Autumn Fruit and Vegetables

It’s always good to see beautiful piles of plums in all shades from blue-black, through purple and red to green and yellow, plus the plump ears of sweetcorn, golden squash and all the rest.

We all look forward to the soups, stews and fruit crumbles and crisps that are such a part of autumn. So, when the weather turns chilly, enjoy making the most of glorious autumn fruit and vegetables.

SERVING AUTUMN FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

Most vegetables can be used for soup-making, and you can also use mixtures of veg in stews and sauces to serve with pasta or potatoes. Warming risottos are good with autumn vegetables like mushrooms or grated squash stirred through, or try topping polenta with a well-flavoured sauce of tomatoes and vegetables. Or serve vegetables lightly cooked with simple grilled meats and fish.

Whatever you do, choose the fresh produce of the season rather than imported varieties whenever you can. Serve plenty, every day, to stay on top of five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.

AUTUMN FRUIT IN SEASON SEPT TO NOV

• Apples There are still some farms producing the fine old apple varieties which come into their own in autumn. Seek out Worcester Pearmains, a pretty, sweet red apple. They don’t keep well, so use them quickly. Egremont Russets are another autumn favourite, with their dusky brownish skin and creamy flesh. Best enjoyed this side of Christmas, as they don’t keep well beyond that. Laxton’s Superb comes into season late in the autumn, and tastes like a sweeter Cox. Use apples in all sorts of easy healthy apple recipes, in salads, in baked apple recipes, use them to fill crumbles, pies or turnovers, puree them and use in cakes or stir through custard for a simple fool. Toss finely sliced apple rings into pancakes, or slice and sugar them, top with buttery crumbs and bake.
• Blackberries Every autumn we go blackberrying, because we can’t resist the idea of food for free. Take shallow plastic boxes rather than bags, so the fruit aren’t squashed. Take a stick to pull down the arching branches, and protect your legs from scratches with boots. Pick only black, juicy-looking berries. Leave the hard, red ones on the bush. They’ll keep for 2 days in the refrigerator. Pick them over, rinse, and freeze spread on trays until firm, then packed into bags in useful quantities. Blackberries are high in vitamins and minerals. Cultivated blackberries are usually much larger and sweeter, good for eating raw. In cooking, they’re best paired with other fruit, usually apples, to make crumbles or pies, or puree the cooked fruits together as a base for mousses or fools. Juice them with apples for an autumn drink, or sprinkle some on plain yogurt or muesli for breakfast.
• Blueberries In season through September. Sweet enough to eat raw without sugar. Also good with pancakes, in cakes, or lightly stewed and spooned over ice cream. Or try them baked in a healthy blueberry muffin.
• Damsons Small, black plums, with a beautiful blue bloom on the skin. If you’re lucky, damsons are sweet enough to eat raw, but usually they’re better stewed with sugar to taste. They have tiny stones, far too fiddly to try and remove when raw, but they don’t interfere with the pleasure of eating. Eat stewed with yogurt, or use as you would blackberries, in crumbles or pies.
• Fresh figs The skin of fresh figs can vary from purple to pink or light brown, but the flesh inside is always succulent crimson. Unlike many fruit, figs contain protein and are also rich in calcium and iron. Look for firm, smooth skins and avoid figs which feel sticky. They bruise easily so handle with care. Figs are a real delicacy and delicious eaten raw. They make a pretty addition to salads, or slice them and use to decorate other desserts. To serve warm, poach figs in fruit juice flavoured with cinnamon for 15 minutes.
• Grapes Although they are now available all year round, autumn is the best season for grapes. Wash before eating and keep refrigerated. Choose firm grapes, and check they aren’t turning brown near the stem. Grapes are perfect as dessert or in lunchboxes. Use them in fruit or savoury salads, or add to breakfast cereals.
• Pears Conference are available most of the year as they store so much better than other varieties. Other types, like yellow, bulbous Packhams, or sweet Williams only come into the shops in autumn as they are harvested. They ripen quickly once brought into a warm house, so buy small quantities. Handle carefully as they bruise easily. Buy firm pears and ripen at home. They keep for about three days. Eat raw, add to fruit salads, poach in fruit juice or wine, juice them with other fruits.
• Plums Lots of different varieties, available well into the autumn. Buy when firm, and store refrigerated for up to four days. To stone plums, run a small sharp knife around the natural groove, gently twist the halves apart and prise out the stone. Most are sweet enough to eat raw, or you can bake them, or make them into crumbles, pies or tarts. Try slices added to green or fruit salads, or bake them alongside meat.
• Raspberries Late fruiting varieties are at their best in the early autumn. They’re often larger and darker than the summer varieties. Eat raw, mix with other fruit in red fruit salads or compotes, use to fill flans or scones, puree to make sorbet, ice cream or a tangy sweet sauce.

AUTUMN VEGETABLES IN SEASON SEPT TO NOV

• Aubergine (Eggplant) Still good through September. There’s no need to salt and drain aubergine. Rather than frying aubergines, which soak up huge amounts of oil, slice them, brush with oil and bake in oven until tender, then use in casseroles and bakes. Ideal with tomatoes and spices. Classic component of Ratatouille.
• Beetroot This is one time when you can save yourself a lot of messing about and buying beetroot that have already been cooked. Avoid those soused in strong vinegar, which completely masks their delicate flavour. If you do buy them raw, rinse off any earth gently and simmer in plenty of water for 1-2 hours. Or bake them, covered with foil, at 180C/gas 4 for about an hour. Don’t poke beetroot to see if they’re done, as the juice will start to bleed out. If the skin wrinkles away from the root, they’re ready. Use them in soup, in salads, where they blend well with potatoes or, surprisingly, oranges, serve with rollmop herrings, or slice, dress with a little vinaigrette and serve warm with grilled chicken.
• Broccoli Cut into florets and steam or stir-fry briefly to preserve nutrients. Makes excellent soup. Use in pasta sauces or gratin dishes, or add lightly cooked florets to salads.
• Brussels sprouts To prepare, cut away the outside leaves and rinse. There’s no need to cut a cross in the bottom. Tiny ones are good steamed, then tossed in garlic butter, and there are various other brussel sprout recipes. They’re good added into healthy soup recipes that use other vegetables – their flavour can be quite dominating. Brussels sprouts aren’t pleasant to eat raw, and I don’t like them in salads, either. Definitely one to have warm, when the colder weather sets in.
• Cabbage With us all year round, but I always think of it as an autumn/winter veg. Savoys are lovely, with their wrinkly outer leaves, but you can also do good things with tight, round white cabbage. Shred them into salads and coleslaw. Add a handful to soup. Cook cabbage lightly, by steaming or simmering in the minimum of water until just tender. It responds well to slow cooking, too. Try tossing shredded cabbage softening an onion in walnut oil, add a crushed garlic clove and a handful of chopped walnuts, then add shredded cabbage, put the lid on and let it cook slowly until the cabbage is meltingly tender.
• Carrots In autumn and winter, carrots have a more robust flavour than in spring. Delicious in soup with orange,or soup with lentils juiced, or shredded into salads and sandwiches, they’re also good steamed, stir-fried or roast. A dash of orange juice brings out the flavour. Or add them to long-cooking meat stews for a touch of sweetness. They also make very good, moist cakes.
• Cauliflower Can be used raw in salads, steamed or stir-fried. Cook lightly. Mild flavour marries well with spices or vinaigrette dressing.
• Celeriac These big knobbly brown roots don’t look very promising, but they have a wonderful celery-like flavour which is great in soups. Cut them into chunks and boil until tender, then puree them alone, or with potato for a comforting side dish. which start to come in during October. Celeriac discolours when cut, so use it immediately, or put the cut pieces into a bowl of water acidulated with vinegar of lemon juice.
• Celery Here in East Anglia we get huge heads of celery in winter, straight from the fenland farms, with the rich black soil still clinging to them. Wash celery well, cut off the root end, and ‘unzip’ the long strings. Celery adds its distinctive flavour to stocks and celery soup recipes, is good as a crudite (children like it), and is nice chopped into salads. For cooking, I prefer to braise it gently in the oven in a little stock.
• Chicory White edged with greenish yellow, these torpedo-shaped vegetables have a pleasingly bitter flavour which is a good antidote to some of the sweeter vegetables. Shred into salads, steam, or braise with a little olive oil until tender. Good with fish.
• Courgettes (Zucchini) They get bigger and bigger at the end of summer, until they turn into marrows. Small ones have best flavour, and are less watery. Slice, grate or cut into ribbons to cook, or scoop out seeds, stuff and bake. They can be steamed, sautéed, stir-fried, roast in chunks. Use to make Ratatouille.
• Cucumbers Peel and cut into fingers for snacks, slice or chop into salads, add to bulgar or cous cous salads, mix with yoghurt for a refreshing tzatziki dip.
• Fennel Aniseed flavour is most pronounced when raw. Chop finely into salads, cook on barbecue, or bring out the sweet flavour by braising gently in a little olive oil until lightly browned.
• French beans Still around until the end of September. Top and tail, then steam lightly. Eat hot, or leave to cool and use in salads.
• Herbs Sadly the real stars of the summer are gone by now. Dill is just a cluster of seeds, and the rocket has bolted, who knows where. In a sheltered, frost-free spot, a pot of parsley will keep going during the winter, and you might manage to keep basil going for a while indoors as well. Otherwise, turn to the woody, hardy herbs – thyme, sage and rosemary – for winter savour.
• Jerusalem artichoke Arrives by November, as a pile of rather muddy, knobbly tubers. They need lots of washing and are a bit of a devil to peel, but worth the effort for their lovely flavour. They discolour quickly, so drop them into acidulated water as you go. Make fantastic Jerusalem artichoke soup, or roast them in the oven and serve with chicken. One drawback – they create, ahem, rather a lot of gut disturbance… Don’t cook them for your lover.
• Leeks Don’t buy the really giant-sized leeks that appear as the season wears on. The leaves can be quite fibrous and stringy. To clean leeks, remove root and tough green leaves, then slash vertically from the top and wash under running water, separating the layers to remove all traces of dirt. Shred or slice to cook, by steaming or stir-frying. Great in soups or in gratin-style dishes.
• Mangetout (snow peas) finish in September, what a shame. Click here for snow pea recipes.
• Mushrooms This is the time of year to look out for wild mushrooms. If you can only get the cultivated variety, try making this Stuffed Mushroom recipe.
• Onions Yes, I know you can get them all year round, but autumn and winter is the traditional onion season, and who wants onion soup in midsummer. Absolute staple of any kitchen, they add flavour to virtually every sauce, soup or stew you’ll ever make. For a totally simple supper, have them roast, or even boiled, just by themselves, with just a little grated cheese sprinkled over, and enjoy the sweet intensity.
• Parsnips Pick out small to medium parsnips. If you are stuck with larger ones, cut out the woody centre before cooking. They are lovely in soups, pureed with swede or potato, cut into chunks and roast with other veg, added to beef stews.
• Peppers Red, yellow, orange, green, even purple. Flavour is enhanced with chargrilling, either under the grill, or by baking in hot oven for 20 mins until blistered. Put in a plastic bag so that the steam loosens skins. Peel and slice. Peppers are delicious raw in salads, or can be stuffed and baked.
• Potatoes Once autumn arrives we can start enjoying jacket potatoes again. You can do them in the microwave I suppose, but the flavour is a shadow of what it becomes if you simply scrub them, dry them, prick them, rub with a little olive oil, sprinkle with a little salt and bake slowly in the oven for up to 2 hours until tender. Now that’s what I call taste. There’s lots more you can do with the humble spud - click here for healthy potato recipes.
• Pumpkin Looks glorious, in all it’s golden tubbiness, but lacks the flavour of butternut squash. That said, pumpkin works extremely well in soups, and is also great made into spicy cakes. See Fresh Pumpkin Recipes for ideas.
• Radishes Carry on until October. Longer, white-tipped varieties are less fiery than the round red ones. Good in salads and chopped into stir-fries.
• Red cabbage Appears in October, and very welcome it is. I only ever cook it one way, shredded, washed, then stewed long and slow with just a smidgin more water, a knob of butter and some seasoning. When tender, add a couple of tablespoons of vinegar, bring it to the boil, and let it simmer for a few minutes. Serve with ham or pork. Lovely stuff, shame it turns the pan blue.



• Romanesco cauliflower is best in October and November. If you find small heads of Romanesco, simply boil them for a few minutes until tender, and serve whole. For salads, cut into florets, blanch, then drop into iced water to fix the bright green colour, and serve mixed with shredded red onion and olives, and dressed with oil and lemon juice. You can also make it into a good sauce for pasta, by cooking until soft, and mashing with garlic and chilli, or adding to tomato sauce, then stirring through hot pasta.
• Runner beans Available through September. Avoid big, bulgy beans which are very tough. Top and tail and remove strings, then slice or cut into chunks and steam lightly. Try them in this green bean recipe
• Squash Butternut’s our favourite, because of its sweet, full flavour. Roast chunks in the oven, brushed with oil, until tinged brown. Makes a lovely golden soup, and is also good in risotto.
• Swede I was put off this for years by memories of watery mush served up at school. A pity, because swede is actually a rather pleasant vegetable. Cut it into chunks, boil until tender, then puree and season well. It’s maybe better mixed with mashed potato, to avoid any hint of wateriness.
• Sweetcorn (Cooking Corn on the Cob) The fresh cobs are sheathed in pale green leaves, with fronds of silk showing at the end. Inside, the kernels should be tightly packed and firm. Remove leaves and silk, and boil them for about 10 minutes. Alternatively, brush with oil and roast in a medium oven for about 25 minutes until tinged brown. Either way, eat them straight from the cob, but mind your lips – let them cool a little. Tradition says you should slather them with melted butter, but I actually find the flavour is better on its own, so it’s no hardship to serve them unadorned.
• Turnip Seek out the smallest, cut them into chunks and steam, braise gently in a little olive oil, or roast in the oven. Larger ones need to be peeled quite thickly, to remove all the woody rind. Also good in soups, and added to winter stews.
• Watercress Peppery flavour is good in a mixture of other leaves. Good in egg sandwiches and omelettes, or in soup.

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