Blogtober Day 23: Autumn Recipes to Try

Autumn recipes are my favourite, especially as many involve just throwing a load of stuff into a pan to simmer! I have a few that I make every year, like chilli  and vegetarian toad in the hole. This year I want to be a but more adventurous and try some different autumn recipes, and throw in a few trusty old favourites! 

When I think of autumn recipes, I think hot comforting foods, spices, graaaavy, winter veg, and obviously the pumpkin and his squash buddies. I have a very large cooking pumpkin in the garden waiting to be chopped up and used in various yummy foods. I’m trying not to get too attached to him, else he’ll live in the garden forever. 

A few years ago when I first left home, my mother sent me away with a Very Large Pumpkin and his Small Pumpkin Friend which my stepdad had grown in the garden. This led to a ridiculous amount of very tasty pumpkin based foods. Seriously, those pumpkins fed me for months! I want to revisit some of those recipes this year. The tastes and smells will take me back to a younger, freer time I’m sure. 

Pumpkin Pie

What would this list be without pumpkin pie?! A total October must have, fresh out the oven and smothered in cream. This is one of my favourite dishes I made from the Megachonker Pumpkin. The one I made was more of a tart than a pie, but it was DELICIOUS. Pastry filled with pumpkin, spices, and condensed milk (this was also my introduction to the delight that is condensed milk). 

I’ve dug the recipe out to try again, but I might adapt it to make pumpkin inside pastry of other shapes – pumpkin pasty, pumpkin lattice, mini tarts…. the possibilities are endless! Oooh, pumpkin pinwheels! I’m going to totally pumpkin mad!

Pumpkin chutney

Chutneys are one of my favourite condiments, mostly because they’re delicious paired with cheese. And we all know cheese is life. Pumpkin chutney is another recipe from back in the day that I’d like to try again. It’s great because once the pumpkin is open you have to use it pretty quickly. Yet no one in their right mind, or right stomach, could eat all that pumpkin in one go.

That’s where chutney comes in! Because chutney is cooked with sugar and vinegar, it keeps for a pretty long time. If you put it in a jar with a good lid, like a mason jar, it can keep in the fridge for a good few weeks. It gets you off the hook, you don’t have to eat a large pumpkin all at once. My pumpkin is so big I don’t think I have a choice but to make this again this year!

Squash and Gorgonzola Pilaf

This went on my list when I was rifling through all the recipes I’ve cut out of Good Food and Delicious magazines over the years looking for tasty dinners for the month. I have a taste for strong cheeses like gorgonzola, and this sounded a bit unusual so it stood out to me. I wouldn’t have thought to pair a Gorgonzola with a pilaf, but here we are!

I actually made this one for dinner this evening, so can now reliably testify that it’s very tasty! The cheese works well with the rice and the veg. I think without the cheese it might be a bit bland, but then I am a fan of strong, rich flavours. 

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