon dill
3 tablespoons Hungarian or smoked paprika
2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour or gluten-free flour blend
1 cup milk, coconut milk, or unsweetened almond milk
½ cup sour cream (or you can substitute Greek yogurt or dairy-free yogurt)
Juice of half a lemon
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the skillet and add mushrooms. Sauté until lightly brown. Remove mushrooms from skillet and set aside. Melt another 2 tablespoons of butter in the skillet. Add onion, salt, pepper, coriander, dill, and paprika, and sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Return mushrooms to skillet and add ½ cup of vegetable stock. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for 10 minutes.
Melt the last 2 tablespoons of butter in a soup pot. Stir flour into the melted butter to make a roux and cook while stirring for a few minutes. Add milk and cook while stirring constantly over medium-low heat until thick, which takes about 10 minutes. Pour the mushroom mix into the soup pot and add the remaining 1½ cups of stock. Cover and simmer about 10 minutes. Before serving, stir in sour cream and lemon juice.
Nut-Crusted Salmon
I think salmon is the perfect hearty fish for the season, for those who want to shake things up instead of sticking with roast chicken or turkey. This dish isn’t difficult, with just a 10-minute prep time, but impressive enough to serve guests. If you can get fresh salmon, it’s lovely; if not, frozen will do just fine. All nuts are associated with Mabon and you can use any varieties that you like or have easy access to when making this a lovely harvest meal. You can add the toppings to your salmon fillets and cover with plastic wrap in the fridge ahead of time so that it’s ready to pop in the oven.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Servings: 4
½ cup mayonnaise of your choice
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 pound salmon fillet, cut into 4 pieces (or alternately, a pound of frozen salmon fillets thawed using instructions on the package)
½ teaspoon orange zest
2 teaspoons fresh chopped rosemary
½ cup chopped nuts of your choice: almonds, pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts
Preheat oven to 400° F (200° degrees C). Mix mayonnaise with Dijon, salt, and pepper. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray. Arrange salmon on a baking sheet. If your fillets have skin, place them skin-side down. Spread the tops with the mayonnaise mixture. Sprinkle with orange zest, rosemary, and chopped nuts. Bake 15 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.
Sun-Dried Tomato Polenta Acorn Squash
Acorn squash has a slightly pumpkiny flavor, which I love to season with savory flavors instead of sweet. My sister Robin first introduced my family to this dish and we fell madly in love with it. She found the original version on the Vegetarian Times website and made it for us on Thanksgiving. I’ve altered it slightly it over the years, as I’m known to do. It’s rich, creamy, and delicious. We serve it as a side dish with salmon, but it can also be a main course with sides of green vegetables and some crusty bread. I always save the seeds; you can toss them in salt and roast them in the oven just like pumpkin seeds! You’ll need a wire whisk and a wooden spoon for this one.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Servings: 4
2 acorn squash, cut in half crosswise, seeds and loose pulp removed
2 ounces sun-dried tomatoes
¼ cup sunflower seeds
3 garlic cloves, minced
½ cup fresh, grated parmesan (Robin says to splurge on fresh, don’t use that powdered stuff)
¼ cup olive oil
2½ cup chicken or vegetable stock
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup polenta or substitute coarsely ground cornmeal
Preheat oven to 350° F (177° C). Spray a cooking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and place the four halves of the squash on it, cut-side down, and bake for 45 minutes. While the squash bakes, soak tomatoes in very hot water for 15 minutes. Add the sunflower seeds to a cold skillet (no oil is needed) and heat to medium, stirring often until aromatic, light brown, and glistening. Remove from heat. Remove the tomatoes from the water and coarsely chop them.
To make the sun-dried tomato pesto, put sunflower seeds, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and grated parmesan in a food processor and blend. As it’s blending, slowly drizzle olive oil through the chute until well mixed into a pesto.
Bring the stock and salt to a boil in a saucepan. Beat with a whisk as you very slowly sprinkle the polenta into the pan, whisking constantly. Once all the polenta is added, turn down the heat to medium-low and switch to stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, being sure to scrape the bottom and along the edge of the pan. Continue for 20 minutes or until the polenta pulls back from the sides of the pan; it will be creamy when finished. Remove from heat and stir in the sun-dried tomato pesto.
Take the squash out of the oven and cut a bit off the tops and bottoms of the squash as necessary so that they have flat bottoms and form neat squash bowls that don’t roll over. Fill the bowls of the squash with the polenta and pesto mixture. Top with fresh grated parmesan and serve.
Crispy Apple Pie Wraps
Apples are the quintessential Mabon treat. They are ripe and lovely, and full of the magic of love, fertility, healing, and immortality. I created this treat when I was trying to cut out sugar and gluten from my diet and I was dying for some dessert. I thought it wouldn’t be too bad, but it was actually really good and perfect for fall! I made up one for each member of my family, using flour tortillas instead of the gluten-free wrap I used; they loved it too.
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 6–15 minutes
Servings: 4
4 apples, cored and chopped
3 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of cardamom
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon coconut oil
4 flour burrito-sized tortillas or gluten-free wraps
Preheat oven or air fryer to 400° F (200° C). Mix cut-up apples, honey, cinnamon, and salt in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 1 minute, stir, then microwave 1 more minute.
Melt coconut oil for less than a minute in the microwave and spread it thinly on both sides of each tortilla using a basting brush. Divide the apple mixture between the 4 tortillas. Roll each one like a burrito: fold one side over the apples, then pull the sides in to enclose the apples, while rolling it all the way up. Fasten it closed with a toothpick. Bake them either in the oven on a baking sheet for 15 minutes or in an air fryer for 6 minutes. Optional: dust the tops with powdered sugar.