These recipes are perfect as the weather gets cooler this season
Pumpkin tarts with spinach and Gorgonzola recipe
(serves six)
Gorgonzola cheese gives these tarts a kick.
‘Pumpkins and squash are great in tarts, and it’s the mixture of sweet and salty in savoury pumpkin tarts that really gets me,’ says food writer Diana Henry.
Ingredients:
For the pastry:
225g plain flour, plus more to dust
175g butter, chilled and chopped
Sea salt flakes
For the filling:
450g pumpkin or squash
Olive oil
450g spinach, coarse stalks removed
2 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
275ml double cream
50g Parmesan cheese, finely grated
Freshly grated nutmeg
200g Gorgonzola cheese
Freshly ground black pepper
Method:
For the pastry, put the flour, butter and a good pinch of salt into a food processor and pulse-blend the mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add just enough very cold water to make the pastry come together. Wrap it in foil or clingfilm and refrigerate for about half an hour.
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan (375°F), Gas mark 5.
Cut the pumpkin or squash from top to bottom into broad slices, remove the inner stringy bits and seeds, then peel. Brush lightly with olive oil and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until just tender. Turn off the oven. Put the spinach into a large saucepan, cover and wilt in the water left clinging to it (about four minutes over a medium heat). Drain well and leave to cool.
Make the custard by mixing together the eggs, egg yolk, cream and Parmesan. Season well. Roll out the rested pastry on a lightly floured surface and use it to line six individual tart tins. Chill for another 30 minutes (or just stick them in the freezer for about 15 minutes).
Preheat the oven again to 180C fan, Gas 5. Prick the bottom of the tarts with a fork, line them with baking parchment and put baking beans or ordinary dried beans on top. Blind bake for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and cook the pastry cases for another five minutes.
Cut the pumpkin into small slices, about 10cm long and 1cm thick. Squeeze every last bit of water from the spinach and chop it up. Season both of these and add some freshly grated nutmeg to the spinach. Spread the spinach over the bottom of the tart cases, then add the slices of pumpkin and dot with nuggets of Gorgonzola.
Pour the custard mix over the tarts and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and the custard feels only just set when you put your forefinger in the centre of a tart. Leave for 10 minutes to let the custard finish cooking and set a little once you have taken it out of the oven.
Roast Figs, Sugar Snow by Diana Henry is published by Aster, priced £22. Photography by Jason Lowe. Available now.
Autumn pasta with blue cheese and nuts recipe
(serves four)
Studded with blue cheese and crisp walnuts, this is a warming seasonal dish.
‘I love the sticky sound this steamy pasta makes as you stir through pumpkin, walnuts and blue cheese until it forms a creamy sauce,’ says chef Donal Skehan.
‘It’s proper autumnal food – seek out smaller, sweeter pumpkins with interesting textures and skin colours; they are far more flavourful than the regular large orange ones.’
Ingredients:
1 pumpkin or autumn squash (about 1kg), peeled, deseeded and sliced
3-4 sprigs of thyme
1tbsp olive oil
1tbsp salted butter
2 onions, thinly sliced
350g pasta shapes, such as conchiglie or rigatoni
100g blue cheese
75g walnuts, toasted and roughly crushed
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Best-quality extra virgin olive oil, to serve
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/Gas mark 6.
Place the pumpkin on a large baking sheet with the thyme sprigs and toss in the olive oil until all the pieces are coated. Season generously with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 40 minutes, or until tender and caramelised at the edges. Once cooked, keep warm.
While the pumpkin cooks, place a large heavy-based frying pan (skillet) over a medium-high heat and add the butter. Add the onions and season generously, tossing to coat completely in the melted butter. Reduce the heat and cook gently until the onions are sweet and caramelised, about 10-15 minutes.
Towards the end of the pumpkin cooking time, bring a large pan of water to the boil and generously season with salt. Once boiling, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and reserve a cup of the starchy cooking water for use in the sauce.
Increase the heat back up under the pan with the onions, then add the reserved pasta water and bring to a steady simmer. Meanwhile, mash half the cooked pumpkin and add this to the onions. Crumble in almost all of the blue cheese (keep a little back to serve) and stir until you have a smooth, creamy sauce. Working quickly, add the pasta to the pan and stir through until completely coated.
Serve the pasta hot on warmed plates topped with the remaining pumpkin slices and blue cheese. Sprinkle with toasted crushed walnuts and top with a generous drizzle of the best-quality extra virgin olive oil you have to hand and a last seasoning of sea salt and black pepper.
Home Kitchen: Everyday Cooking Made Simple And Delicious by Donal Skehan is published by Yellow Kite, priced £25. Photography by Dave Brown 2023. Available now.
Beef pie with wild mushrooms and red wine recipe
(serves six)
Wild mushrooms bring this autumnal dish to life.
Ingredients:
1kg braising beef, cut into large chunks
30g dried wild mushrooms
Groundnut oil
350g baby onions, or small round shallots, peeled but left whole
50g butter
1 celery stick, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
30g plain flour
300ml red wine
Leaves from 3 thyme sprigs
3 bay leaves
300g fresh mushrooms, sliced
3tbsp finely chopped flat leaf parsley leaves
320g puff pastry for 1 big pie, 600g for 6 small pies
1 egg, lightly beaten
Sea salt flakes and
freshly ground black pepper
Method:
Dry the meat well with kitchen paper (if it’s wet it won’t brown properly). Put the dried mushrooms in a heatproof bowl and pour enough boiling water over to just cover. Leave to soak for 30 minutes.
Heat two tablespoons of oil in a heavy-based casserole and brown the beef in batches: it is very important to cook it in batches otherwise the meat will not colour well. Remove each batch as it’s done. Add the baby onions or shallots to the pan and lightly brown them, adding a little more oil if you need it. Reduce the heat, add 20 grams of the butter and all the celery and garlic, and sweat for 10 minutes. Return the meat, with any juices, to the casserole. Season well and, over a low heat, add the flour. Stir everything round until it is well coated. Cut up the mushrooms and add to the pot with their soaking liquid (strain the liquid through muslin, as it can be gritty). Add the red wine, thyme and bay leaves and bring to the boil. Immediately reduce the heat, cover and cook over a very gentle heat for one-and-a-half hours, stirring every so often. Take the lid off for the last 15-20 minutes to reduce the liquid. You need thick juices for a pie, so, if they’re too thin, remove the meat and mushrooms and boil to reduce the sauce.
Melt half a tablespoon of oil and the remaining butter in a saute pan and cook the fresh mushrooms briskly over a high heat so that they get well coloured. Season and let the mushrooms cook until they exude their liquid and it evaporates. Stir the parsley and the cooked fresh mushrooms into the meat and check the seasoning. Leave to cool completely.
Put the meat in one large or six small pie dishes and roll out the pastry to fit the dish(es). Cut a strip or strips large enough to go around the edge or edges. Brush the edge(s) with water and press the strip on. Dampen this with water and cover the pie or pies with their lids, pressing the pastry down. Trim off the excess, knock up the edges and crimp them, if you like, or just press with a fork. Use the remaining pastry to decorate, making little holes in the top for steam to escape. Brush with the beaten egg and chill for half an hour. Preheat the oven to 190C fan, Gas 6.
Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes for one large pie, or 25–30 minutes for smaller pies. Serve immediately.
Roast Figs, Sugar Snow by Diana Henry is published by Aster, priced £22. Photography by Jason Lowe. Available now.
