Tom Kitchin: Flavour is key in autumn, you’re working with lots of robust, bold ingredients.

Readers who follow my column will know by now that I work almost fanatically with the seasons.

They guide my cooking throughout the year, and when a new season arrives the kitchen is an even more thrilling place to be. It means fresh new produce, experimenting with nature’s incredible seasonal matches and creating or discovering a host of new dishes.

As autumn arrives I get ready to welcome a wealth of delicious, fresh produce from the glorious game the season brings and the fresh selection of Scottish sea fish, to the huge array of root vegetables, fruits and fungi that complement them so well.

Autumn at The Kitchin is a very busy time as we’re at the height of the game season. Nothing thrills me more, and I love the whole process from the delivery of the ingredients to the feedback from our diners after they’ve tasted their very first grouse or venison dish of the season. After many years of being a chef, I still love to come up with new cooking methods or recipes for the huge variety of game that gets delivered to me fresh from my gamekeeper.

When it comes to autumn vegetables, I relish their versatility. They lend themselves so well to a great assortment of dishes and cooking methods, and some of my favourites are the hearty, warming creations that brighten up any cool, crisp autumn day. Soups, purées, gratins or even just simply roasted are perfect ways to serve fresh, local, autumn vegetables. The beauty of most of these dishes is that almost any root vegetables work. You can use up what you have in the fridge, ensuring you make the most of any leftovers to avoid unnecessary waste.

The same goes for fruit. Take a look in your fridge, and any orchard fruits or sweet autumn berries can be used to make jams, cordials and delicious warm desserts. Poach or pan-fry your fruit for a simple, sweet treat or use as a complement to game and vegetable dishes to give them a little added sweetness.

Flavour is key in autumn because you’re working with lots of robust, bold ingredients. The best advice I can give is to look around you. Let the colours, textures and flavours inspire you to try new things, and make sure you let nature guide your dishes by thinking about how the ingredients are found in nature itself. You will find you become more adventurous and excited about what you discover.

One dish that truly tastes of autumn is stuffed cabbage. Traditionally, it is known as choux farci de Gascogne, and it is a dish I was inspired to create by my great mentor, Pierre Koffmann. The legendary chef first learned to love food on his grandparents’ farm in Gascony, and his grandmother’s traditional cooking from the region still inspires him. This is an incredible, flavoursome dish. The small parcels seal in all the flavour of the meat to give an outstanding autumn taste, and it also makes the perfect accompaniment to many game dishes.

Cabbage is a great ingredient to enjoy in many different ways – raw, cooked, braised or preserved; red, white or Savoy. Its health benefits are well-known too, and all varieties are packed full of vitamins, iron and potassium. It serves as a lovely match for guinea fowl, with red cabbage working particularly well. Guinea fowl has a flavour somewhere between chicken and pheasant. If you’re buying it, I recommend you look for a young bird, which has a really tasty flesh. If you buy an older bird, the best way to cook it is in a casserole, as this will keep the flesh moist – try casseroling in red wine with chestnuts for a really delicious taste of autumn. If you’re cooking it for the first time, it’s good to remember that one bird will usually serve two people.

Sometimes in autumn, when the nights begin to draw in and the air gets a little cooler, we all crave something sweet to satisfy our taste for comfort and warmth. There are so many delicious autumn desserts that don’t have to be heavy or creamy. Try to think about using different autumn fruits, poached or baked in a pie, to get the most out of the season’s best ingredients while they are here on our doorstep.

Guinea Fowl and Red Cabbage

Marinade

½ red cabbage

½ cinnamon stick

salt and pepper

peel of 1 orange

150ml port

150ml red wine

Red cabbage

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 onion

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 cinnamon stick

25g golden raisins

50g cups caster sugar

zest of 1 orange

50ml white wine vinegar

Guinea fowl

1 whole guinea fowl

100g parsley

100g thyme

100g butter

1 tbsp olive oil

2 carrots, cut in half lengthways

2 shallots, cut in half

5 cloves garlic, crushed

To prepare the marinade

Add all ingredients into large container and cover with equal amounts of port and red wine to cover. Leave in the fridge to marinade for 24 hours.

Strain and reserve the marinade liquid for use later with the guinea fowl.

To prepare the cabbage

Over a medium flame, heat a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Sweat the onion, fennel seeds and cinnamon stick in the vegetable oil until very soft and translucent.

Next, add the raisins, sugar and orange zest and mix thoroughly. Cover the pot and leave the mixture to sweat slowly for 20 minutes.

Uncover and add white wine vinegar and enough of the reserved marinade to just cover the cabbage. Allow to cook slowly, stirring occasionally so that it does not stick to the pot. Cook until the liquid reduces and the cabbage becomes glazed and sticky.

Season to taste and check the flavour – the cabbage may need a touch of sugar or a drop of vinegar.

To prepare the guinea fowl

Pre-heat your oven to 180C/gas mark 4.

Remove the wishbone from the guinea fowl by carefully taking your knife down either side of the bone (this will help when the time comes to carve the meat).

In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the parsley, thyme and butter

Fill the cavity of the guinea fowl with the butter mixture and season the bird all over with salt and pepper.

Heat the tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan, then place the guinea fowl gently in the pan and leave to colour all over.

Once golden brown, add the carrots, shallots and garlic and place in an oven-proof dish to cook for between 50 minutes and one hour.

Once cooked through, remove the bird and vegetables from the dish and leave to rest.

Carefully remove the thighs from the bird and then take off the breasts.

Serve on a bed of braised red cabbage.