Asheville Eats Fall Comfort Food
Posted On Tuesday, November 18, 2014
**Updated September 2018**
There is nothing like the feeling of preparing a meal with a glass of wine in your hand and your favorite music coming over the speakers in the background. Fortunately for us Asheville is full of fall flavors and comfort food recipes that are not only seasonal and have all the ingredients you need at the farmer's market, but they are delicious too! We love Shopping at the local farmer's market to get the most seasonal and delicious foods that Asheville has to offer. Read more about our favorite local recipes below!
It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Most Delicious of Times: Local flavor
Fortunately, as in most things, Asheville is accommodating. Asheville has a farmers' market in downtown that is open all year round with the freshest produce the season has to offer. Farmers' markets are great places to realize just how much of a slouch you've been in the kitchen so far in your life and find the inspiration to rise above it. Not only do these people grow food for themselves and you, but they also do things like grow flowers, blend unique spice combinations, and make things like pottery, jewelry and clothes. They're also great places to take your kids, not only for a great chance for hands-on-learning, but for some really great food while you sow them the animals, crafts and cucumbers three-quarters as big as they are. And if you were wondering about that, yes, they do exists, I've seen them and they are every bit as impressive as they seem.The farmers' market in Asheville has hours from 8AM-5PM until March and is one of the best kept secrets of the city. With a consistent supply of produce from vendors the market is open all year round to bring you the best of the best of Asheville's fields, orchards and vineyards. However, if you don't have time to hit the market, or the idea of making dinner in your rental doesn't appeal to you, there is another option with a similar spirit. There are several farm-to-table style restaurants in Asheville. Check out the Ambrozia Bar and Bistro, Artisan Catering and Deli or the Bavarian Restaurant and Biergarten (which is incidentally, the only authentic German Bavarian restaurant in the mountains of North Carolina), for a more complete list of farm-to-table dining possibilities, check out this link!
Local Asheville Favorites for your Holiday Feast!
Since there's no better way to get in the mood for cooking than to see some inspiration, here are some lovely recipes for your perusing pleasure. Some are seasonal, 
some just look ridiculously delicious! But the best part of cooking is turning a bunch of random ingredients into a meal that brings the people most important to you together. So take the opportunity to gather them around you and bond in the most powerful way I have yet to find, eating. And take this opportunity to share some of your favorite holiday recipes below too! I'd LOVE to read them and you never know, you might inspire a new holiday tradition for someone else!
some just look ridiculously delicious! But the best part of cooking is turning a bunch of random ingredients into a meal that brings the people most important to you together. So take the opportunity to gather them around you and bond in the most powerful way I have yet to find, eating. And take this opportunity to share some of your favorite holiday recipes below too! I'd LOVE to read them and you never know, you might inspire a new holiday tradition for someone else!Tuscan Kale Soup is one of my families favorites! The vegetables are all seasonal, so you should be able to get most of them at the farmers' market. The recipe has changed a little bit over the years, we like to had 1-1 1/2 cup of red wine to the broth as it cooks!
Brie, Apple & Bacon Grilled Cheese looked a little odd to me, until I saw the picture, and dear sweet mother does it look good! With apples still in season and raspberries just fading out now would be the perfect time to experiment with this salty-sweet sandwich!
Parmesan Baked Potato Halves I'm third generation Irish on both sides, so it may just be my genetic predisposition to love potatoes (seriously, every way I see them cooked, except Shepherd's Pie, makes my mouth water) but these look seriously delicious! The trick is to hand select your spuds to make sure they're small enough to be cooked thoroughly when halved
Chicken Pot Pie Crescent Braid this looks like such a fun twist (pun intended!) on the classic Chicken Pot Pie! This recipe also offers a lot of wiggle room for your own culinary genius to find expression and again, all the vegetables are in season!
Amish Cinnamon Bread very similar to my love of potatoes is my avid love for cinnamon (again, anytime I see it in a recipe I freak out!) and thank goodness fall is the season for it! If you ask me, this is REAL Amish Friendship Bread, cause if they aren't already your friend before you give them a slice of this, they will be when they've tasted it!
Autumn Squash Soup Recipe do you love Panera's Autumn Squash Soup? Well, now thanks to the lovely people on cincyshopper.com you can replicate it and even experiment a little and maybe, just maybe, her those words everyone wants to hear, "What did you do to this? I actually like yours better!"
Crock Pot Caramel Apple Cider as the oldest of five kids in a family that is constantly on the go and having bonfires, I know the value of a good crock pot recipe. If you know the boat my family is constantly, this recipe is a great option for you! Here are also some really cool tips for adding caramel and whipped cream to other hot drinks!
Autumn Spice Cake if you're looking for a festive dessert and want to try your hand at a relatively easy recipe to do from scratch, here you go! The spices are all in season and all you need to grind/grate them finely for fresh ingredients!
Spicy Toasted Pumpkin Seeds are a great snack, relatively healthy and easy to make in bulk! Pick out a few pumpkins to carve and after you've lit candles in them whip up a batch of these and you have something great to munch on (by themselves, or in a trail mix) for tomorrow!
Beef and Guinness Stew 'tis the season for soup and stew! And it may just be the Irish in my showing up again and making nice with the Prussian, but this looks amazing to me. I haven't tried it yet, but it's definitely going on the menu to try this fall/winter!
Ravioli with Pumpkin Alfredo if you're looking for something more solid than soup, but still festive and just a little adventurous, this recipe might be right up your ally!