Autumn Recipes, the best homemade dishes to enjoy it

In this special feature, we've gathered our autumn recipes so you can choose them in two ways: by the ingredient you have at home or by the type of dish you feel like making. There are creams and soups, stews and casseroles, recipes with mushrooms, pumpkin and chestnuts, and a good selection of desserts to make the most of the season's seasonal produce.

Autumn season

The range of seasonal produce is incredible, and the weather is perfect for cooking at home. Markets are overflowing with the finest seafood; spider crabs are now out of season, and prized mushrooms are plentiful. Hunting season has begun, sea bream are at their peak, and it's the ideal time to enjoy preserved albacore tuna. And let's not forget that it's also the perfect time for stews and creams, soups, homemade jams, the first hearty stews, and the best festival of the year: the Magosto, Magosta, Amagüestu, or chestnut festival.

What products are in season in September, October, and November

September is still a transitional month. Many late-summer products are still available, but grapes, figs, pomegranates, quince, and pumpkins are starting to become more prominent. Spinach, leeks, and cabbages are also making a comeback, and if the first rains arrive, the first mushrooms may begin to appear. You can find our seasonal foods for September here.

October ushers us into autumn. It's one of the best times for mushrooms and chestnuts; pumpkins and quince are still in season, and we find fruits like pomegranates, grapes, apples, pears, cherimoyas, and persimmons. Here's the calendar of seasonal foods for October.

In November, cold-weather vegetables like artichokes, cardoons, cauliflower, and peas become abundant, while citrus fruits—oranges, tangerines, and lemons—arrive, and pumpkins and other typical autumn produce continue to be popular. You can see this in more detail in our seasonal foods for November.

If you want to focus on garden produce, we've also gathered the vegetables and greens we recommend for autumn.

Creams and soups to enjoy in autumn

At this time of year, a nice bowl of cream soup with any of the seasonal vegetables is definitely appealing, nice and hot to warm you up quickly and, above all, to get the vitamins and minerals your body needs.

To combat the arrival of the cold weather, I propose a simple pumpkin cream with a touch of curry and nutmeg that will make your dinner on the sofa the best in the world.

This recipe is among the very easy to prepare; a simple initial sauté of ingredients and a cooking time, even better if it's with a rich vegetable broth, and the result will be a wonderful light, healthy and very tasty cream of mushroom soup.

This easy and quick recipe is nutritious, light, and very satisfying. Perfect for any day of the week or even for a holiday with a special touch. It all depends on how you want to serve it.

One of the humblest and most famous recipes in Spanish gastronomy, garlic soup or Castilian soup.

An exquisite, traditional, and essential recipe in any self-respecting kitchen. A delicious and simple dish that can be served as a first course or as a main course with a large bowl of soup for a cozy dinner at home.

Pumpkin recipes to make the most of autumn

Pumpkin is one of the most versatile ingredients of autumn. Besides making it into soup, we can use it in rice dishes, pasta, side dishes, and desserts. Its slightly sweet flavor pairs especially well with cheeses, mushrooms, spices, and nuts, allowing us to transform a simple dinner into a weekend meal without ever using just one ingredient.

A great way to turn pumpkin into a main course is this creamy pumpkin risotto, with that contrast between the sweetness of the vegetable and the cheese that works so well in Italian rice dishes.

And if we want to take it to the sweeter side, this pumpkin cake takes advantage of its natural moisture to achieve a tender and juicy crumb. A simple recipe for autumn breakfasts and afternoon snacks.

Stews and casseroles

It's a simple recipe fit for a king, or at least that's what I think. The truth is, nothing beats lentils when the weather starts to get colder, and besides being delicious, they're super nutritious. Definitely one of my favorite autumn dishes.

Galician broth doesn't have a single recipe; it's simply a matter of throwing whatever was available at home into the pot, just like Galician stew. What all the recipes have in common are certain ingredients used in varying amounts: some potatoes, a touch of lard, broad beans, meat (beef and pork), a good-sized piece of smoked Galician chorizo, and seasonal vegetables.

What could be better than a meat stew or casserole to nourish your weekly menu or for a special occasion? When you're having a bad day, what could be better than a hearty meal? "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade," and "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

It consists of a beef stew cooked with mushrooms. Mainly with moixernó or perretxico mushrooms, although senderuelas or níscalos, which are similar, can also be used.

Beef stew in the simplest and most classic style. There are many ways to prepare a good beef stew, with or without marinade, with more or less aromatic herbs, and for a longer or shorter cooking time.

To accompany such exquisite and entertaining meat, we have to design dishes that go well with it, and if we are in the autumn season, there is nothing like giving it a sweet touch with mushrooms.

Recipes with mushrooms

Sautéed, grilled, oven roasted, steamed, in a scramble, stewed or braised... Mushrooms are a true delicacy, a marvel for the palate and the best thing is that they adapt to all kinds of preparations.

It's a perfect vegetarian alternative to classic lasagna and is also suitable for low-calorie diets.

The lightness of both the porcini mushrooms and the saffron milk caps, along with the robustness of the leek and the cream, creates an ideal balance of flavors, in addition to high amounts of vitamins and minerals.

Mushrooms have long been famous for their use in risottos all over the world. A good variety of mushrooms and good rice will give you an excellent result.

Delicious croquettes with an explosion of flavor and creaminess never seen before.

This appetizer doesn't come with the classic egg, flour and a little breadcrumbs, but in tempura.

Chestnuts also work well outside of baking. This rice with mushrooms, chestnuts, and ribs brings together three very autumnal flavors in a hearty dish and shows how this fruit can be incorporated into savory recipes.

Recipes with chestnuts to make the most of the season

As a good Ourense native who loves chestnuts, I always prepare this cake when autumn arrives.

This cake is a combination of the flavors of this exquisite fruit, the chestnut, a touch of marron glacé, and a final hint of chocolate. I assure you that it will please both adults and children; a guaranteed success.

If you want to prepare chestnuts for use in different dishes, a sweet chestnut cream is a great base. You can eat it as is, serve it with yogurt and cheese, or use it as a filling for cakes and other desserts.

Autumn desserts: apples, pumpkin and nuts

If there's ever a time to bake cakes, it's those cozy weekends when you feel like baking all day. Here's a great option, simple and easy, where we'll top it all off with one of autumn's most famous fruits: apples.

In our dessert recipes, we couldn't leave out this easy and tasty one where the pumpkin adds flavor, color and moisture, which helps to make the filling juicy.

A classic dessert for All Saints' Day, November 1st. A delicacy accessible to everyone, because although it may seem like a difficult recipe, it's not very complicated.

It's walnut season, those tiny, flavorful nuts. I love them with a bit of Arzúa-Ulloa cheese, quince paste, or simply on their own, but if you pair them with chocolate, and if that chocolate comes in the form of a brownie… I don't need to tell you that the result is fantastic.