Baking vibrant vegetables will add colour to darker days

The garden has turned a buttery yellow, the leaves of the fig and medlar, pear and plum, are mostly fallen now. Sweeping them up is a daily job involving a road-sweeper sized broom. A pleasure, actually. Before I pick up the brush, I put a tray of vegetables in the oven – scarlet peppers and fat courgettes, onions in thick segments and maybe an aubergine or two. They will roast, with olive oil, thyme leaves and cumin seeds, until soft and giving, their juices forming an impromptu dressing.

Sometimes, I will add golden raisins or pine kernels, toasted crumbs and crisped garlic or perhaps a trickle of balsamic vinegar or pomegranate molasses. As the days cool, I will introduce a little warmth in the form of harissa paste or smoked paprika, or add garlic, roasted and mashed to a paste and stirred into the juices.