This month, the Silver Travel Cook Club is giving you the chance to win a copy of The Pumpkin Spice Cookbook by Heather Thomas. To celebrate the cosy flavours of autumn, try the delicious Creamy Pumpkin Pasta recipe below, inspired by the warming dishes featured in the book.
As the crisp air and golden leaves of autumn settle in, the Silver Travel Cook Club is delighted to explore The Pumpkin Spice Cookbook: Wonderfully Warming Recipes for Autumn and Winter by Stephanie Banyas. This charming collection celebrates the cosy flavours of the season, offering creative recipes that highlight the rich spices and seasonal produce we love in autumn.
From indulgent pumpkin spice desserts to hearty, warming soups, this cookbook is filled with recipes perfect for autumnal dining. Whether you’re making spiced pancakes for a cosy weekend breakfast or preparing a comforting soup for chilly evenings, you’ll find plenty of inspiration to bring the warmth of the season into your kitchen.
The Pumpkin Spice Cookbook invites us to savour the best of autumn and discover new recipes that capture the comforting essence of this time of year.
Recipe: Creamy pumpkin pasta
Make the most of pumpkins this autumn. When puréed and combined with mascarpone and parmesan, their flesh transforms into a silky, delicious pasta sauce.
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 500g pumpkin or squash, peeled and cut into roughly 3cm cubes
- 50-100ml whole milk
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 2 tbsp mascarpone
- 350g short pasta (rigatoni or penne work well)
- 40g grated parmesan or vegetarian alternative, plus extra to serve
Method:
- Heat the oil in a large, shallow, flameproof casserole or frying pan over a low-medium heat and fry the onion with a pinch of salt for 10-15 mins until softened and translucent. Add the garlic and fry for 1 min more. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.
- Meanwhile, cook the pumpkin in a pan of boiling salted water for 10-15 mins until tender when pierced with a cutlery knife. Drain and tip into a blender (or use a hand blender). Blitz with 50ml milk and the onions until completely smooth, gradually adding more milk until the mixture is thick enough to just coat the back of a spoon (you may not need all the milk). Tip into a large frying pan with the tomato purée and mascarpone and bring to a simmer over a low heat.
- Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling, salted water following pack instructions. Drain, reserving a cupful of the cooking water. Toss the pasta with the pumpkin sauce, parmesan and 50-100ml of the reserved water to loosen. Season and scatter with extra parmesan.
How to win a copy of book The Pumpkin Spice Cookbook by Stephanie Banyas
Comment below and tell us what is your favourite autumn dish that you look forward to each year? Whether it’s a hearty casserole, a warming soup, or a spiced cake, share your go-to autumn food in the comments below!
A winner will be chosen at random in early November 2024.
The competition closes on 31 October 2024.
62 Responses
Cinnamon apple crumble. Although I don’t have any apple trees, neighbours always put boxes of surplus fruit out for us to take which is my sign it’s crumble season again.
Heary soup and crusty bread is delish
My paternal grandfather used to make the BEST pumpkin soup at this time of year…it was hearty and smooth and just tasted like autumn in a soup bowl. Perfect pumpkin!
Whether it’s a hearty casserole, a warming soup, or a spiced cake, share your go-to autumn food
Carrot sticks cooked in butter and cinnamon…so good!
I do love a mint lamb stew and apple crumble for afters.
Always look forward to the roast dinners that come with the change of the seasons.
Braising steak with onion casserole .Cooked long and slow and served with lots of mash
Sausage Casserole (either meat or vegetarian) cooked ion a slow cooker and ready to eat after a bracing walk
My favourite autumnal dish is homemade pumpkin pie with whipped double cream on the side
A hearty beef stew with suet dumplings. 😋
Hot dogs and burgers, watching fireworks.
Curried vegetables and dahl with a naan
Anything with cinnamon. Warm cinnamon rolls, apple crumble and a lamb tagine
Jacket potato with chilli
Home made meat pie and mashed potato
Formity ( a kind of porridge) . For the recipe check out Mrs Crocombe on the English Heritage website.
Curried vegetables (including squash!) and spicy dahl
Home Made Apple Pie sticking to my own Grans recipe – served with custard its wonderful
Bacon Suet Pudding
My nan used to cook this every week when the weather started to get colder and wetter.
It was her favourite warming dish.
I love making beef stew and dumplings, served with mash, carrots and Turnips and sprouts…..delicious. I’d love to learn how to use Pumpkin more in winter recipes so the cookbook would be such an asset.
My husbands birthday is October. I make him a Normandy gateaux, with stewed apples, fresh cream. Its a whisked sponge with spices in, very seasonal.
Fennel & sausage (or feta cheese) stew – in fact we had it yesterday!
A sausage casserole slow cooked to return to after a walk in the winter chill would be perfect anyday
Beef stew and dumplings – a real taste of winter.
My family recipe for chutney. We make it every year using the bramley apples from our tree. I’ve been making it every year since the 1970s! As a child stood on a dining chair turning the handle of the old family mincer, feeling very grown up. Now I’ve got an electric Kenwood mincer, much easier!
Apple crumble with cinnamon served with clotted cream
Pumpkin and roasted red pepper soup with crusty bread
Home Made meat patty with fresh seasonal veg and plenty of gravy.
Homemade sweet potato and ginger soup, proper warming comfort food with a kick to keep colds at bay too! Pudding has to be parkin around Halloween and Bonfire night.
Stew and dumplings
Lentil soup with oat cakes
I love a hearty Hungarian goulash
Pumpkin soup is my favourite
I do love a nice beef stew slowly cooked in the slow cooker the smells when it’s cooking is lovely
I love pumpkin soup
Butternut squash and sweet potato soup is my autumn favourite.
Spiced cinnamon apple pie
Bangers and Mash, especially on bonfire night,
Stew and du dumplings
A good old simple pumpkin spiced latte
A lovely Beef, Guiness and Stilton Pie and for dessert Bakewell Tart!!! Yummy!
Any kind of squash or pumpkin soup.
Favourite autumn dish? Has to be Roasted Butternut Squash soup – delish!
Roasted pumpkin risotto 😋
A beef pudding with extra gravy and root veg to accompany. Naughty but very nice and once a year can’t really hurt.
Lamb hotpot
Spiced pumpkin soup
Delicious Chicken & Vegetable Casserole with homemade Herb Dumplings and Jacket Potatoes with a knob of butter ! Just Yum ! Oh and Pumpkin pie for pudding !
I love Pumpkin Pie, it’s delicious with ice cream or just on its own.
Dorset apple cake is a family favourite
Pumpkin soup
My home made curried parsnip or curried butternut squash soups with rye sourdough bread.
I love my homemade hearty stew. It starts usually as a quite typical beef stew, but I ‘feed’ it for a few days to keepit going and through that it changes dependant on what is added
Chocolate or toffee apples with different toppings on my children love them.
Starter: my husband’s home made broccoli and stilton soup – also contains gorgeous roasted squash.
Main: slow cooked beef stew and huge suet dumplings – in fact, it’s on the menu for tomorrow’s dinner.
Pudding: has to be home made buttery apple crumble with piping hot creamy custard. Also on menu for tomorrow 😍
Hearty soups with lots of veggies and stews and casserole dishes. Keeps you warm.
Stew & dumplings. Heartwarming and hits the spot everytime.
Pumpkin soup … no use wasting the inside once you have carved it.
Steak and kidney pudding with a bottle of hairy red!
My favourite autumn dish is a proper old fashioned stew with lots of root vegetables and of course suet dumplings.
Butternut squash. Can use it in so many ways but love it in soup, dahl and thai curries