Welcome to the game season

Someone came up with the brainwave of publishing four weeks’ worth of menus at the same time, to give you all the opportunity to add a little planning to your Friday feasts. So that’s what we’ve done and I have to say at this time of year, there’s no shortage of inspiration. Welcome to the game season, my favourite time of the year. We’ll be speaking to local shoots to see if we can bag you something interesting. Woodcock is a winner, but they are so pretty I can barely bring myself to eat them.

We’re kicking off with some lovely partridge which start giving themselves up on September 1st. They are usually not too well hung, as the actress said ……, so a real treat for everyone and I’m loving Diana Henry’s combination of sweet sautéed red cabbage, blackberries and star anise. Grab a pot of creamy, roast garlic, saffron, olive oil mashed potato to go with it, heaven beckons.

Gill Meller’s sweetcorn, smoked haddock soup is a lovely thick broth, I’ve made it, eaten it, shared it with friends and it really is a star studded, one pot dish of pure comfort. As is pretty much anything with Gill Meller in the sentence.

So we’re sticking with Gill for the vegetarian offering of barley, squash and mushroom with herb and crème fraiche dressing. That doesn’t mean you have to be vegetarian to eat it, it’s full of autumn richness whatever your persuasion.

Finish everything off with a totally seasonal, classic apple and blackberry crumble, with a dollop of Rodda’s clotted cream. All that wassailing in the January frost is now paying off with orchards full of groaning trees, weighed down with such bounty.