Menu: Our recipes for the week of September 21-25, 2026
At the end of September, the market stalls still retain their summer colors—glossy eggplants, plump peppers, field-grown tomatoes—but the body is already craving hearty, warming dishes that offer something substantial and tangible. This menu, from Monday to Friday, captures precisely that tension.
On the menu: tender beef skewers to kick off the week with a bang, a roasted eggplant clafoutis that reconciles oven and cream, a white pizza with colorful peppers for midweek, paccheri alla Norma straight from Sicily, and poached cod loin with orange to finish on a light note. Five evenings, a beautiful coherence.
We have selected five recipes to make this week a seasonal interlude, from Monday to Friday.
To start the week with something surprising, these herbed ground beef skewers hide a melting Gruyère cheese center—a warm surprise revealed when you cut into them. The Airfryer does the job in minutes: crispy crust, tender interior, and perfectly oozing cheese. It's generous, quick, and a radical departure from the skewers we've seen before.
Roasted eggplant, baked until it's truly meltingly tender, marinated, then smothered in a creamy mixture of garlic, Parmesan, and Italian cheeses that bakes like a clafoutis—this is a recipe that transforms a seasonal vegetable into a dish with character. The texture is somewhere between a light soufflé and a soft gratin, with the acidity of balsamic vinegar cutting through the cream. Tuesday is unlike anything else this week.
Without tomato sauce, the white pizza lets the crème fraîche spread over the dough, the golden chicken, and the red and yellow peppers that caramelize slightly during baking take center stage. The result is more subtle than a classic pizza, milder too, with flavors that intertwine without overpowering each other. Made in a Thermomix for the dough, it pops into the oven and emerges golden brown, generously topped, ready in a Wednesday.
Norma is Catania, it's fried eggplant and tomato with oregano, but above all, it's these paccheri—large tubes of pasta—that soak up the sauce inside and out. Smoked scamorza melts on top while grated pecorino adds its salty bite. A complete dish, rooted in Sicilian tradition, that transforms Thursday evening into a taste of the South.
To round off the week before the weekend, steamed or poached cod retains all its pearly sheen and flaky texture—a gentle cooking method that allows for no mistakes but rewards those who adhere to it. The tangy and slightly sweet orange sauce envelops the fish without weighing it down. This is the Friday we were looking for: elegant, quick, and light enough to head off serenely into the weekend.
Five distinct evenings, from Monday's crispy beef to Friday's silky cod, with everything late September has to offer in between—eggplant, peppers, Sicilian pasta. This menu successfully combined two elements: the warmth of comforting dishes and the freshness of produce that's still available for a few more weeks. Enjoy your meal, everyone, and see you next week.
Ground beef can be cooked in many ways, from meatballs to burgers.
But nothing prevents you from making pasta on Tuesday and Wednesday as well.
