Earlier this year, I was interviewed by Emily Laurence for Reader’s Digest (RD) in the United States to talk about things I loved about fall (and to talk about my new cookbook, Simple Pleasures - available for pre-order here).

Obviously, for RD, the interview was cut down (tap here for the shorter piece on RD). I thought some of you might enjoy seeing the full un-edited version in all its glory! So, here it is…

What I love about fall…

Emma's persimmon tree — A sketch of some persimmons, one of Emma’s favorite fall fruits, growing in the garden at her weekend cottage near Frascati in Italy.

Emily Laurence: There are so many delicious vegetables that are in season during the fall. What are a few of your favorites?

Emma: I grew up in living in both New York and Rome, Italy, and while I’m now based in Rome, I split my time between the two. So, my culinary tastes are a real mixture of American and Italian cultures.

Of course, like many vegetables, these are available all year round, but I think my favorite fall vegetable has to be fall varieties of potatoes—are there better foods in the world than fries or mashed potatoes? I don’t think so!

As you say, though, there are so many incredible fall vegetables. I guess the first things that springs to mind when you say “fall” are pumpkins and squash which I love. They’re super versatile and very popular in Italian cuisine. I also love kale. There’s type of kale grown in Italy called “cavolo nero” which is one of absolute favorites!

Emily Laurence: How do you like to incorporate these foods into meals? Do you have any ideas that readers may not know?

Emma: Let’s start with potatoes since they’re my favorite. Everyone loves mashed potatoes, but one thing I love to do is turn them from a side into a main dish. My dad and I enjoy making the most amazing potato cheese pie together. It makes an incredible main dish and is comfort food at its best. It’s baked until golden and loaded with cheese. It’s so simple to make and it’s great for using up leftover bits of cheese hanging around in the fridge. In fact, I think it’s worth buying too much cheese, just so you can have leftover to use in this pie!

I make this dish with my dad every time I’m able to see him, so it’s very dear to me. In fact, it’s so special to me that I felt I had to include the recipe in my new cookbook, “Simple Pleasures”, which is about us all taking a breath to re-discover the joy of cooking and baking simple food using everyday ingredients and pantry staples. For me, the most amazing food isn’t complicated. There are absolutely no hard-to-find ingredients or ingredients used in weird ways that don’t really work in the book!

Now pumpkin. One thing I find surprising is that so many people buy canned pumpkin rather than fresh, when fresh is in season. Many people don’t know you can simply grate fresh pumpkin when making a pumpkin cake or pumpkin bread, like you would when you make carrot cake. The only application I recommend canned pumpkin for is making pumpkin pie, just because it’s hard to make a super smooth purée in a home kitchen. For me, though, the best applications of pumpkin are savory. It’s amazing in soups, of course, but my favorite use is to make pumpkin ravioli. The filling I like most is a simple mix of cooked pumpkin, sautéed onion, garlic and Parmesan—delicious!

For kale, or cavolo nero, my favorite use is in a simple Tuscan dish called “Rigatoni con Cavolo Nero”. I’m lucky enough to be able to spend time in one of Italy’s most beautiful cities, Florence. I fell in love with this dish there. It’s a hyper seasonal fall dish. It celebrates two ingredients that arrive at exactly the same time in fall–cavolo nero and the first cold extracted, peppery extra virgin Tuscan olive oil. It’s so easy to make. You just need cavolo nero (make sure to cook it through), fresh garlic, the best extra virgin olive oil you can find (Tuscan, if you’re a purist), pasta and pecorino. It’s a great dish. My dad likes to add guanciale to it.

Emily Laurence: What about fruit? Are there any fall fruits you especially love? How do you like to use them?

Emma: I love apples, so fall is an exciting time because they come into season. Cooking with apples really feels quintessentially American to me and I love to make pies and cakes with them. I’ve got great recipes for both in my book—but the Apple Cinnamon Snacking Cake in particular is super easy to make and in my opinion tastes beyond spectacular!

A sketch of some of the uva fragola growing on a vine at Emma’s cottage near Frascati.

I also have some very Italian tastes when it comes to fruit and nuts. I have a weekend cottage near Frascati in the hills around Rome, where we grow sweet grapes called “uva fragola” (literally - strawberry grapes), persimmons and walnuts. The wild yeasts which grow on the grapes are fantastic for kicking off sourdough starters.

By the way, I only found out recently that these grapes are, in fact, the same thing as concord grapes, which every American will know from Welsh’s grape jelly! The flesh of the fresh grapes taste super sweet—we don’t eat the skins which can be tough. My family gets involved in harvesting everything, and my mom and I love making jams, jellies and juices with the grapes and the persimmons. The juices are great on their own or mixed with prosecco and served over ice as a cocktail. I love to make tarts and pies with the fall walnuts.

Emily Laurence: Are you looking forward to cooking with anything like maple butter, apple butter, or autumnal cheeses? If so, what are your favorite ways to use them?

Emma: Maple butter and apple butter I’ve never really worked with. As the weather starts to get colder, though, I love making classic comfort food with autumnal cheeses. Who doesn’t like curling up with a cozy bowl of mac and cheese on a fall evening? I’ve got a great one pot mac and cheese recipe in my cookbook which has a kind of formula for getting creative mixing your favorite cheeses, while keeping the finished mac and cheese texture super gooey and delicious. And of course, grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup are a must. In the book I go into the differences between the classic American grilled cheese and the Italian grilled cheese—they’re both iconic in their respective countries but are quite different and haven’t been exported much between the two.

My favorite autumnal Italian cheeses are probably fontina, gorgonzola, and asiago. Fontina is great in mac and cheese and in grilled cheese sandwiches; gorgonzola is incredible in a creamy sauce for gnocchi; and asiago is amazing on pizza—fresh asiago is kind of like low moisture mozzarella in texture, and the aged version is more like Parmesan.

Emily Laurence: Are there other seasonal fall foods (or drinks!) you are excited to buy this fall? How will you use them?

For sure there are! I’ll be in New York this fall, and I’m excited to get back to the New York food scene. Expect to find me living in bakeries! I have a weakness for anything chocolate or caramel. So, anything with those and I'm sold!

I can’t wait to buy some pecans, which aren’t grown in Italy. I’m looking forward to making some candied pecans. Those are very nostalgic for me—my mom taught me how to make them when I was a kid. We’d often make them together. I like them just for snacking, but also swirled through ice cream.

Also, we can’t ignore hot chocolate. I love both the American and Italian versions, which are very different. They’re super simple and quick to make in the microwave or on the stove top, and I’ve included both versions in the book so people can have some fun comparing. The Italian version is thickened with corn starch and is actually eaten with a spoon!

During the year, my family and I make a liqueur called Nocino which is ready to drink in the fall. We use some of the walnuts we grow at my cottage near Frascati.

A sketch of some walnuts growing on a walnut tree in the garden of Emma’s cottage near Frascati. Emma picks some of these while they’re green in summer to make an Italian liqueur called Nocino, which is ready to drink in the fall.

For Nocino, you need to pick the walnuts while they green and unripe. By tradition, they must be picked on one particular summer night. They’re macerated in alcohol until the fall. In late fall, the Nocino is ready to drink! You can buy great Nocino, and it’s worth searching out if you’re a fan of liqueurs or walnuts.

Emily Laurence: Anything else you want to add?

Emma: We forgot breads and pastries! For me, the arrival of fall means it’s time to start indulging—a baggy sweater can hide a multitude of sins! American Thanksgiving dinner rolls, American donuts, Italian donuts, rustic country bread, fluffy gooey cinnamon rolls, English muffins, American bagels, Italian panettone, American soft pretzels… I could go on—I love them all! Can you tell I’m slightly obsessed with carbs?! I felt compelled to include simplified, foolproof recipes for all of these and more in the book—we actually had to add a load of extra pages to accommodate everything I wanted! It ended up being a significantly bigger book than my publisher had planned—none of us wanted to cut anything! True story!

Thanks so much for interviewing me for RD!

Emma Fontanella is a chef based in New York City and Rome, and the host of Emma’s Goodies on YouTube. While her professional background is in fine dining and high-end bakeries, she believes the best baking and cooking is done at home. Her cookbook Simple Pleasures: Easy Recipes for Everyday Indulgence is out October 2023.

Emma Fontanella Full Interview - What I Love About Fall

“What I Love About Fall”Interview with Emma Fontanella for Readers Digest, 2023

What I love about fall…

“What I Love About Fall”
Interview with Emma Fontanella for Readers Digest, 2023