This is the start of the season to snuggle up with soups, slow-cooked dishes and sweet treats made from pumpkins, mushrooms and game. October is the opening month for pheasant shooting and early birds will be quite expensive to buy but grouse and partridge will still be in the shops and cheaper. The first Scallops will also be arriving this month at fishmongers. And you will also see lots of pumpkins in the supermarkets/shops ready for Halloween.

Foods for the month:

Meat: Pheasant, grouse, partridge, rabbit, duck, venison.

Fish: Scallops, herrings, brill, crab, monkfish, mackerel, sea bass, haddock.

Vegetables: Pumpkins, marrows, butternut squash, wild mushrooms, broccoli, kohlrabi, leeks, beetroot, turnips, main crop potatoes, watercress, fennel.

Fruit: Apples, blackberries, melons, pears, grapes, elderberries.

Menu (Serves 4 - 6)

Starter: Provencal Chargrilled Scallops

Main: Pot Roasted Guinea Fowl

Dessert: Pumpkin Cheesecake

Starter: Provencal Chargrilled Scallops

Ingredients

12 scallops (keep the shells to serve in)
1 red pepper
1 yellow or orange pepper
4 tbsp olive oil
1 small red onion
½ head of fennel
1 garlic clove
4 vine ripened tomatoes
10 sliced pitted black olives
1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
Salt and pepper

Method

1. Pre-heat the grill to 200C, 400F, Gas 6. Cut peppers into quarters, remove the seeds and white membrane. Place the peppers, skin side up, on a baking sheet and brush with 1 tbsp of olive oil. Cook the peppers under the pre-heated grill until the skins have blackened. Tip the charred peppers and any juices into a bowl, cover with cling film and set-aside until cool enough to handle.

2. Peel and finely chop the red onion and fennel.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat, add the chopped onion and fennel and cook for about 4 minutes until tender and beginning to turn golden at the edges. Peel and crush the garlic, add to the pan, and continue to cook for a further minute.

4. Meanwhile, skin the peppers, reserving any cooked juices, and finely dice the flesh. Add the diced peppers and juices to the onion mixture and continue to cook over a low heat for 3 minutes.

5. With the point of a sharp knife, make a cross at the bottom of each tomato, cover with boiling water and leave for 1 minute. Place under cold running water and then peel off the skins.

6. Cut the tomatoes into quarters and deseed. Finely dice the flesh and add to the pan, continue to cook for 3 minutes until the tomatoes have cooled down. Add the sliced olives, season well and set aside while you prepare and cook the scallops.

7. Lightly rinse the scallops under cold running water and place on kitchen paper to dry.

8. Heat a heavy based frying pan or ridged griddle pan over a high heat. Brush each scallop with a little olive oil, season and cook in the pan for 1-2 minutes on each side.

9. Return the sauce to a low heat and add the chopped basil.

10. Divide the scallops and sauce between 4 plates and serve immediately.

Main: Pot Roasted Guinea Fowl

Ingredients

1 whole guinea fowl
4 rashers of bacon
50g (2oz) butter
2 leek, cleaned and sliced into pieces
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced into pieces
1 red onion, peeled and diced
8 mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 pepper, deseeded and sliced
2 bay leaves
Pinch of thyme
3/4 pint of chicken stock
2 teaspoons of cranberry sauce or bramble jelly
Salt and pepper to season

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6.

2. Cover guinea fowl with the bacon.

3. Melt the butter in a large pan and fry all the vegetables.

4. Add chicken stock, herbs and cranberry sauce/bramble jelly.

5. Cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes until vegetables are tender.

6. Transfer to casserole dish and place the guinea fowl on top.

7. Cover and roast in the oven for 45 minutes.

8. Now uncover the casserole and cook for a further 15/20 minutes until the bacon is crispy and the guinea fowl is cooked through.

9. Lift the guinea fowl onto a plate and then lift the bacon off.

10. Carve the guinea fowl meat.

11. Place the bacon on top of the meat and spoon the casseroled vegetables and sauce on top.

12. Serve with your own choice of potatoes and extra vegetables.

Dessert: Pumpkin Cheesecake

Ingredients

225g/8oz digestive biscuits
60g/2oz butter
juice and zest 1 lemon
340g/12oz cooked pumpkin (steamed or roasted)
225g/8oz caster sugar
450g/1lb Mascapone cream cheese
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
4 eggs
90ml/3fl oz double cream
90ml/3fl oz natural yoghurt

Method 1. Heat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3.
2. Crush the digestive biscuits into crumbs.This can be done using a rolling pin with biscuits in cling film or clear sandwich bag. Melt the butter over a low heat and mix in the biscuit crumbs and lemon zest. Lightly grease and line with grease proof paper a 25cm/10in loose-bottomed cake tin and press the crumbs into the base and up the sides slightly.
3. Mix together the Mascapone cream cheese, pumpkin flesh, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg until smooth. Beat the eggs and fold into the pumpkin mixture. Turn into the tin and bake in the oven for around a hour and a half or until the surface is set but the underneath still slightly squidgy.
4. Take the cheesecake out of the oven and let it cool in the tin. Once cool, turn out on a serving plate, cover with cling film and chill overnight.
5. Just before serving your cheesecake, whip the double cream until thick and fold in the yoghurt and the lemon juice, spread over the top of the cheesecake. Now enjoy.