What’s Cooking? Team GWG’s Top Early Autumn Recipe Recommendations

September always feels like an in-between month in culinary terms. The nights are drawing in, but the sun is still shining (sometimes, at least). Autumnal comfort food beckons and entices but a smattering of warmer days also draws us back to more summery flavours too. These are the recipes the team is loving right now, before we charge headlong into autumn proper.

Smacked Cucumber Salad

Ottolenghi


We have a glut of cucumbers from the allotment to use up, so this recipe is perfect right now. I particularly love the way that the peppery heat from the radishes makes the perfect foil to the cool cucumber. So refreshing and ideal alongside grilled fish for a light lunch. – Lydia, Lifestyle Editor

Chicken Noodle Soup

BBC Good Food


Autumnal evenings have inspired me to perfect chicken noodle soup. It is such a good one for the whole family, as it's tasty but not at all threatening and you can sneak in loads of vegetables. This recipe, from trusty BBC Good Food, is easy and delicious. (I swap out the mushrooms for Pak Choi, because I think it feels fresher and I like a bit of crunch.) – Becky, Features Editor

Malfatti With Tomato Sauce

Great Italian Chefs


If you are a devotee of gnocchi – and we’re with you on that front – do make it your business to try knocking up a delicious bowl of malfatti, pronto. Made using that age-old classic combination, spinach and ricotta, they are absolutely perfect with a simple tomato sauce and make a brilliant alternative to more carb-laden gnocchi or pasta, but with a denser nutritional profile and no compromise on taste. Ideal now and all year round. – Nancy, Editor

Miso-Baked Cod

Delicious Magazine


I love black cod, but not at the prices you find it in most restaurants! This is the closest recipe I can find, and it is wholly delicious – plus it’s easy to rustle up with minimal ingredients. – Lucy, Shopping Editor

Blackberry Ripple Ice Cream

Waitrose


I've made the most of the glut blackberries in the hedgerows this last month, making this very easy ice cream, alongside lots of jars of jam. This ice cream recipe, that I first spotted in a Waitrose magazine last year, uses condensed milk, so yes, it's chock full of sugar (and cream and mascarpone), but this means you don't have to stir it mid way through freezing. As a point of difference, I cook the blackberries with a little sugar and the juice of a lemon instead of sieving raw blackberries. I think it makes for a better tasting sweet versus tart, which is what you need here. Make sure this is cooled before adding to the cream mixture. Plus I cook more blackberries than the recipe needs and serve the extra as a coulis to drool over. And I love Ines Rosales Tortas biscuits, from Waitrose to serve alongside. - Arabella, MD

By Team GWG
September 2023