October is the month when the vegetable garden starts deciding what’s for dinner.
By now, the leisurely summer business of picking a tomato here and a handful of beans there has changed rather dramatically.
There are pumpkins that need bringing in before the weather turns. Potatoes waiting beneath increasingly damp soil. Leeks standing patiently in rows. Carrots, beetroot and kale still going strong.
And somewhere, almost certainly, there is a courgette you failed to notice in August which has quietly grown to the dimensions of a small submarine.
This is exactly the sort of cooking I love.
Rather than choosing a recipe and going out to buy twelve ingredients, you take a basket into the garden, see what’s ready and work backwards.
Three leeks and some potatoes?
Soup.
Half a pumpkin, carrots and onions?
Into the roasting tin.
A glut of green tomatoes that clearly aren’t going to ripen before Christmas?
Chutney.
October ingredients lend themselves particularly well to uncomplicated food: soups, pies, curries, traybakes and things that bubble quietly in the oven while you get on with something else.
So, following on from our guide to what to harvest from the vegetable garden in October, here are ten easy recipes to turn that harvest into dinner.
1. Roasted Pumpkin and Carrot Soup
There are countless ways to make pumpkin soup, but roasting the vegetables first makes a considerable difference.
The edges caramelise, the natural sweetness intensifies and the resulting soup tastes as though you’ve put far more effort into it than you actually have.
Always useful.
Serves 4–6
You’ll need
- 750g pumpkin or winter squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks
- 3 large carrots, roughly chopped
- 1 large onion, quartered
- 3 garlic cloves, left in their skins
- 2 tablespoons olive or rapeseed oil
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- A little cream or crème fraîche, optional
- Pumpkin seeds, to serve, optional
Method
Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6.
Put the pumpkin, carrots and onion into a large roasting tin.
Drizzle over the oil, sprinkle with cumin and season with salt and pepper. Toss everything together.
Tuck the unpeeled garlic cloves amongst the vegetables.
Roast for 35–45 minutes, turning everything once or twice, until the vegetables are soft and beginning to caramelise around the edges.
Squeeze the roasted garlic from its skin into a large saucepan. Add the remaining roasted vegetables and the stock.
Bring gently to the boil and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Blend until smooth.
Add a little more stock or hot water if it’s thicker than you’d like, then taste and adjust the seasoning.
Serve with a swirl of cream or crème fraîche and a scattering of toasted pumpkin seeds if you have them.
And bread.
Soup without bread always feels as though somebody has forgotten something.
2. Leek, Potato and Cheddar Pie
Leeks and cheese are extremely good friends.
Add potatoes and put pastry on top and they become the sort of dinner that makes a dark October evening seem like a positive development.
Using ready-made puff pastry keeps this firmly in the easy category.
Serves 4–6
You’ll need
- 750g potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks
- 3 large leeks
- 40g butter
- 40g plain flour
- 500ml milk
- 1 teaspoon Dijon or English mustard
- 150g mature Cheddar, grated
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry
- 1 egg, beaten
Method
Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6.
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil.
Add the potatoes and cook for around 8–10 minutes, until they’re beginning to soften but aren’t falling apart.
Drain well.
Meanwhile, slice the leeks and wash them thoroughly.
Melt the butter in a large frying pan and cook the leeks gently for about 8 minutes, until softened.
Sprinkle over the flour and cook for another minute.
Gradually add the milk, stirring as you go, until you have a smooth sauce.
Add the mustard and most of the cheese, reserving a small handful.
Stir until the cheese has melted.
Season generously with black pepper and add salt if needed.
Fold in the potatoes.
Spoon everything into a pie dish and scatter over the remaining cheese.
Lay the pastry over the top, trim the edges and press down around the rim.
Make a small slit in the centre for steam to escape and brush the pastry with beaten egg.
Bake for 25–30 minutes, until puffed and golden.
Serve with cabbage, kale or whatever else the garden is currently producing in alarming quantities.
3. Sausage and Autumn Vegetable Traybake
This is the dinner for evenings when you want proper food but don’t particularly want to cook.
Everything goes into one roasting tin.
The oven does the work.
You wash up one pan.
Frankly, the recipe is already winning.
Serves 4
You’ll need
- 8 good-quality sausages
- 500g potatoes, cut into chunks
- 3 carrots, cut into thick pieces
- 2 medium beetroot, peeled and cut into wedges
- 400g pumpkin or squash, cut into chunks
- 2 red or brown onions, cut into wedges
- 2 tablespoons olive or rapeseed oil
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme or several fresh thyme sprigs
- 1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
- 1 tablespoon honey
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6.
Put the potatoes, carrots, beetroot, squash and onions into a large roasting tin.
Add the oil, thyme, salt and pepper and toss well.
Roast for 20 minutes.
Remove the tin from the oven, turn the vegetables and add the sausages.
Mix the mustard and honey together and brush or spoon it over the sausages.
Return everything to the oven for another 30–35 minutes, turning the sausages halfway through.
It’s ready when the sausages are thoroughly cooked and the vegetables are tender and caramelised around the edges.
Serve straight from the roasting tin.
Plates are advisable, although by this stage of October eating directly from the kitchen does become tempting.
4. Green Tomato Chutney
Every gardener who grows outdoor tomatoes eventually reaches the same point.
It’s October.
It’s getting colder.
The leaves are looking increasingly unhappy.
And there are still approximately 4,000 green tomatoes hanging from the plants.
This is why chutney exists.
Makes approximately 4–5 jars
You’ll need
- 1kg green tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 500g cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped
- 300g onions, finely chopped
- 200g raisins or sultanas
- 350g soft brown sugar
- 500ml malt vinegar or cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon chilli flakes, optional
- 1 teaspoon salt
Method
Put all the ingredients into a large preserving pan or heavy-based saucepan.
Stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.
Bring gently to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 1½–2 hours.
Stir regularly, particularly towards the end, so the chutney doesn’t catch on the bottom.
It’s ready when it is thick, dark and a wooden spoon drawn across the bottom of the pan leaves a channel that doesn’t immediately fill with liquid.
Spoon the hot chutney into warm, sterilised jars and seal.
Leave to cool, label and store according to safe home-preserving guidance.
The flavour will improve if you can resist opening it immediately.
Give it a few weeks and serve with mature Cheddar, cold meats, pork pies or sandwiches.
Suddenly those green tomatoes don’t seem quite so disappointing.
5. Pumpkin, Kale and Chickpea Curry
This is one of those recipes that tastes even better the following day.
It’s inexpensive, filling and very forgiving.
If you don’t have pumpkin, use another winter squash.
If you don’t have kale, use chard or spinach.
Gardens rarely produce ingredients according to recipe quantities, so recipes occasionally need to learn who’s in charge.
Serves 4
You’ll need
- 1 tablespoon vegetable or rapeseed oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon chilli powder, or to taste
- 600g pumpkin or squash, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained
- 400ml coconut milk
- 150g kale, tough stalks removed and leaves chopped
- Salt
- Fresh coriander, optional
Method
Heat the oil in a large saucepan.
Add the onion and cook gently for 8–10 minutes, until soft.
Add the garlic and ginger and cook for another minute.
Stir in the cumin, coriander, turmeric and chilli and cook for 30 seconds.
Add the pumpkin and stir until coated in the spices.
Pour in the tomatoes and coconut milk, then add the chickpeas.
Bring to a gentle simmer.
Cover and cook for 20–25 minutes, or until the pumpkin is tender.
Stir in the kale and cook for another 5 minutes.
Season to taste.
Serve with rice, naan bread or simply a bowl and a spoon.
Any leftovers make an excellent lunch.
Assuming there are leftovers.
6. Cheesy Leek and Potato Soup
Leek and potato soup is one of the great economical lunches.
Adding Cheddar turns it into something substantial enough for dinner.
It’s also an excellent destination for leeks that aren’t quite handsome enough to win prizes at the village show.
Once they’re chopped, nobody knows.
Serves 4–6
You’ll need
- 30g butter
- 3 large leeks, sliced and thoroughly washed
- 1 onion, chopped
- 600g potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
- 150ml milk
- 125g mature Cheddar, grated
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Melt the butter in a large saucepan.
Add the leeks and onion and cook gently for around 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft but not browned.
Add the potatoes and stock.
Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are completely tender.
Blend until smooth, or leave slightly chunky if you prefer.
Return to a low heat and stir in the milk, cheese and mustard.
Don’t allow the soup to boil once the cheese has been added.
Season generously with black pepper and taste before adding salt, as the cheese and stock may already provide enough.
Serve with thick slices of toast.
Ideally buttered.
October is not the month to start being mean with toast.
7. Beetroot, Carrot and Goat’s Cheese Tart
This looks rather beautiful when it comes out of the oven, which is useful because it’s extraordinarily easy to make.
The beetroot and carrots become sweet when roasted, while the goat’s cheese adds a salty sharpness.
Serves 4
You’ll need
- 300g beetroot, peeled and cut into thin wedges
- 300g carrots, cut into batons
- 1 tablespoon olive or rapeseed oil
- 1 teaspoon thyme leaves
- 1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry
- 100g soft goat’s cheese
- 1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- A handful of rocket or salad leaves, optional
Method
Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6.
Put the beetroot and carrots into a roasting tin.
Add the oil, thyme, salt and pepper and toss together.
Roast for 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, unroll the pastry onto a baking tray, keeping it on its baking paper.
Score a border about 2cm from the edge, taking care not to cut all the way through.
Prick the centre several times with a fork.
Spread the mustard thinly over the centre.
Arrange the partly roasted vegetables over the pastry and crumble over the goat’s cheese.
Drizzle lightly with honey.
Bake for 20–25 minutes, until the pastry is puffed and golden.
Serve warm with salad leaves, or cold the following day.
It’s particularly good for lunch and gives the impression that you have made far more effort than you actually have.
Always a useful recipe characteristic.
8. Bubble and Squeak with Fried Eggs
Bubble and squeak is less a recipe and more a brilliant answer to the question: What on earth am I going to do with all these leftover vegetables?
Traditionally made with potatoes and cabbage, it welcomes almost any cooked autumn vegetable.
Kale?
In.
Carrots?
Absolutely.
Brussels sprouts?
Perfect.
Yesterday’s roast potatoes?
You are already halfway to dinner.
Serves 4
You’ll need
- 600g cold cooked potatoes
- 300g cooked cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, carrots or a mixture
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 25g butter
- 1 tablespoon vegetable or rapeseed oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 eggs
- Brown sauce or chutney, to serve, optional
Method
Roughly mash the potatoes.
Chop the cooked vegetables and mix them into the potato.
Season well.
Heat half the butter and oil in a large frying pan.
Add the onion and cook gently until softened.
Add the potato mixture and press it down into the pan.
Cook over a medium heat for around 8–10 minutes, allowing a good golden crust to form underneath.
Turn sections with a spatula and continue cooking until you have plenty of crisp brown edges.
You are not aiming for perfection.
The crispy, slightly chaotic bits are the whole point.
In a separate pan, fry the eggs in the remaining butter or oil.
Divide the bubble and squeak between plates and put a fried egg on top of each.
Add brown sauce or chutney if that’s your thing.
Dinner from leftovers.
Our grandparents knew what they were doing.
9. Autumn Vegetable Cottage Pie
This meat-free cottage pie is inexpensive, filling and extremely adaptable.
The quantities below are a starting point rather than a legal agreement.
If the garden gives you more carrots and fewer leeks, adjust accordingly.
Serves 6
You’ll need
For the filling
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 leeks, sliced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 200g mushrooms, chopped, optional
- 150g dried green or brown lentils, rinsed
- 1 tablespoon tomato purée
- 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 600ml vegetable stock
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce or vegetarian alternative, optional
- 100g kale or chard, chopped
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the topping
- 1kg potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
- 40g butter
- 75ml milk
- 75g mature Cheddar, grated, optional
Method
Heat the oil in a large saucepan.
Add the onion, leeks and carrots and cook gently for 10 minutes.
Add the garlic and mushrooms, if using, and cook for another 5 minutes.
Stir in the lentils, tomato purée, chopped tomatoes, stock, thyme and Worcestershire sauce.
Bring to a simmer and cook for around 30–40 minutes, or until the lentils are tender and the mixture is thick.
Add a little more water if it becomes too dry before the lentils have cooked.
Stir in the kale for the final 5 minutes.
Season well.
Meanwhile, boil the potatoes in salted water until tender.
Drain thoroughly, then mash with the butter and milk.
Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6.
Spoon the vegetable mixture into a large ovenproof dish.
Top with the mashed potato and rough up the surface with a fork.
Scatter with Cheddar if using.
Bake for 25–30 minutes, until bubbling and golden on top.
Leave it to stand for five minutes before serving.
Not because of culinary sophistication.
Because molten cottage pie can remove the roof of your mouth.
10. Apple, Pear and Blackberry Crumble
After ten months of gardening, I think we’ve earned pudding.
This is an ideal October crumble because it uses the fruits that naturally meet at the changing of the seasons.
If the blackberries have finished where you live, use frozen ones gathered earlier in the year, or simply make apple and pear crumble.
It will still be excellent.
Serves 6
You’ll need
For the fruit
- 500g cooking apples
- 300g pears
- 150g blackberries
- 50g soft brown or caster sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon water
For the crumble
- 200g plain flour
- 100g cold butter, cubed
- 75g demerara or light brown sugar
- 50g rolled oats
- A pinch of salt
Method
Heat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/gas 5.
Peel and core the apples and pears and cut them into chunks.
Put them into a baking dish with the blackberries, sugar, cinnamon and water.
Give everything a gentle mix.
For the topping, put the flour and butter into a bowl.
Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
Stir in the sugar, oats and salt.
Scatter the crumble mixture generously over the fruit.
Do not press it down.
Bake for 35–40 minutes, until the top is golden and the fruit is bubbling around the edges.
Allow it to sit for ten minutes before serving.
Then add custard.
Or cream.
Or ice cream.
There is no need to choose sides.
Straight from the garden: the recipes that aren’t really recipes
Not every harvest needs turning into a proper recipe.
Some vegetables are at their best when you simply cook them and get out of the way.
Roasted beetroot with goat’s cheese: Roast wedges of beetroot until tender, then add crumbled goat’s cheese, walnuts and a little balsamic vinegar.
Garlicky kale: Fry chopped garlic briefly in olive oil, add shredded kale and cook until wilted. Finish with lemon juice and black pepper.
Honey and thyme carrots: Roast carrot batons with a little oil, honey, thyme, salt and pepper until sticky around the edges.
Squash with sage: Roast chunks of squash with oil, sage leaves and plenty of black pepper. Add a little grated Parmesan towards the end if you fancy it.
Leeks in cheese sauce: Steam or gently cook whole or halved leeks, cover with cheese sauce and bake until golden.
Butter-fried cabbage: Finely shred cabbage and cook quickly in butter with black pepper and a tiny splash of water.
The perfect baked potato: Rub a large potato with a little oil and salt and bake until the outside is properly crisp. Split it open, add butter and fill with mature Cheddar and baked beans.
Nothing clever.
Nothing fashionable.
Just very good food.
Cook what you’ve got
Perhaps that’s one of the nicest things about cooking from a garden.
It changes your relationship with recipes.
Instead of deciding what you fancy and buying everything required to make it, you start with what’s ready.
A leek needs using.
The kale has gone slightly berserk.
There are six carrots that won’t win any prizes for beauty.
A pumpkin is sitting on the kitchen table.
So that’s dinner.
It is an economical way to cook, certainly, but there’s something satisfying about it too.
You become less worried about exact quantities and more confident about swapping ingredients around.
Chard replaces spinach.
Squash replaces pumpkin.
Cabbage goes into bubble and squeak.
Yesterday’s potatoes become today’s lunch.
Very little needs wasting.
The pleasure of an October kitchen
By October, the garden itself may be looking slightly tired.
Leaves are dropping.
Beds are gradually emptying.
The evenings arrive earlier and gardening increasingly involves putting on a coat you didn’t think you’d need when you first stepped outside.
But indoors, it’s a different story.
There might be pumpkins on the shelf.
Potatoes stored somewhere dark.
Apples in boxes.
A jar of green tomato chutney beginning to mature.
And dinner bubbling away on the hob containing vegetables that were still in the ground a few hours ago.
That’s the real pleasure of growing food.
Not perfect carrots.
Not enormous pumpkins.
Not posting photographs of an immaculate vegetable patch.
It’s this bit.
Growing something.
Picking it.
Cooking it.
Eating it.
Preferably while it’s raining outside.
And if there’s apple crumble afterwards, so much the better.
Further Reading: Grow Your Own Food: Save Money & Eat Well, How to Keep Your Vegetable Garden Productive into Autumn, What to Sow in September: Vegetables, Salads & Herbs, Runner Bean Chutney: A Taste of the September Garden, How to Store Potatoes for Winter, What to Harvest from the Vegetable Garden in October
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