If I had to pick a favourite month, October would be it. I love the leafy smell in the air that tells me it’s full-on mushroom season, the glowing colours of piled-up pumpkins and turning leaves, the fact that it’s time to haul favourite jumpers out of the cupboard (forget the annual grumbling about moth holes) and – joy – putting on boots and tights again.
And then there’s the food. Much as I relish the rainbow colours of summer peppers, tomatoes, peaches and berries, I love even more the sight of gourds, squash and crinkly-gorgeous savoy cabbages as they find their way back onto greengrocer shelves and market stalls. Yes, a brand new shining season of food has arrived, heralding good-as-a-hug food that chimes with the chill in the air. Suddenly it’s all about the glow inside rather than the glow outside.
It won’t surprise you to know delicious.has all the recipe inspiration you need. A MasterChef reunion brings together a menu you’ll be itching to cook and devour with friends (p33); Yotam Ottolenghi shows a new strand to his repertoire with warming recipes that are also simple, both in their ingredients lists and in their execution (p48); and chef/food writer Henry Harris will draw you in with his memories, recipes and descriptions of lamb (p70). My top choice, though, is deputy food ed Sophie’s bramble bakewell tart (p60). I, for one, can’t wait to get cooking.