I love all the colours of summer, especially when in the form of gorgeous fruit and veg. These tomatoes are some of my Mum’s homegrown beauties, the very last of the season. So vivid and totally delicious served with fresh basil and torn mozzarella.

Over the last few years I’ve managed to grow probably two figs that were completely ripe and truly flavoursome. The rest looked deceptively plump and purple but were pale and under- ripe inside – nothing more disappointing!

Despite my lack of home-grown figs, I still like eating them, so I have to rely on the shop-bought When the first figs start to appear in the shops I get really excited. The thought of figgy recipes somehow soften the blow of the end of summer and ease me gently into autumn.

These are three of my favourite fig recipes, in particular the figs with prosciutto – so simple to prepare and yet so delicious.

Figs with prosciutto – accompany with some sour dough bread and it’s happy days!

Fig chutney – great as an accompaniment for leftover roasted chicken or with some lovely blue cheese and crackers.

Have I mentioned that I moved house recently? Well that’s why things have been a bit quiet on the blog recently. It’s well-known that moving house is one of the most stressful things you can do, and I can confirm this is very much the case.

You never realise how much ‘stuff’ you have until it comes to packing it all up in boxes. I harbour a desire to be a minimalist but quite frankly I’m really kidding myself here. I’m a complete hoarder and the majority of my hobbies involve having physical ‘stuff’. Photography, craft, art, cooking, books – you get the picture. If I were to list the amount of handbags I have any minimalists out there would probably break into a panic-induced sweat.

So anyway, moving house has meant getting used to a new oven. My old house had a fan-assisted gas oven, which would cook most things a lot quicker than any recipe suggested. It also seemed to be hotter on the right of the oven, which meant you had to turn sponge cakes at regular intervals or they’d be lopsided.  And no one wants a lopsided sponge cake.

The new place has a slick electric oven, which, as I’ve found, provides a nice even heat. It’s taken a bit of getting used to, making sure I don’t undercook things, but so far cooking with electric has made me a very happy camper.

I had an abundance of carrots in the cupboard this week so I decided to use them in a quick fruity loaf cake. What’s nice about this recipe is that it doesn’t contain any butter – all the moisture comes from the carrots and sultanas. And it’s light and fluffy because you fold in whipped egg whites. A very yummy moist cake and I always feel a bit less guilty eating it because it contains carrots.

You will need:

Butter or sunflower oil for greasing your tin
200g golden caster sugar
4 large eggs, separated
200g finely grated raw carrot
Finely grated zest and juice of half lemon
Finely grated zest of an orange and half its juice 
100g of raisins or sultanas
100g ground almonds
200g of self-raising flour
A pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

1. ) Preheat the oven to 170oC/Gas Mark 3. Lightly grease a loaf tin, about 20 x 10 cm, and line with baking paper.

2.) Beat the sugar and egg yolks with a whisk for 2-3 minutes until the mixture is pale and creamy. Lightly stir in the grated carrot, lemon and orange zest and juice, raisins and ground almonds. Sift the flour, salt and spices together over the mixture and then fold them in, using a large metal spoon.

3.) In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Stir a heaped teaspoonful of the egg white into the cake mixture to loosen it a little, and then fold in the rest as lightly as you can.

4.) Pour the mixture into your loaf tin and gently tap the tin on the worksurface to level the mixture.

5.) Bake for about an 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

6.) Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

All photography © Heather Elizabeth Wilkinson 2013

Oh I do love a bit of beetroot, with its delicious earthy taste. Leave me alone with a plateful and I’ll literally snaffle it up within seconds.  And as luck would have it it’s currently in season.

I’d never attempted to make it into soup before but this recipe from the Waitrose website looked tempting enough for me to give it a try.  I have adapted it slightly to suit my own taste though, using beef stock instead of the chicken or vegetable that the recipe suggests. Instead of the chive cream, at the time of serving I crumbled some goat’s cheese on top of the soup. I’ve seen some recipes using feta cheese too, which sounds nice, but I do prefer the strength of flavour of goat’s cheese.

As a small aside, I have a friend whose uncle (Uncle Gerald, to be precise) was obsessed with eating beetroot, getting through several jars a week. He carried on with this obsession for quite some time until his skin started to develop a rather dashing purple hue. I kid you not.

All photography © Heather Elizabeth Wilkinson 2012

Autumn is my favourite season – the changes in light, misty mornings and the promise that we’ll soon be wrapping up cosily in hats and scarves. But of course Autumn brings with it some fantastic seasonal produce – pumpkins, elderberries, chestnuts, game, pears, and the daddy of English autumnal produce: apples.

Apple Festival takes place on 21st October each year and orchards and farms up and down the country organise festivities to celebrate this wonderful fruit. What great month to be an apple!

Brogdale Farm in Kent is home to the National Fruit Collection; the World’s largest collection of fruit trees and plants and home to over 3,500 varieties of apple, pear, plum, cherry, bush fruit, vine and cob nut cultivators.

Brogdale has been on my list of places to visit for a while now, so the Apple Festival (20th & 21st October 2012) was just the excuse I needed to hotfoot it to Kent. The festival itself is quite a family affair, with various food & drink stalls, crafts and live music (it’s safe to say that some of the bands were an ‘acquired’ taste).

Included in the ticket price is a guided tour of the orchards, each one being led by one of Brogdale’s knowledgeable staff, many of whom are volunteers. For me, this was one of the highlights of the visit. You can quite literally loose yourself wandering up and down the lines of trees looking at fruits of all different sizes and colours. And with names like the: Marriage-maker, Blackbird, Prince Edward it really is a fantastic way to spend a few hours.

And of course, no apple festival would be complete without a generous dose of apple sampling. At the heart of the festival arena was a large tent with over 400 varieties of apple on display and over 200 for visitors to taste and buy. To be honest, this part of the festival was a bit of a free-for-all, and you had to employ some elbowing tactics to stand any chance of trying the apples that had been laid out. Still, I managed to try plenty and came away a mixed bag (quite literally) of my favourites.

I decided not to cook with the apples I bought, preferring instead as an alternative to dessert. When produce is in season and so tasty it’s sometimes nice to enjoy it just as it is, don’t you think?

Are we allowed to admit that summer is officially over now? Yes? Ok, phew, so I hope you won’t mind if a share a suitably autumnal post with you.

I haven’t been that lucky with blackberries this year. Normally I manage to collect enough for stock up the freezer for months. However, I think foraging seems to be much more popular of late and all my usual hedgerow spots had been relieved of most of their fruit by the time I arrived with my Tupperware pot.

The great thing about blackberries is that they freeze really well and don’t turn into mush like most other berries do. So you can pot up a load to save up for when the weather gets colder. Alternatively you could take your freezing antics to a new level by turning your blackberries into ice-cream!

This recipe is pretty simple but it works a treat as an accompaniment to apple pie and crumble – such a pretty colour too.

You will need

350g blackberries (washed)
200ml double cream
100ml semi skimmed milk
50g caster sugar

1.)Put your blackberries into a blender, blitz until smooth, and then pass the mixture through a sieve to extract all the pips.
2.)Mix your milk, cream and sugar together and then add the blackberry mixture.
3.)Add the mixture into an ice-cream machine and churn for around 30/40 mins.
4.)You can add your finished ice-cream mixture a plastic container and freeze until you’re ready to eat it.

All photography © Heather Elizabeth Wilkinson 2012