Menu of the month - September 2011

Late summer is a good time for courgettes, tomatoes and plums, whether bought in shops or markets or grown in your garden or allotment. Make the most of them with this lovely menu for 4.

Starter

Courgette soup with watercress and pecorino
This light summer soup is perfect for late summer when courgettes are cheap and plentiful. Serve each bowl with a spoonful of the watercress and Pecorino pesto zigzagged over the surface of the soup

Main course

Chicken Cacciatora
This is my version of the famous Italian classic – best made in the autumn when there's a glut of red, ripe, full-flavoured tomatoes, but it's still good in winter, as there are now some well-flavoured varieties available. Either way, the tomatoes need to be very red and ripe.

Dessert

Plum and almond buttermilk cobbler
I have a small Victoria plum tree and so laden is it every September that Richard, who helps us with our garden, has to put a stake under one of the branches to hold it in place. I like to pick a few each morning for a healthy, slimming breakfast, but for Sunday feasts, plum cobbler is one of our favourite family puddings, which allows the plums to cook in their own luscious juice and provides a cloud of crisp fluffy topping

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