Cooking for comfort and for friends on a wet Sunday morning…what could be better? The Squash and Pumpkins are all ‘curing’ (toughening their skins) inside in the warm and I am ready to make some great sharing food as the driving rain powers across Dartmoor. Folk are arriving as the yellow butter starts to melt and spit on the heavy, jet-black griddle. Everyone wants to pour the batter over the figs as they hit the heat and pancakes are flipping as the bacon sizzles in the pan. These pancakes are light and fluffy and just divine with streaky bacon and Maple Syrup, A perfect Brunch dish served with lots of glasses of fizz. When the party quietens down, I wheel in the Pumpkin cake. This moist sponge, fragrant with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves is a real show stopper and well worth the purchase of a Bundt tin. This rounded shaped beauty looks like a big soft cakey pumpkin. There were toasts all round for the food and for a day when life just felt a little simpler, and the food was a real comfort. These recipes are packed full of the flavour, colour and spice of Autumn and they use ingredients which are so good now…Pumpkin and Figs.
SPICED FIG AND RICOTTA PANCAKES (click here for recipe)
PUMPKIN CAKE (click here for recipe)
Dartmoor Flower Shed 