In the ‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’, Belinda Jeffery scours the markets for autumn produce and invites the crew over.
Illustrations Daniel New
At last the season is turning, when the sultry days of summer are replaced by the clear skies and gentler light of autumn.
After months of living off salads and barbecues, my cooking mojo always returns with a vengeance. I find myself scouring the stalls at the farmers’ market for the first signs of autumn: firm bulbs of beetroot with their emerald leaves intact, crisp apples, plump bulbs of fennel replacing the stringy ones at the end of summer. To top things off, the autumn crop of figs appears: large, sweet and intensely flavoured.
It’s from this beautiful produce that I find recipes and menus swirling around in my head. My thoughts go something like this. What about figs stuffed with gorgonzola dolce, wrapped in prosciutto, and roasted until the cheese melts and the prosciutto crisps? Followed by sticky veal shin cooked in red wine and herbs atop a mound of soft, fluffy polenta. Earthy beetroot and lentils would be a wonderful offset to the veal, and why not cook the beet greens as a vegetable? To finish, a cinnamon-scented apple tart, its edges slightly burnt and the apples glistening from their sugar coating.
And that’s how this menu came about: an ode to autumn, with its cool crisp days and distinctive flavours.
