The leaves are falling but the trees aren’t yet bare. The sun’s shining but it’s not as warm as it was and the nights are drawing in.
Autumn is upon us, and I for one am excited.
It’s time to snuggle up and get cosy and what could be cosier than gathering round the kitchen table with your nearest and dearest to enjoy a long, lazy Sunday lunch?
Good food and good wine normally make for great conversation and plenty of laughs.
So put on your pinny, get in that kitchen, dust off those roasting pans and let’s get cooking.
The secret to a great Sunday lunch is to keep it simple.
To start, maybe a seasonal salad?
The bitter crimson leaves of radicchio mix beautifully with sweet, ripe black figs, salty feta cheese and pomegranate seeds. They produce both a riot of colours and flavours.
Then comes the main event..the roast.
The king of roasts being British roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and creamed horseradish.
What’s your favourite?
Roast pork, apple sauce and salty, crackling or roast chicken with stuffing and creamy bread sauce?
Whatever you choose just pile on those crisp, roasted potatoes, some root veggies roasted with a little honey and plenty of fresh herbs and of course some delicious greens. Pour on that rich gravy and enjoy.
To finish it has to be a fruit crumble and October just cries out for sweet English apples and tart blackberries accompanied by a large jug of custard or maybe just a dollop of sinful, Cornish clotted cream.
Start with some spicy Bloody Marys and then crack open the wine.
The rest, as they say, will take care of itself!