Koftas and Tahini Sauce

I love autumn for so many reasons, not least of which is the fact that it is not summer. I’ve always aspired to be a carefree person who loves the sunshine and spontaneity of summer, but this year I’ve come to terms with the fact that heat and humidity and honestly sometimes even sand make me cranky- crankier than usual. But fall! Fall is the best. I love the changing leaves in Central Park, cozy wool sweaters, dark manicures and being able to turn the oven on again without suffocating. And the seasonal pies. And the many dogs of the Upper West Side in their jackets. But one of the best things about autumn is that it’s cookbook season.

You might not know this if you don’t aggressively read food news and follow (stalk?) cookbook authors and chefs on Instagram. But every fall, all the best cookbooks are released en masse. And, while I think I may be creeping into the territory of double-digit cookbook ownership (I refuse to count but it is getting harder to convince myself otherwise), let’s just say I lobbed in a few pre-orders on Amazon this week. And visited my local Barnes & Noble twice. I’ve also had a bit of a reckoning in terms of how I actually use these cookbooks and plan my meals.

Not that I’ve put out any illusions that I am a person who enjoys living without a plan (please see above my remarks about summertime), but I am a little embarrassed to admit how I settle on what to cook. See, every time I get a new cookbook or magazine, I flip through and I catalog all the things I’d like to cook, in an extremely lengthy spreadsheet that I’ve been keeping for years. Then I peruse the list and figure out what seems good and I can also search recipe titles, which is helpful when I am trying to use up aging escarole or half a quart of buttermilk.

But it also means that I am not flipping through my cookbooks very often, reading headnotes and getting inspired by pictures. And that is starting to feel like a real waste. Since returning from my hike, maybe because I am so tired of eating a potatoes-only diet, or maybe because it taught me to live in the moment a little bit more, I’ve decided that from now on I’m going to be flipping through a book (or magazine) a week. For me, it’s going to mean more varied, and inspired, dinners. And for you, it will mean a more diverse range of recipes and less week-to-week repetition.

I haven’t even gotten to these koftas yet and your eyeballs could very well be glazing over. So I’ll keep it short. They are extremely cozy, very earthy and full of all your favorite Middle Eastern flavors. They are brown and fairly unbeautiful, but served alongside a bright salad and with a stack of warm flatbreads, they are gorgeous and perfect. I’ll add them to my list of reasons to love autumn.