Midweek Meals: Bring the harvest home with these classic autumn recipes

The cold evenings are creeping in... warm up with recipes for in-season potato, squash, pumpkins, apples and blackberries

Some of our autumn recipe selections.

Leek & Potato Soup

An easy meal - with locally-sourceable ingredients.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 40 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Irish

Ingredients

• 50g butter

• 4 potatoes, peeled and chopped

• 2 onions, sliced

• 4 leeks, washed well and sliced

• 750ml vegetable stock

• 250ml milk

• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Melt the butter and stir in the vegetables. Turn the heat down to low, clamp on a lid and sweat for ten minutes until the vegetables have softened. Add the vegetable stock and bring to a simmer. Bubble gently for fifteen minutes.

2. Stir in the milk and cook for five more minutes. Once cooled slightly blend with an immersion blender or in a jug blender until super smooth. To get ultra-silky soup, blend for at least five minutes - much longer than you may think. Season to taste, with salt and pepper.

Smokey Beef Stew

This recipe champions frozen and store cupboard ingredients - sometimes preparing fresh from scratch can be too much of a challenge when you are tired or tight on time.

Servings

5

Preparation Time

 5 mins

Cooking Time

 6 hours 0 mins

Total Time

 6 hours 5 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 500g stewing beef

• 100g frozen chopped onions

• 200g frozen chopped carrots

• 100g frozen chopped turnip/swede

• 1 tin chickpeas, drained

• 1 tbsp dried garlic

• 2 tbsp tomato purée

• 150ml beef stock (made from stock cube)

• 1 tsp oregano

• 1.5 tsp smoked paprika

Method

1. Combine all the ingredients in a slow cooker/crockpot/heavy casserole dish. Stir well so that the herbs and spices coat the meat and vegetables.

2. If cooking in the slow cooker/crockpot, put the lid on and cook on high for 6 hours.

3. If cooking in a heavy casserole dish in the oven, add a further 400ml of hot water to the pot. Put the lid on and cook at 160°C/ gas mark 3 for 3 hours.

4. The dish is ready when the meat is tender. Serve with rice or mash and eat with a spoon.