It’s been a rainy, blustery week so far. It’s starting to snow in the mountains already, and the markets are piling their endcaps high with winter squash. Definitely time to bring out the autumnal recipes again. We marked the occasion with some baked chicken, delicata squash and our favorite wild rice with mushrooms.

Sometimes I go all out with this dish, adding chopped pecans and dried cranberries for a festive look and flavor, and sometimes greens as well. This time we had a lovely bagful of chanterelles that Jon picked up at the farmer’s market, and I didn’t want anything to compete with them.

I washed the wild rice (in “many waters” as the Joy of Cooking says) then added it to a pan of water (one cup rice to 4 cups water) and brought it to a simmer. It generally takes about 45 minutes to cook, plenty of time to prep the rest of dinner or just have a drink. All I needed to do this time was season the chicken, rub oil on the halved squash, and stick both into the oven.

Jon chopped up the mushrooms, and I sauteed them in olive oil. I drained the rice, then added it all to the pan with the chanterelles and rather a lot of butter and salt (the butter is very important!). We piled the rice mixture into the golden squash halves and ate with a beautiful smoky red wine and the herbed chicken as we listened to the rain batter the windows. I really think autumn is finally here.