Joe Trivelli’s recipes for sardine brodetto, chicken salad, grilled pumpkin and fig fritelle

For those who cook with the seasons, this is the bridge between summer and autumn. Many vegetables linger from the abundance of summer, while new things quietly arrive.

As dear to me as they are, it’s not just about porcini mushrooms and game. Sardines, for a example, come into their own, are easier to find and cheaper than ever. Wild fennel is in flower. You can find squash at the market and we fight to be first for new-season apples. These recipes reflect this moment.

Sardine brodetto

My current favourite way to eat a favourite fish. If you don’t have fennel tops, you can pick the fronds from a fennel bulb or use another herb, such as dill. Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a main dish. Ready in 45 minutes

sardine fillets 400g
onion 1, medium
red chilli 1 dried
ginger 3cm piece
garlic 2 cloves
bay leaf 1
fennel 1 bulb
wild fennel ½ bunch (optional)
fennel seeds ½ tsp
wine (white, rosé or light red) 2 glasses
plum tomato 1
sourdough bread 4 thick slices
salted almonds 60g toasted
olive oil
salt and pepper

Clean the onion and fennel and dice both. Add to a heavy pot with 3 tbsp of olive oil and a good pinch of salt. Sweat the onion and fennel over a medium heat for 20 minutes or so until completely giving and soft. Chop the garlic and ginger, then crush the fennel seeds and chilli. Add these along with the bay leaf to the pot and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes. Chop the tomato, add to the pan and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add another dash of olive oil… it can’t hurt.

Cut the sardine fillets in 2 and sprinkle with salt. Then add them to the pot with the fennel and herbs and stir in well. Top them with the wine and 3 glasses of cold water. Still on a medium heat, bring to a simmer, then turn down and cook for a further 4 minutes before turning off altogether. Taste for seasoning, adding hot water if you think it’s too thick, and cover with the lid.

Toast the bread and roughly chop the almonds. Serve a piece of bread each in a warmed bowl with the soup poured over the top, another spot of olive oil and the crushed almonds.

Chicken salad

Truth be known, I first did this with rabbit, but chicken is maybe easier to get hold of and just as good. Delicious while slightly warm, should the occasion arise. This is also an excellent last picnic of the year. Serves 2. Ready in 90 minutes

chicken legs with thighs on the bone 2 (about 500g in total)
garlic 4 cloves
thyme 1 sprig
new-season apples 2
lemon ½
celery ½
horseradish root 5cm piece
tarragon 1 bunch
crème fraîche 4 heaped tbsp
French mustard 1 tsp
salt and pepper
olive oil

Heat the oven to 180C/gas mark 6.

Mix the mustard with the crème fraîche. Season the chicken and place it in an ovenproof pot that fits it snugly, preferably with a lid. Add the garlic cloves cut in half, the leaves from the thyme, and smother with the mustard and crème fraîche mixture. Add ½ a glass of water. Cover and bake for 1 hour. Add another splash of water once out of the oven. Remove the chicken from the pot. Once cooled a little, shred the meat from the bone and place it back into the juices.

Peel the celery stick and cut into short pieces several centimetres long. Reserve any tender inner heart and feathery pale leaves, which can be sliced separately. Blanch the pieces in boiling salted water for 5 minutes. Wash the apples, segment and slice. Grate the horseradish and then run your knife over it to make it finer still. Pick the tarragon leaves.

In a large salad bowl, squeeze the lemon over the sliced apples. Then add the celery, both cooked and raw, horseradish, tarragon and a good glug of olive oil. Toss together. Finally, stir it all through the shredded chicken.

I like to serve this alongside fresh walnuts, everybody cracking their own. They match perfectly and give a welcome crunch.

Grilled pumpkin

This is a frivolous, slightly silly starter, but I enjoy eating it as much as I like making it. Serves 4. Ready in 25 minutes

butternut squash ½
red chilli 1, fresh
basil a couple of stalks
mozzarella 200g, fresh
garlic ¼ clove
salt and pepper
olive oil

Heat the oven to 180C/gas mark 6. Peel the squash and slice very thinly widthways – only a couple of millimetres each. To give you an idea, from half a squash, I expect to get more than 30 slices from the squash. Heat a griddle pan over a high heat and grill each piece for a minute or so on both sides – enough to leave dark scorch marks. Set them aside as you go.

Thinly slice the mozzarella. Also slice the garlic and chilli into shards.

On a baking tray lined with baking paper, place the first piece of squash and curl it to sit up a little. Tear off a piece of cheese and nestle it along with a basil leaf. Place another piece of squash on top and repeat the process until you have used a quarter of the slices and have a portion-sized helping. Curl them as you go, so they look aesthetically pleasing – this is very rewarding work. Once you have formed all 4 servings, slide into the gaps pieces of garlic and chilli here and there. Season well with salt and drizzle with a little olive oil.

Bake for 5 minutes until the cheese has mostly melted and serve while warm.

Fig frittelle

These instant doughnuts are a massive crowd-pleaser. You do have to fry them, which is always an involved thing to do carefully, but the dough comes together in a moment. These are good at any time of day. Makes 20 small frittelle. Ready in 35 minutes

figs 6
ricotta 200g
plain flour 100g
baking powder 1 tsp
egg 1
caster sugar 60g, plus extra for dusting
nutmeg 1
lemon zest of ½
salt and pepper
sunflower oil for frying

Mix the sugar, ricotta, lemon zest and egg together well with a fork. Add the baking powder to the flour along with a scratch or two of nutmeg and fork into the ricotta. Mix until thoroughly combined.

Slice each of the figs and carefully fold them through the mixture.

The dough is quite sticky, so work lightly and roll 20 or so small walnut-sized balls.

Heat the oil in a suitable pan with at least two-thirds of space again above the top of the oil. Fry a few at a time in the hot oil, using the first to test the temperature. They will take 5 minutes to be cooked and golden all over.

Remove them from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Dust them with extra sugar (a little salt, too, can be nice) and do what you can to resist eating them right away while still warm.

Joe Trivelli is joint head chef of London’s River Café