The yellowest time

 This week, I am mostly cooking yellow. I feel like one of those autumn cliche people, full of jolly sweaters and absolutely no dread about dark evenings. In all honesty, I love September, but I can't help but look ahead to a dark winter, the number of schoolkids already off, and the general "do we go back to the office or is it all going to come apart?" feels. 

My new autumn/yellow thing is cornbread, a spiced version from Ripe Figs, with paprika and cumin and feta. Cornbread is so cheerfully easy:

Mix your gloop (cornmeal, flour, oil, raising agents, spices, and then the parsley, spring onion and feta for a bit of freshness). Bung into oven for a bit.

Profit! Even though I couldn't be bothered to find an actual baking tin, and this casserole is a bit taller than ideal, it is still pleasingly glossy. 

Apologies for how awful this next pic is, but it does capture the yellow. I've been making corn and tomato relish on the side of many things, and it seemed perfect for the first warm cornbread. Nom.

The downside is that even packed with feta, it's not the most keepable bread, particularly on day three. I have been using the cold and slightly dry leftovers with, um, apricot jam. It's delicious - really works with the cumin, which was a bit punchy with savoury. I am surprised at myself, and askance. But happy.

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I also made the excellent cauliflower cakes which are being splendid lunch leftovers, for people who need lunch leftovers NB. 

They are also quite yellow. As are almost all the tomatoes I have with me this week. Yes, that's a greengage on the side, I'm bored with walking to the kitchen every ten seconds. Ultimate sloth.

I did cook something green today, but I managed to remove almost all the colour from it. This is from Crave, and comes under the fresh/herbal section, but almost all the fresh is added very late. You are mainly cooking some sliced courgettes to death. 

This is not out of focus, this is the effect of cooking your courgette slices in oil and butter for 45 minutes, then adding sliced garlic for another 15-30 minutes, lid on. It is steamalicious in here. It's also just the kind of cooking I could never have done except working from home. I think I'm going to need to recalibrate my menu planning as being out becomes a bit more regular. 

Anyway, you're going to stir a clump of these courgettes, gussied up with chopped mint, lemon zest and juice, into some warmed brothy beans. It will not be photogenic.

Serve this as the base for your dish, ideally in a bowl as it'll all splat. Pop your remaining herby courgette on top, and add soft melty cheese of some kind - this is fresh goat stuff and works well.

This is actually very tasty, but photogenic it is not. It's about right for now - warm food, but not hearty, ribsticking stuff, and still using summery veg. I am, however, glad I didn't use yellow courgettes for this one.