What to eat in early Autumn

The days might be shorter but the dinner table is still pretty summery. Nearly everything we had last month is still around but pumpkins are on the horizon and I even got one from Rose of Spring Cottage Organics at the weekend!

Tomatoes are at their most delicious at this time of year which means you really don’t have to do much to make them taste incredible. Most of the time it’s a generous drizzle of one of my fav Picuals, a little red wine vinegar and some salt for a side salad that goes with almost anything.

Serve it with a green salad with some charred strips of courgettes with crumbled feta and toasted sunflower seeds, spinach omelette, grilled fish, chicken…

Jazz your tomato salad up

Try some anchovies on top or some basil leaves or fennel seeds mixed through. Shavings of salted ricotta, black olives, chunky garlicky croutons are also lovely additions. On the subject of garlic, Marcella’s Hazan’s garlic scented tomato salad is a lesson in perfection.

Of course for an even faster meal or snack there’s pan con tomate. Cut a tomato in half through the middle and rub the tomato flesh on toasted bread – rustic sourdough for the win, then generously drizzle with a beautiful early harvest picual like Nobleza del Sur’s Centenarium and finish with some flakey salt. In Spain it’s not only a picky thing to have while waiting for the main event, it’s a breakfast, lunch and anytime of the day snack. It’s also a godsend if you’ve got hungry kids.

Finally, I highly recommend you check out this tomato tart by Alison Roman. It’s made with Heirloom tomatoes garlic and Picual olive oil (I used @noblezadelsur 1640 prebake then finished with Eco Day) in a biscuity pastry shell made with Parmesan and cornmeal with lots and lots of black pepper. It is so good and honestly, it’s as easy as she makes it look in her YouTube video. It’s from her book Sweet Enough where you’ll also find a brilliant recipe for Cheese Cake with Apricots. 

For a simple supper serve it with a new potato salad and maybe a bowl of rocket dressed with @olissole aged balsamic. I prefer it at room temperature rather than hot and have tried making the crust with butter, brown butter and olive oil – all are great. The only change I’d make is to use an 11 instead of 9 inch dish as it makes the crust a little more biscuity. The perfect way to deal with a glut/I went nuts at the market of tomatoes

Poblano peppers are just in and like padron peppers these can be tossed in the pan then drizzled with an oil like Finca la Torre’s Hojiblanca or, you can stuff them and bake in the oven then serve as a main with your tomato salad. I love a cheesy stuffing with either breadcrumbs or rice and maybe some beans and cilantro. Make a roasted tomatillo salsa by char grilling the tomatillos with the papery skin still on until it blackens. Remove the skin and let them cool down a bit before blitzing with coriander, lime juice and a little salt.

A VERY quick dinner

Cacio e Pepe with baby courgettes

Cacio e Pepe is the ultimate get out of dodge dinners. It literally take about 8 minutes  because it’s essentially coarsely ground black pepper sizzled in olive oil then mixed with some of the pasta water, olive oil, butter and lots of pecorino (I’ve also used Parmesan to equally great affect). The trick is to stir the cheese quickly in so it melts into the pasta water/olive oil/butter sauce. This blogpost from Serious Eats breaks it      down and gives you the proportions.

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