Sample Recipes from The Autumn Fruits Cookbook

CHICKEN AND PEAR CASSEROLE – Serves 4 – 6

  • 4 chicken pieces
  • 2 tbsp sunflower oil
  • 1 onion, peeled and sliced
  • 1 small can of prunes
  • 450g, 1lb Conference pears, peeled, cored and quartered
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 1 chicken stock cube
  • 150ml, ¼pt (half cup) dry white wine
  • grated rind of 1 lemon
  • salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and brown the chicken pieces. Place in a casserole. Fry the onion in the same pan for 5 minutes and add to the chicken. Drain the prunes, reserve the syrup from the can and make it up to 150ml, ¼pt (half cup) with water. Spoon the prunes and pears over the chicken. Stir the flour into the pan juices and cook for a minute. Add the stock cube, prune syrup and wine. Bring to the boil and stir, cooking for a minute or two. Add the lemon rind, salt and pepper and pour over the chicken. Cook in the oven at gas mark 5, 190°C (375°F) for 1 hour.

APPLE PAN DOWDY – This is a delicious, dark, fudgy pudding.

  • 1 large Bramley cooking apple, peeled, cored and sliced
  • 4 tbsp black treacle
  • 2 tbsp cold water
  • 4 tbsp soft brown sugar
  • pinch of ground ginger
  • pinch of ground cinnamon
  • pinch of nutmeg
  • 25g, 1oz (2 tbsp) butter
  • 150g, 6oz shortcrust pastry

Lay the sliced apple over the bottom of a greased 20cm, (8in) pie dish. Mix together the black treacle and water. Stir the spices into the sugar and add to the treacle. Pour this over the apple. Dot small pieces of butter over the top. Roll the pastry into a circle to fit over the contents of the pie dish and seal it down. Bake in the oven at gas mark 6, 200°C (400°F) for 30 minutes. Take a sharp knife and cut through the pastry marking it roughly into squares over which the filling seeps. Return it to the oven and cook for another 40 minutes until the top is brown and fudge-like. Serve hot with cream or ice-cream.

AUTUMN PUDDING WITH APPLES, BLACKBERRIES AND PLUMS

This is delicious and a change from the more usual summer pudding.

  • 225g, 8oz cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
  • 225g, 8oz blackberries
  • 225g, 8oz plums, halved and de-stoned
  • 150g, 6oz (1 cup) granulated sugar
  • 10 slices of white bread

Cook the apples, plums and blackberries together with the sugar and 4 tablespoons of water until tender. Line the bottom and sides of a 1.1litre, 2pt pudding basin with the bread. Reserve a little of the juice from the fruit. Pour the stewed fruit into the basin and top with a slice of bread to make a lid. Put a plate on top of the basin and weight it down. Chill the pudding overnight. Turn out onto a serving dish. Pour the reserved juice over the top to conceal any white bits of bread.