4 three-course menus for September

Ellie Donnell

Ellie is a strong believer that peanut butter makes everything better

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These 4 three-course menus showcase the best of September’s seasonal produce, including pumpkin, chard, damsons, plums and figs (we’ve included sweet and savoury versions of the latter).

So if you’re planning a dinner this month, make sure to consult these fantastic combinations first. There’s a menu to impress, a speedy meal that’s suitable for vegetarians, a lighter roast dinner and a feast-style menu.

The showstopping menu

If you can’t go all-out at dinner – when can you? Sliced figs always look pretty on a plate and make a wonderful pairing, when baked, with goat’s cheese, walnuts and honey. For main course, serve up beef fillet with a sherry vinegar and shallot jus (because anything with a ‘jus’ is automatically fancy) and then finish off the show with damson-filled custard tarts.

The speedy menu (that’s ready in an hour AND happens to be vegetarian)

Sweet meets savoury in this hoilday-esque starter of sourdough toasts topped with labneh, sweet plums and mint (15 minutes). For main, our elegant but easy spaghetti dish will set you back just 30 minutes. Then, end on an Italian theme with our (deconstructed) fig, orange and ricotta cheesecake puddings. They take 15 minutes to put together and can be stored in the fridge, so they’re ready and waiting for their time to shine.

The lighter Sunday roast dinner

With the remnants of warmer weather still gracing the month of September, we don’t quite feel ready to go into full autumnal-mode yet. Enter our lighter roast dinner: comfort food designed for warmers days. Pair a lemony roast chicken with mini roast potatoes and a cucumber, herb and garlic yoghurt for a main course that’s so simple yet so good. And because all that is rather light, indulge in an extra large slice of our berry jam lattice tart, with ice cream if you like.

The feast-style menu

From a simple make-ahead starter to this big batch-cook stew, feeding a big family just got so much easier. Whip up the simple Italian dip – bagna cauda – in advance and serve with a selection of crudité and crusty bread. Next, this incredible spiced chicken stew couldn’t be easier to make – adjust the ingredients to suit the number of heads you’re serving. Finally, finish off with a crowdpleaser: this chocolate frangipane pear tart. It feeds up to 10 people, so there many even be leftovers…