A good reason to love September

It is one of those less pleasant days of autumn outside, damp and dreary and grey. I'm actually a bit cold, in spite of layering up with a jumper. But when I look in the fridge, I am reminded of the sunny side of September. Figs. I just love them.

Top: nut and raisin bread with goats' cheese and figs. Bottom: fig salad with prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella (from Laverstoke Park Farm, delicious).

- Naomi

Yes yes yes, it's my autumn almanac!

'Veggies from the oven', as this is so imaginatively called at our house, is a dish more complex in taste than in name - or in preperation. Cut some potatoes (peeling optional), carrots, red bell peppers, and a pumpkin in bite-size pieces. Lay them out on a baking tray and season with some olive oil, salt and pepper, adn if you're in the mood, a tablespoon garam masala.
Bake in a 200 degree oven for an hour/hour and a half. The last 20 minutes, add some pieces of goat's cheese or feta to the baking tray. Eat with some basil, if you like - or some chopped parsley.

New bread

After many months of spending my Sunday afternoons baking my trusted miche sourdough, I felt like trying something new. I'm very pleased with this loaf: it has lots of rye, it's moist, and it keeps very well for even longer than the miche (which I would eat for a whole week too, but which would be quite dry the last two days, although still great for toast). My new banneton / brotform is responsible for the beautiful stripes (notice them?), but I do need to get some more practice slashing. Now for the hardest part: waiting half a day until I can crack that crust with a bread knife...

Sourdough rye and wholewheat bread from Wild Yeast (I made about half the recipe and baked it as one loaf of 1100g instead of two smaller ones). Photo of the crumb to follow... if I remember to take one before devouring the loaf!

- Naomi

Purple as a carrot's skin

Always excited when I see these purple carrots in my veg box. They're orange on the inside, which makes for a gorgeous grated carrot salad. If I can wait that long. Did you know the greens are edible as well? Bit of a pain to clean, but delicious through a salad. Amazingly, they strongly taste like carrot!

- Naomi