Autumn Produce Inspiration

March 10, 2021

Tips for delicious seasonal dishes you can make at home over autumn.

1. Pine mushrooms have a short seasonal window. Go with something really simple, like mushrooms on toast.

2. Figs baked with local blue cheese and honey are fantastic.

3. Persimmons can be a bit challenging, but you can slow bake them. They have a great flavour. You can compress it with a little salt or vinegar and serve it with an octopus dish to cut through the richness of the octopus. At home, baking it is sensible, with a little bit of brown sugar. You can treat it the same way as quince, which is my next on our list.

4. Quince is a delicious fruit and is underutilised. People see it in paste but if you bake it low and slow for a few hours, it’s delicious to use as a sweet or savoury. You can quarter it, bake it and serve with cold grilled duck or you can cook it down and have a nice piece of stewed quince to match your heavier cheeses.

5. Chestnuts are not always easy to source however with Australia’s 300 odd orchards you should be able to find a source, the reward is definitely there when eating them. Roast them and make a nice French chestnut, apple and frangipane tart. Frangipane is an almond-flavoured sweet pastry cream used when preparing various desserts.

Words by William Holmes