Pommes de Terre Maxim | Crispy Potatoes Maxim

It was much more common a decade or two ago to bake potatoes, usually sliced, with some combination of butter, cream and cheese. I guess times have changed and our weather isn’t cold enough for long enough for these dishes to still grace our tables regularly. But the recipes are worth having on hand – when guests let you know they will be arriving for a meal in less than an hour, when the weather IS cold enough to freeze the tip of your nose, and for, well, when nothing but some good old fashioned potato is going to satisfy your need for comfort.

Today is a very simple recipe – slice peel potatoes, mix with melted butter, layer on a tray and bake till crispy. We are adding it to our raft of baked potato recipes.I loved French food when I was working in France. Pommes de Terre Maxim is such a simple dish but it is oh so special. Don’t just keep it for Winter – it works well for any Sunday lunch, and even in the cooler days of Summer and into Autumn.

Similar dishes include Batata Hara (Lebanese Roasted Potatoes), Creamy Potato Cheese Gratin, Potato Bake with Cheddar,  Gratin Dauphinois, and Potatoes Baked with Cumin and Tomatoes.

Browse all of our Potato recipes and our French recipes. Check out our other Potato Bakes and explore other Mid Winter dishes too.

This recipe is one of the vegetarian recipes from our first blog which was in existence from 1995 – 2006.  You can find other recipes from that blog in the Retro Recipes series.

A Special Pumpkin Soup

You can never have too many pumpkin soup recipes. They abound, to be sure. But, comforting and nourishing, they are frequently on the menu at our place. Also, they are perfect dinner items from Autumn through Winter and into Spring, which means they are very versatile. We always make a large pot, and then vary the soup each meal by adding chilli or pesto, tomato paste or milk/cream and adding different herbs – basil, parsley, coriander (cilantro).

This pumpkin soup has a tang to it with the addition of sweet sherry! An old ingredient indeed, but that does not mean that it doesn’t have the occasional place in the modern kitchen.

This is a great dish for Thanksgiving, if you celebrate that US festival. Other Thanksgiving recipes are here.

Similar recipes include South Indian Pumpkin Soup, Cream of Roasted Swede Soup,  French Cream of Pumpkin Soup, Pumpkin Soup with Red Peppers, and Pumpkin Cooked with Lashings of Butter.

You might like to browse other Pumpkin Soup recipes, and all of our Pumpkin recipes. Try other Soup recipes too. Or simply explore our easy Mid Winter recipes.

Caramelised Sweet Potatoes

This is a delicious dish – it can be a side dish or, as I like to do, eat it as a mid afternoon snack! Pretty healthy (as much as butter and some sugar can be – everything in moderation, right?) and they are definitely delicious. You can make this same recipe with carrots or pumpkins such as Butternut or Jap.

This is a great dish for Thanksgiving, if you celebrate that US festival. Other Thanksgiving recipes are here.

Are you looking for Sweet Potato recipes? Read about Sweet Potatoes here. And then tryRoasted Parsnips and Sweet Potato with Caper Vinaigrette,  Roasted Sweet Potato and Fresh Figs, Creamy Baked Sweet Potato, British Potato and Sweet Potato Vindaloo,  Sweet Potato Subzi with Yoghurt, and Sweet Potato Wedges.

You might also like Caramelised Roasted Pumpkin.

Have a look at our all of our Sweet Potato dishes here. Or check out our easy Mid Winter recipes.

Soupe au Potiron | Our Family’s Favourite Cream of Pumpkin Soup

In the days when my kids were growing up, I really was famous for this soup. People would request it if they were coming over for a meal. I would keep copies of the recipe handy for people. We make it still today, and it is still just as good.

I love the way that the colour of this soup mirrors that of the falling autumn leaves at my house.

This is a great dish for Thanksgiving, if you celebrate that US festival. Other Thanksgiving recipes are here.

Are you looking for Pumpkin Soups? Try these: South Indian Pumpkin Soup, Adzuki Bean, Barley and Pumpkin Soup, Italian Pumpkin Soup, Special Pumpkin Soup, and Pumpkin Soup with Red Peppers.

Or try some other Pumpkin recipes, like Pumpkin Couscous Salad, Caramelised Roast Pumpkin, and Pumpkin Cooked in a Covered BBQ.

Feel free to browse recipes from our Retro Recipes series – vegetarian recipes from our first blog from 1995 – 2006. You might also like our Pumpkin recipes here and here. Or you might like to browse Soup recipes here and here. Check out our easy Winter recipes here and here.

Creamy Baked Sweet Potato and Gratineed Sweet Potato

Ottolenghi has a beautiful Sweet Potato Gratin in his book Ottolenghi. The dish is beautiful, the sweet potato soft, so tender. The success of the dish is the arrangement of a lot of sweet potatoes, overlapping, in a baking dish. What Ottolenghi doesn’t say in the recipe is that it works for just 1 sweet potato as well. Using a small amount of sweet potato means that it is not gratineed, but it is beautiful, tender with a crispy crust.

This is a great dish for Thanksgiving, if you celebrate that US festival. Other Thanksgiving recipes are here.

Are you looking for Sweet Potato dishes? Read about Sweet Potatoes here. And then try Roasted Sweet Potato and Fresh Figs, Caramelised Sweet Potatoes, Potato and Sweet Potato Spicy Curry, and Sweet Potato Wedges with Creme Fraiche Dressing.

What about trying more Gratin dishes? Try Baked Pasta with Tomatoes and Mozzarella, Potato and Cheddar Gratin, Gratin of Potatoes and Zucchini with Thyme, and Pomodori Gratinati – Tomatoes Gratineed with Cheese.

For all Sweet Potato recipes click here. Browse all of our Ottolenghi recipes, and all Baked recipes. Or find inspiration in our Late Autumn recipes.

Tomato and Pomegranate Salad

Who can go past a tomato salad in late summer or autumn when the tomatoes are the sweetest and juiciest? And to celebrate the arrival of Autumn and it’s change in colours, Ottolenghi has this cheery bright red salad that combines the sweetness of the tomatoes with the sour-sweetness of the pomegranates.

The salad is best made when pomegranates are in season and beautiful tomatoes are available.

Are you after Pomegranate recipes? Why not make your own Pomegranate Molasses and Pomegranate Honey. Or try Green Olive, Walnut, Pistachio and Pomegranate Salad, Semi Dried Tomatoes with Pomegranate Molasses, and Crab Apple and Pomegranate Jelly.

You might want to try these Tomato Salads as well: Simple Tomato and Bread Salad, Bok Choy with Capers and Tomatoes, the Best Tomato Salad Recipe, and Simple Salads from Elizabeth David. We adore a Simple Tomato Salad, and my Mother’s German tomato and cucumber salad with cream.

All of our Tomato Salads are here and all of our Pomegranate dishes here. Or browse all of our many Salads. Alternatively, explore our Mid Autumn dishes.

Sticky Balsamic Sweet Potatoes with Orange Bitters

Some of Ottolenghi’s dishes are no-brainers. Just tossing some herbs and easy ingredients with some roasted vegetable or carefully steamed grain. In these it is the combination of the ingredients that make exceptional dishes. But others take time, effort and care. While I prefer the first, the arrival of flavours in the various processes of the second can be a matter of awe.

This dish is definitely of the second variety. It is a great dish. The glaze of a reduced, sticky balsamic with orange juice and bitters caramelises as it roasts. The sweet potatoes are left sticky and delicious. Add to the equation the roasted garlic and the sage and thyme leaves and this is a dish to impress.

This is a great dish for Thanksgiving, if you celebrate that US festival. Other Thanksgiving recipes are here.

Are you looking for Sweet Potato recipes? Try Roasted Sweet Potato and Fresh Figs, Madras Curry of Sweet Potato, Eggplant and Spinach, and Creamy Baked Sweet Potato.

All of our Sweet Potato recipes are here. Or browse our Ottolenghi recipes. Be inspired by our Mid Autumn food.

Smashed Garlic and Ginger Cucumber Salad

At Xmas the fridge fills with all things wonderful, the exotic and the common. And then I spend the next weeks slowly working through the food left in the fridge after cooking a xmas meal for  the family.

This morning I am working with some pre-cooked white peas and cucumbers. The white peas were turned into a wonderful curry – North Indian in style with (seemingly) a million spices  and a tomato-y gravy.

It needed something light and airy to go with it, something to lift the “groundedness” of it, to bring a little tang and bite, to cut through the deliciousness but heaviness of that sauce.

Often in India a small bowl with pieces of raw onion, cucumber, maybe tomato, will be served with a curry for this same reason. The juxtaposition of the two types of tastes is amazing. But I opted for a cucumber salad that is almost pickled, and one which has the same bang and bite as the traditional accompaniments in India. Maybe more so as it also has some raw garlic!

Similar recipes include Cucumber, Feta, Mint and Dill Salad, Cucumber and Avocado Salad, and Cucumber Salad with Capers and Ricotta.

Looking for other cucumber recipes? You can find some here. And some other Ottolenghi recipes here. Wanting other salads? Try here. Or just browse the Cucumber Salads.

Indian Style Slightly Sweet and Sour Pumpkin and Sweet Potato | Kaddu ki Sabzi | Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Subzi

The challenge of every xmas – and Thanksgiving, for that matter – is how to use the left over roasted pumpkin. I have found the solution.

Inspired by The Back Yard Lemon Tree, I took the Delhi Style Sweet and Sour Pumpkin and mixed it up a little to use up several different xmas leftovers. It was delicious. Do read the original recipe – it is from Madhur Jaffrey.

Are you looking for similar recipes? Try Pumpkin Curry, Pumpkin Soup and Pumpkin Risotto. And try these Sweet Potato dishes: Sweet Potato Subzi with Yoghurt, and Potato and Sweet Potato Spicy Curry.

Try other Subzis – Kohlrabi Subzi, Carrots and Green Peas Subzi, and Potato and Spinach Subzi.

You might also like to explore all of our Subzi recipes, all of our Pumpkin recipes and all of our Sweet Potato dishes.  Have a look at all of our Indian Vegetable Curries, and all of our Indian recipes. Or simply explore our Early Autumn dishes.

Kombu Baked Vegetables

Gratitude. Such an important ingredient of happiness. Gratitude is a state of mindfulness. The practice of writing down each day three things that you are grateful for brings about a different daily perspective. You catch yourself thinking – how wonderful that sound is, what a wonderful butterfly, how heavenly the sky looks today, the rain will feel so delicious on the skin.

I am grateful for kombu, that Japanese seaweed that adds such a gentle flavour to dishes.

This is a great dish for Thanksgiving, if you celebrate that US festival. Other Thanksgiving recipes are here.

You might also like to try Japanese Baked Eggplant, and Gentle Autumn Vegetables. Our Japanese recipes are here and here. Or be inspired by our Autumn dishes here and here.