Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipes for autumn bakes | Main course (2024)

Today’s sweet bake, for example, is part friand and part clafoutis. Andwith the pissaladière gratin, I’ve taken the classic flavour combination of pissaladière (the southern French take on pizza, with a caramelised onion and salted anchovy topping) and simplified it into a base-free bake. The result is like a cream-free dauphinoise – so, again, a dish that nods in two directions. As for the lamb bake, well, I’d normally call that a meatloaf, but that seems to put some people off from the start.

What unites all these dishes, whatever you call them, is that they are perfectly suited to this time of year. That contrast between the crisp, browned surface and the soft filling beneath is like the kitchen’s answer to how it feels outside – where it’s increasingly crisp, before heading indoors to somewhere soft and cosy. It’s the combination of those two things that makes autumn for me.

Courgette, tomato and pesto gratin

This works as a side dish (to go with roast chicken or fried salmon, say) or as a main in its own right with some bread or rice alongside. Serves six as a main, eight as a side.

60g basil (leaves and stalks)
60g blanched almonds, lightly toasted
120g parmesan, coarsely grated
70ml olive oil
Salt and black pepper
8 courgettes, cut widthways on an angle into 0.5cm-thickrounds
8 large plum tomatoes, cut into 0.5cm-thickrounds
1 50g slice sourdough, crusts left on, blitzed into chunky breadcrumbs

Meanwhile, mix the breadcrumbs with the remaining 40g parmesan and two teaspoons of oil. Once the vegetables have been baking for 45 minutes, sprinkle the breadcrumb mix all over the top and bake for a final 15 minutes, until golden brown and crisp on top. Leave to rest for five minutes and serve warm.

Pissaladière gratin

This would make a lovely side for aroast shoulder of lamb or a roast chicken, along with a crisp, green salad. Serves four to six.

60ml olive oil
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
3 large onions, peeled and very finely sliced (on a mandoline, ideally)
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1½ tsp caraway seeds
2½ tbsp thyme leaves, finely chopped
Salt and black pepper
50g Kalamata olives, pitted and roughly chopped
750g desiree potatoes, unpeeled and cut into 3mm-thick slices (again, on amandoline, ideally)
20g anchovies, roughly chopped
350ml vegetable stock

Cover the base of a20cm x 30cm baking dish with a quarter of the potato slices, overlapping them slightly, and season with a pinch of salt and some pepper. Top with a third of the onions, then dot a third of the anchovies evenly over that. Repeat the three layers twice more, and top with a final layer of potatoes. Pour the stock over the top, drizzle over the remaining tablespoon of oil, then cover tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 40 minutes more, until the potato is cooked and the top is crisp and golden brown. Sprinkle over the remaining teaspoon and ahalf of thyme and leave to cool for five to 10 minutes before serving.

Lamb bake with tahini sauce and grated tomatoes

You can serve this in two ways: just as it is, warm, as part of a main meal; or leave it to cool and set, then cut into thick slices – these are great piled into a sandwich or warm pitta with the tahini sauce and tomato drizzled on top. Makes one loaf (or eight slices),to serve four to eight.

Heat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5 and grease a 20cm x 10cm loaf tin with a little oil.

Put the courgette, carrot, onion and chopped tomato in the bowl of afood processor and blitz until it’s of a similar consistency to the mince. Transfer to a sieve set over abowl and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Put the vegetables in a large bowl, add the lamb, two garlic cloves, all the pecorino, breadcrumbs, eggs, tomato paste and spices, and a teaspoon of salt, then use your hands to bring it all together until well combined.

While the meatloaf is cooking, make the sauces. Put the tahini, one garlic clove, two teaspoons of lemon juice and an eighth of a teaspoon of salt in a medium bowl, then slowly whisk in 80ml water until you have a smooth sauce.

In a second bowl, mix the grated tomatoes with the remaining garlic, a teaspoon of lemon juice, the olive oil and an eighthof a teaspoon of salt.

Once the meatloaf is cooked, lift the loaf tin out of its water bath and leave to cool for 10 minutes. Pour off and discard any liquid and fat in the loaf tin, then, using a wide spatula, transfer the meatloaf to a platter. Pour a third of the tahini sauce over the meatloaf, followed by a third of the tomatoes. Serve warm, with theremaining sauces alongside, orleaveto cool and cut into slices toserve in pitta bread with the sauces drizzled on top.

Plum and blackberry friand bake

200g blackberries
4 ripe plums, stoned and cut into 1cm-wide wedges
1 tsp vanilla essence
60g caster sugar
3 fresh bay leaves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
60g plain flour
200g icing sugar, sifted
120g ground almonds
⅛ tsp salt
150g egg whites (ie, from 4-5 large eggs)
180g unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

Heat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5. Put the fruit in a bowl with the vanilla essence, sugar, bay leaves and half the cinnamon, and set aside for 30 minutes. (Don’t be tempted to leave it sitting around for too much longer, otherwise the fruit will release too much juice.)

Lightly whisk the egg whites for 30 seconds, so they just start to froth, then stir into the flour mix with the melted butter, until well combined.

• Yotam Ottolenghi is chef/patron of Ottolenghi and Nopi in London.