Pumpkin cornbread Serve this delicious savoury bread with soup or strong cheeses, such as Stilton, mature Cheddar or a hard goats’ or ewes’ cheese. The bread is lovely toasted and freezes well.Makes 1 x 450g loaf250g p
Sweet potato, ginger and coconut gratin This is a massive family favourite. We might eat it as a main course one day with a green salad, and then often have the leftovers as a side veg the next day, delicious alongside chicken or fish.For 4
Mushrooms with polenta Anything with a strong flavour and a soft texture is good with polenta. I love polenta with braised chicory and it’s wonderful with mushrooms. You can use a real mix of mushrooms for this, the more va
Cauliflower couscous This so-called ‘couscous’ made from nearly-raw cauliflower is an excellent side dish to have with any of the chillies or curries. It looks great with multi-coloured cauliflower, often at its best at t
Squash and Feta Filo Parcels One of our favourite things to serve for our Garden Open café lunches, filled with squash, courgettes, spinach, chard, grated beetroot, fennel, or a mixture of veg. You can make these in batches and f
Basil oil I enjoy making a few bottles of basil oil at this time of year just before the basil goes black with the colder nights. It makes a brilliant present, and gives invaluable summery flavour to autumn and
smoked haddock and beetroot gratin serves 6 600g beetroot (we used mixed colours) 2 tbsp oil Salt and pepper 200g finely chopped leek 425ml full fat milk (or almond milk) 500g undyed smoked haddock 50g butter (or set
roasted tomato soup serves 6 as a main course, 8 as a starter 1kg ripe tomatoes 2 roughly chopped fennel bulbs (about 400g) 2 large quartered onions 3 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil 3 crushed garlic cloves2 tbsp (ab
griddled fennel aubergine recipe This tasty aubergine dish is an excellent easy late summer/autumn lunch or starter for dinner. At lunch, serve it with a pile of green salad.serves 6 (or 2 if you like it strong) 3 aubergine
kale and chickpea curry recipe My sister Jane gave me this good Oriental-tasting and healthy curry recipe. She discovered it while on a detox, but now cooks it all the time. It's one of my children's favourite meals. The mush
green pawpaw, carrot and cashew salad A classic Thai street food salad, based on pawpaw at its unripe, green stage, when it has all its anti-inflammatory and digestion-aiding properties, but none of the big sugar hit. The cashews en
grape jelly recipe Home-grown grapes in this country tend to be small, not all of them ripen and they can be thick with pips. You can eat a few with cheese and make jelly with the rest. This is lovely on bread or
spiced aubergine salad recipe This salad is lovely served warm as a first course with cucumber raita and flatbread.Serves 6-8 3 large-to-medium-sized aubergines (about 1kg) 3 tablespoons good extra virgin olive oil 1
roast cumin carrots recipe The beauty of these carrots is that you can make them the day before – they are just as good reheated. The slow roasting brings out all their sweetness, and finely chopped rosemary can be used inst
tricolour pepper caponata recipe Make several jars of this sweet and sour mixture and store it in the fridge to eat through the autumn. Balsamic vinegar is a preservative, so it can be kept for up to a month. It's lovely wi
pecan, apple and celery stuffing recipe I love the way that pecans remain really crisp in a stuffing mix. If you can't find pecans, use walnuts, but toast them for a few minutes first. To make sure that the heat penetrates the turke
