10 unique dishes according to the season

Autumn brings the promise of rain and colder weather, which means we have fungi on our minds. Yotam Ottolenghi uses many at once with this combination of king oyster, oyster, chestnut and shiitake mushrooms, capped with dried porcini. Roast them with shallots, then saute with butter beans and a touch of mustard. Throw in a chive and parsley salsa that hums gently with cumin, and it’s proof that vegetarians really do have more fun.

Confit fenugreek eggplant
Slices of fresh, ripe watermelon on a wooden cutting board.
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There’s a two-for-one deal with this recipe. The last baby eggplants of summer are preserved to extend your enjoyment for one more month, while the spiced oil for the confit is excellent spooned over future salads and roast vegetables.

Freekeh and oat porridge with crisp fried egg and ginger oil
Closeup of a bowl of freek and oat porridge flavoured with turmeric, and topped with a fried egg, wilted garlicky spinach and ginger oil.
Bowl food without being ‘bowl food’: Ottolenghi’s freekeh and oat porridge with fried egg and ginger oil. Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay. Food styling assistant: Susanna Unsworth.
Put away your soggy summer bircher: on weekends, we’re making savoury oats. It’s bowl food without being “bowl food” – spoonable, yes; but with delicate fruit and sprouts swapped out for heavy hitters like freekeh, ghee, turmeric, ginger and chilli. Crown with a crisp fried egg and a wonderful, allium-weighted “garlic spinach” topping, and you’ll have a new reason to get out of bed on Saturday.

Cheesy curried butter beans on toast with pickled onion
A yellow plate with two slices of toast topped with cheesy curried butter beans and pickled onions.
‘Beans on toast, all grown up’: Ottolenghi’s cheesy curried butter beans on toast. Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Artistic director: Jennifer Kay. Food styling: Hanna Miller. Prop styling: Anna Wilkins and Jennifer Kay. Food styling assistant: Antonia Bellini.
The avocado wars have reignited, but if you’d rather unsubscribe from the discourse altogether, this recipe is for you. It’s “beans on toast, all grown up”, writes Ottolenghi, and it’s only a little more effort than scraping your pre-made Heinz from the can.

Quick-pickle some onions, saute some tinned butter beans with garlic and ginger and stir through some cream, cheddar, and coriander. At this point, you could pile the lot on to toast and call it a day, but more patient cooks will grill some sourdough, spoon over the beans, and grill the open sandwich until it becomes lovely, golden, and bubbly. Either way, the winner is you.

Kreplach in mum’s chicken soup
When you have leftover roast chicken, you make chicken soup. Kreplach is the Yiddish word for dumpling, and this recipe takes inspiration from Roma Felstein, the mother of one of Ottolenghi’s colleagues. The kreplach are wrapped in wonton skins, filled with shredded chicken meat and kimchi, and bob about in a broth simmered from the chicken bones. Soul-reviving stuff.

One-pot chickpeas with carrots, dates and marinated feta
A large casserole dish with a braise of chickpeas, tomatoes and carrots, studded with feta and sprinkled with herbs.
Rich, saucy and made for scooping with bread: Ottolenghi’s one-pot chickpeas with carrots, dates and marinated feta. Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Artistic director: Jennifer Kay. Food styling: Hanna Miller. Prop styling: Anna Wilkins and Jennifer Kay. Food styling assistant: Antonia Bellini.
Warm spices, earthy chickpeas, sweet and soft carrots: this slow-boiler has Big Autumn Energy. Dried chickpeas give a superior flavour and texture than the tinned variety for this dish, so plan for enough ahead for an overnight soak. Saute with garlic and ginger, cumin and cinnamon, carrot and medjool dates; let it stew away in an oven for a couple of hours, and the results are rich, saucy and made for scooping with bread.

Pizzoccheri with lemon burnt butter and crisp sage or with miso cabbage and spiced breadcrumbs
Closeup of a wide ribbons of buckwheat pasta with chopped green cabbage and breadcrumbs, on a white plate.
Pasta-machine-free: Ottolenghi’s pizzoccheri with miso cabbage and spiced breadcrumbs. Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay. Food styling assistant: Kristine Jakobsson
“I could eat pasta every day of the year,” writes Ottolenghi. Here, he turns his attention to pizzoccheri, a toothsome buckwheat tagliatelle from northern Italy that’s made for minimalist kitchens – you don’t need a machine to make it from scratch. The nutty pizzocherri works beautifully with burnt butter and lemon, and another savoury combination: white miso and cabbage.

Burnt honey and lime creme caramel
Closeup of a creme caramel with a spoonful taken out of it, topped with chopped lime.
An elegant riff