Vegetarian autumn menus

Sugar and spice and all things nice

Summer, like a callous lover, has left us spurned and wanting more. So it’s time to do what most of us do when love shuts us out in the cold: comfort eat. Luxuriate in the great indoors and get intimate in the kitchen with sticky puddings and sweet, steaming sponges - dishes that leave autumn fruits just begging to be included.

Serve rich, steaming puddings as a follow-up to a light meal, or on their own as an oasis of warmth on a blustery afternoon. Or curl up late at night in front of a film with a feel-good bowl. Cloak the stouter puddings in homemade custard, adding a nip of tipple to complement James Martin’s Walnut Bakewell tart with roasted medlars or a pinch of warming cinnamon or nutmeg to flatter Valentine Warner’s impeccable Plum crumble.

Serve homemade ice cream with classic desserts such as Bread and butter pudding if you’re a foodie who isn’t already sweet enough. Die-hard dessert demons should drizzle Antony Worrall Thompson’s doctor-defying chocolate sauce over quivering poached fruit for an intense cocoa hit.

• Plum crumble by Valentine Warner from What to Eat Now
• Shockingly good chocolate puddings by Sam Stern
• Poached pears in Sauternes by Michel Roux from Saturday Kitchen
• Earl Grey sorbet with pear, Earl Grey and cinnamon strüdel by James Martin from Saturday Kitchen
• Apple tart with vanilla ice cream by James Martin from Saturday Kitchen
• Pear tarte tatin, fromage frais sorbet and star anise salt by Ben Axford from Masterchef
• Chunky apple crumble by Lesley Waters from Get Cooking (video recipe)
• Apple tasting of the South-east by Atul Kochhar from Great British Menu
• Fig bread and butter pudding by Simon Rimmer from Something for the Weekend
• Pear and Stinking Bishop cheese tarts by Valentine Warner from What to Eat Now
• Walnut Bakewell tart with roasted medlars by James Martin from Saturday Kitchen
• Steamed plum sponge with cinnamon custard by James Martin from Saturday Kitchen

Casa Italia

With 'staycations' the order of the summer and the recession draining the pure pleasure from a night on the tiles, now is the perfect time to bring the restaurant experience home. Get your friends round and take them on a virtual holiday to the Italian Riviera - you’ll tickle their memories as well as their taste buds.

To beat the credit crunch while still making merry, serve chilled prosecco in place of champagne - add a teaspoonful of crushed seasonal fruit to make stylish seasonal cocktails. Once the drinks are out of the way, serve the starters Italian style: arrange squares of Wild mushroom tart and the mini bruschetta on serving plates in the centre of the table for guests to nibble on. Alternatively, serve bowls of soup with self-serve dishes of crisp croûtons and platters of sliced hard cheese, olives and chopped cured ham.

Italian food should be a rugged affair that runs deep with flavour. Buy the best quality ingredients you can afford and lavish your time on them to produce restaurant-worthy food at a fraction of the cost. Hard Italian cheese such as pecorino will add an extra dimension to all of these dishes; a dash of good quality olive oil and a grinding of black pepper will also do the job, but don’t let the food forget its peasant roots. Serve with a chicory salad or steamed seasonal vegetables, and save room for dessert.

Whether your final course channels an emperor's feast or a pleb's pud, it will be a triumph. An authentic tiramisù or smooth semifreddo will hit be sure to the spot. If the wallet won’t stretch as far as the waistband, go for dainty espressos and a plate of biscotti and you won’t hear any complaints.

Starters

• Baby bruschetta with poached pears, gorgonzola and port syrup by Merrilees Parker from Saturday Kitchen
• Torta di funghi (Wild mushroom tart) by Antonio Carluccio from Saturday Kitchen
• Field mushrooms and taleggio cheese on bruschetta by James Martin from Housecall
• Butter bean and sage bruschetta by Lesley Waters from Ready Steady Cook
• Angela's creamy pumpkin and red pepper soup by Silvana Franco

Mains

• Hazelnut gnocchi with girolles, crisp fried duck eggs and parmesan by Adam Byatt from Saturday Kitchen
• Potato gnocchi filled with mixed mushrooms with a butter, sage and balsamic sauce by Gennaro Contaldo from Saturday Kitchen
• Mushroom risotto by Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi from Return to Tuscany
• Pumpkin ravioli with sage butter by Rick Stein from Food Heroes
• Wild mushroom lasagne by Valentine Warner from What to Eat Now
• Pasta and beans (Pasta e fagioli) by Allegra McEvedy from Economy Gastronomy

Desserts

• Blackberry and ricotta cheesecake in a tart case by Stephen Terry from Saturday Kitchen
• Torta di mele e mandorle (mini apple and almond pie) by Gino d’Acampo from Saturday Kitchen
• Marsala honey pears with gorgonzola by Nigella Lawson from Nigella Express
• Almond semifreddo by Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi from Return to Tuscany
• Lemon and almond biscotti with basil and vanilla cream by James Martin from Ready Steady Cook
• Fruits of the forest zabaglione cream with pain perdu and berry sauce by Paul Rankin from Step Up to the Plate
• Maple praline semifreddo by Sophie Grigson from Get Cooking (video recipe)
• Tiramisù by Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi from Return to Tuscany

Pumpkins

Autumn has three constants: the common cold, darker nights and, of course, pumpkins. Versatile vegetables that are just begging to be noticed, these orange orbs light up the night, give you a vitamin boost and show up in all manner of guises all through the season.

Scoop the insides out of smaller pumpkins, make a smooth, bubbling soup from the flesh and use the empty pumpkin as a bowl. Wash the seeds and air-dry them, then eat toasted as snacks or grind and use as a thickener in other vegetable soups.

Squeeze this hearty squash into familiar dishes such as vegetarian lasagne or moussaka. Or roast wedges of pumpkin and serve drizzled with olive oil, scattered with sea salt, or covered in melted cheese as part of an autumn mezze. Alternatively, boil and mash it as you would a sweet potato, giving the butter equal billing, and serve alongside an open vegetable tart.

As for sweet dishes, look no further than pumpkin pie, which will put in an appearance at many a Yankee table this November. Score a home run with a traditional pumpkin pie like mom used to make, or try to outdo the settlers with James Martin’s Spiced pumpkin tart with stem ginger cream.

Savoury

• Pumpkin soup by Valentine Warner from What to Eat Now
• Pumpkin and apple soup
• Lantern soup (pumpkin and haricot bean soup) from The Vegetarian Society
• Warm pumpkin and chickpea salad with tahini by Sam and Sam Clark
• Butterbeans with pumpkin by Elisabeth Luard from Veg Talk
• Swiss chard tart with roasted pumpkin and basil by Rosa Baden-Powell from Masterchef
• Pumpkin lasagne by Antony Worrall Thompson from Saturday Kitchen
• Pumpkin risotto with crispy sage by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Sweet

• Butternut squash and pumpkin pie with custard by Simon Rimmer from Something for the Weekend
• Spiced pumpkin tart with stem ginger cream by James Martin from Saturday Kitchen
• Pumpkin pie by Antony Worrall Thompson from Saturday Kitchen