How to cook a six-dish autumn feast with no fuss

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We always start with what’s in season, beginning with the vegetables. Those are Joe’s domain, so we plan together from there. We swap things in and out to keep the balance right, adding a grain and a protein, which Olia will cook. We never cook together, just different dishes for the same meal. Because we cook four or five dishes, most things end up at room temperature and that’s fine. If you’ve got people coming over for a party, you can’t get everything on the table straight out of the oven. It’s too stressful. Broth is really the only thing that needs to be served piping hot! In Ukraine, where Olia is from, warm-ish food isn’t considered just OK, it’s actually preferable.

We always enjoy the process of cooking, and that’s achieved by thinking things through in advance rather than pulling the recipes out at the last minute. Before cooking any meal, you need to play it through in your head from start to finish; then you can get creative and think about substitutions. Always consider whether there’s something in the recipe that will take a long time and which can be done in advance. If that’s the case, it’s a no-brainer: do that thing the night before, preferably while listening to a podcast.

When cooking, keep yourself tidy. Have a bowl for your rubbish on the countertop if that helps. Otherwise, your cooking surface becomes smaller and smaller and you will get stressed and discombobulated. Because we both have a background in professional kitchens, we also think about the mise en place: put all the ingredients for each recipe in little bowls on a tray, so you’re less likely to forget something when you’re juggling so many dishes.

Sourdough, green adjika, curd and fruit

Each element of this recipe is highly adaptable. Sometimes I would use sourdough toast, sometimes rye, sometimes crackers. For the dairy element, soft goat’s cheese, good-quality cream cheese, ricotta or labneh all work well. The adjika paste can contain any combination of soft, aromatic herbs. Use whatever fruit is in season. OH

1. Pick and reserve a few leaves of each herb for decoration.

2. Make the green adjika: blitz the herbs, garlic, chilli and salt in a small food processor or spice grinder or bash it all together into a rough paste with a pestle and mortar.

3. Quarter the apple and chop off the seedy core, then slice thinly and toss with some lemon juice in a bowl.

4. Toast the sourdough, then cut it into thick fingers. Spread a thin layer of the adjika on the bread, then spread the goat’s cheese over thickly and arrange the apples on top. Sprinkle with the reserved picked herbs and some flowers if you are using them.

Roast chicken with millet stuffing

Dried sour cherries or cranberries work just as well as barberries. For the nuts, use whatever you have in your cupboard. Don’t be scared of the length of the method, there isn’t that much work to do. OH

For the millet

1. Heat a medium saucepan and add the millet. Toast it over a medium to low heat, moving it around often until you see the colour change ever so slightly and you can smell its nutty aroma. It shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes.

2. Add the cold water and a generous pinch of salt to the pan and bring it to a simmer, then cover with a lid and cook over a low heat for about 15 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed. Keep an eye on the water levels and watch out that the millet doesn’t catch on the bottom.

3. When the water has been absorbed, switch off the heat and keep the lid on for about 10 minutes, then fluff it up with a fork and leave to cool.

4. Heat two or three tablespoons of oil in a frying pan and add the shallots. Add a generous pinch of salt and cook over a medium heat until the onions start to turn golden. Then lower the heat and cook for as long as you have patience, ideally around half an hour. The deeper the caramelisation, the better the dish. If the pan becomes too dry and starts catching, add splashes of water and scrape at the bottom of the pan to release the caramelised bits.

5. When the onions look nice and brown, add the garlic and the barberries. Cook for about five minutes, then scrape this mix into the millet.

6. Wipe out the pan and add two tablespoons of oil. Add the nuts and fry them in oil over a medium-low heat until they look lovely and brown. Fish them out with a slotted spoon, roughly chop them and add to the millet, then mix everything well and taste for salt. It should be really well-seasoned.

For the chicken

1. Preheat the oven to 200C.

2. Put the chicken on a roasting tray and pour two tablespoons of olive oil over it. Rub it in and sprinkle over some sea salt.

3. Pack the millet inside its cavity tightly and put the chicken in the oven. Cook for one hour, turning the tray half way through if you have hotspots in the oven.

4. Let the chicken rest for 10 to 20 minutes, scoop out the millet, carve the chicken up and serve it on top of the millet. Either embrace the brownness of the dish or sprinkle over some soft herbs.

Potato, cabbage and blue cheese gratin

The blue cheese can be substituted for something milder — perhaps a hard goat’s cheddar or wensleydale. If you prefer not to use cheese (if pairing the gratin with fish, for example), just up the crème fraîche by 100g. JW

1. Preheat the oven to 190C. On a medium heat in a big pan, melt the butter with the olive oil and add the onions, bay and a pinch of salt. Cook for eight to 10 minutes. Rough cut the cabbage into 5cm chunks, remove and discard the core. Stir in the cabbage and continue to cook.

2. Meanwhile, slice the potatoes as finely as you can. Use a mandolin slicer if you have one. The most important thing is to get the slices as close to the same width as possible so they cook evenly.

3. Add the potatoes, wine and crème fraîche. Bring to a bubble while stirring to combine everything well. Stir through two-thirds of the cheese and the parsley with a few grinds of black pepper. Taste and add more salt if it needs it.

4. Spoon into a suitable oven tin, around 30 by 30cm. Lining it with baking paper will prevent it from sticking.

5. Bake in the oven for 45-60 minutes until it’s bubbling and the top is golden. A knife should easily pierce the potato layers. Once out of the oven, allow to sit for 15 minutes then serve.

Roast squash, cavolo nero and chestnuts

The sauce really brings this whole dish together, coating everything as you eat. It will keep covered and sealed for a couple of days in the fridge and is great used as a pasta sauce. This dish can also be made into a main with the addition of cooked grains or rice. JW

1. Preheat the oven to 190C. Cut your squash in half carefully, remove the seeds and any tough stalks. Cut into 2cm-3cm wide wedges. Add to a baking tray or two, so they’re snug but not touching. Drizzle with the oil, add a good pinch of salt and shake to coat.

2. Cook for 40-50 minutes, turning after 25 minutes, or until golden and tender. Add the chestnuts for the final few minutes just to warm.

3. While the squash is cooking, put a large pan of salted water on to boil. Get a bowl of ice water ready. Pull the leaves from the stems of the cavolo nero and add them to the pot (if you hold the base of a stem and pull firmly towards the tip, they strip off easily). Cook the stems for three to five minutes until nearly tender. Add the leaves and blanch for two to three minutes. Remove all the cavolo nero to the ice water bowl to set the colour.

4. In a small pan, melt the butter with the onion and cook gently on a medium/low heat until soft and translucent. Place in a blender along with a pinch of salt, the lemon zest and half the juice as well as the cavolo ribs and about half the leaves. Blend until smooth. Taste and add more seasoning and lemon juice if you want.

5. Mix the remaining cavolo leaves with the squash and chestnuts. Do this while the tray is still warm to heat the leaves. Spoon the sauce on to a plate or platter. Top with the squash, cavolo nero and chestnuts. Serve.

Fennel salad with toasted garlic breadcrumbs

A fresh salad is always welcome at our table. The crunch of the breadcrumbs provides a different dimension. JW

1. On a medium-low heat in a frying pan gently heat the oil with the garlic. Once the garlic begins to colour, add in the breadcrumbs. Toast, stirring often, until golden and crisp. Five to seven minutes should get you there. Add the parsley and capers. Cook for a further minute. Season to taste.

2. Use a knife or a mandolin slicer, to slice the fennel as thinly as possible.

3. Add half to a serving plate followed by about a third of the breadcrumb mix. Top with the remaining fennel and then the remaining breadcrumbs. Ruffle the salad a little to let the breadcrumbs fall into the crevices. Add a final drizzle of oil and serve.

Sponge cake with pears and rose cream

There is no raising agent apart from the voluminosity of whipped eggs, so make sure you do this part diligently (preferably using an electric whisk). OH

1. Prep a 30cm x 20cm baking tray with high sides (or a cake tin) by lining it with some non-stick baking parchment overhanging.

2. Slice the fruit into quarters, cut off the cores and slice into thin wedges, then toss with some lemon juice in a bowl. Arrange at the bottom of the lined tin.

3. Preheat the oven to 180C.

4. Whisk the eggs in a stand mixer until they start looking frothy, then slowly trickle in the sugar and keep whisking. Add the salt and vanilla. The mixture should look billowing when ready.

5. Now turn the speed of the machine right down and add the flour.

6. Pour the cake batter into the tin on top of the fruit and slide it into the oven.

7. Check after 25 minutes. Stick something sharp into the thickest part of the cake and see if it comes out clean. If not, give it another 10 minutes and check again.

8. Let it rest for 10 minutes, then slice.

9. For the cream, simply add the rose water and whip very lightly. Serve together.

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