There is, I suggest, no better time to be in the kitchen than now. The ingredients of the season – new hazelnuts and walnuts, the first pumpkins, locally grown pears and cider – are beckoning and the cooking goes into another gear. The cooler evenings bring with them requests for deep bowls of soup, roast vegetables and warm grains and, in my house at least, the need for a cake on the table. This collection of recipes celebrates the welcome return, the golden glow, of autumn cooking.
Hazelnut chocolate cake with sultanas and rosemary
It is not often I cook with chocolate, preferring mine snapped directly from the bar rather than incorporated into a cake or pudding. But this cake is a good one, intense and not overly sweet. It is moist without being “clarty”, rich without being heavy. A thin slice is enough, served with soured cream or creme fraiche or perhaps a spoonful of fig jam. The cake keeps soundly, for a good day or two, wrapped in foil or cling film.
Serves 10
golden sultanas 90g
medium dry sherry 60ml
skinned hazelnuts 175g
plain flour 20g
cocoa 10g
caster sugar 150g
butter 150g
dark chocolate 300g
eggs 6, separated
For the herb sugar
rosemary leaves 2g
caster sugar 2 tbsp
Put the sultanas in a small bowl, pour in the sherry and set aside for two hours, stirring occasionally. Line the base of a 24cm spring-form cake tin with a disc of baking parchment. Set the oven at 160C/gas mark 3.
Toast the hazelnuts in a dry, shallow pan till golden brown and fragrant. Tip all but 20g of them into a food processor and process to fine crumbs. Mix the flour and cocoa together.
Using a food mixer, beat the caster sugar and butter together till light and fluffy. Put a small pan of water on to boil, place a small dish on top of it, break the chocolate into the dish and let it melt over the simmering water, without stirring. Process the rosemary and 2 tablespoons of caster to a coarse powder.
Slowly introduce the egg yolks to the creamed butter and sugar, beating constantly. Whisk the egg whites until almost stiff. Mix the melted chocolate into the butter and sugar, then carefully fold in the ground hazelnuts, drained sultanas and the flour and cocoa. Lastly, fold in the beaten egg whites, making certain there are no lumps of unincorporated whites. Scrape the mixture into the lined cake tin.
Finally, scatter the reserved hazelnuts and the rosemary sugar over the surface. Bake for 40-45 minutes until lightly firm, the top slightly cracked. Remove from the oven and leave to cool before carefully removing from the tin.
Cheddar and cider soup
Something of the fondue about this. I suggest a mature, full-flavoured cheddar such as Keens or Montgomery here. The stock should, if possible, be home-made, chicken or vegetable. Bread is pretty much non-negotiable here, either torn and placed in the base of the soup bowl, the soup ladled over it, or toasted and dipped into the soup’s creamy depths in fat, jagged chunks.
Serves 6
onions 2, medium
butter 30g
carrots 2, medium
celery 1 stick
milk 400ml
plain flour 45g
chicken or vegetable stock 400ml
cider 350ml
mustard 1 tsp
cheddar 400g
chopped parsley a small handful
Peel and roughly chop the onions. Melt the butter in a deep saucepan over a moderate heat then cook the onions till soft. Scrub and finely dice the carrot, finely dice the celery, then add to the softening onion and continue cooking for 10 minutes or so till tender.
Warm the milk in a small saucepan and set aside. Stir the flour into the vegetables and continue cooking for two or three minutes, then add the milk and stir to a thick sauce. Pour in the chicken stock and cider, bringing it to the boil then lowering the heat and letting the mixture simmer for a few minutes. Stir in the mustard, check the seasoning. (It may want pepper, but probably very little salt.)
Grate the cheese and stir into the soup, leaving it to simmer (it is crucial it doesn’t boil) for five minutes, until the soup has thickened. Add a handful of parsley as you bring it to the table and serve with bread.
Roast pumpkin, coriander couscous and date dressing
The slight tartness of the date syrup, not unlike pomegranate molasses, has much to offer the sweet, fudgy flesh of the roast pumpkin.
Serves 4
pumpkin 1kg (unpeeled weight)
olive oil 60ml
zatar 1 tbsp
dried chilli flakes 1 tsp
couscous 65g
coriander 20g
parsley leaves 10g
For the dressing
date syrup 4 tsp
garlic 1 clove
olive oil 5 tbsp
lemon juice of ½
grain mustard 1 tsp
Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. Peel the pumpkin, remove the fibres and seeds and discard, then cut the flesh into 2cm thick slices. Place the slices on a baking sheet. Mix together the olive oil, zatar and dried chilli flakes, then spoon over the pumpkin. Bake for 35-40 minutes till tender and translucent.
Bring a kettle of water to the boil. Put the couscous in a bowl, pour over enough of the hot water to cover the couscous and set aside.
Make the dressing: mix the date syrup with the crushed garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and grain mustard. Chop the coriander and the parsley.
When the couscous has soaked up the water, run a fork through it to separate the grains then fold in the chopped parsley and coriander and a seasoning of salt and black pepper.
Remove the pumpkin from the oven, place the couscous on a serving plate together with the pumpkin, then trickle over the date dressing.
Butternut rosti with pickled cabbage
The soft crunch of rosti straight from the frying pan feels right for the season and we have been eating these, made with pumpkin or butternut squash for a week or two now. Initially made to eat with cold roast beef one Sunday evening, they soon became a main course in their own right, eaten with quick-pickled cabbage, and trickled with seasoned yogurt. (Black pepper, a little salt, some chopped dill.)
Serves 3
For the pickle
red cabbage 450g
white wine vinegar 125ml
apple juice 125ml
coriander seed 1 tsp
soft brown sugar 3 tsp
For the rosti
butternut squash 500g (peeled and seeded weight)
eggs 2
plain flour 4 tbsp
coriander leaves a small handful
groundnut oil for shallow frying
Make the pickle: finely shred the red cabbage and place in a heatproof mixing bowl. Put the vinegar, apple juice, coriander seeds and sugar in a small saucepan, bring to the boil then pour over the red cabbage. Toss the cabbage in the liquor, then leave for a good half hour, overnight if you have time, tossing the cabbage regularly in the pickling juices.
Make the rosti: finely grate the butternut, place in a mixing bowl and add the lightly beaten eggs, flour and coriander leaves. Season with salt, then toss together until thoroughly mixed.
Warm a thin layer of oil in a shallow, non-stick pan. Make the mixture into six small patties about the size of a digestive biscuit and about twice as thick. Lower them into the oil and fry till pale golden brown on the underside. Turn carefully (they are fragile) with a palette knife and cook for a further four or five minutes at a moderate heat.
Serve topped with some of the pickled cabbage and, if you wish, a spoonful of seasoned yogurt.
Pears with fudge sauce
The markets are awash with good, locally grown pears right now. The enticingly plump comice and the elegantly curved conference, but lesser known varieties too, are all worth seeking out for eating with a spoonful of ricotta or a rugged lump of Caerphilly. I try them first in a salad of pale chicory and walnuts, but also slicing and eating them as they come. (Any that prove less than interesting can always be cooked with pear or apple juice, honey and orange zest.) The warm fudge sauce here is a delightful contrast to the refreshing quality of the poached pears.
Serves 4
pears 4
apple or pear juice 1 litre
cinnamon stick 1
cloves 4
For the fudge sauce
water 100ml
caster sugar 120g
double cream 80ml
Peel the pears. Pour the apple or pear juice into a saucepan, add the pears and spices then bring to the boil. Lower the heat, then leave the pears to cook for 20-30 minutes until tender. The exact timing will depend on the ripeness of your fruit.
Make the fudge sauce: put the water and sugar into a small pan and bring to the boil, continue until it has formed a syrup and is starting to darken. As the colour reaches a deep nut brown, remove from the heat and stir in the double cream, taking care it doesn’t spit and scald you. (Covering your hand with an oven glove is a sensible move.)
Lift the pears from their syrup, then pour the fudge sauce over the top of them. The leftover juice, by the way, makes a wonderfully aromatic drink, served hot on an autumn afternoon.
