What better to bring a little seasonal colour and comforting carbohydrate to your plate than the sweet orange flesh of a pumpkin or squash. If you have the space they're good fun to grow and once harvested, will store for weeks, as their tough outer skin will protect them (and you) from the groaning glut that accompanies courgettes and their other summer cousins. They're a greedy and boisterous crop though, swamping other plants and rampantly rambling all over the place, which is why they're often given a patch of their own.

The best pumpkins to choose for eating tend to be the smaller ones. By all means use the flesh from your scooped out Halloween monster, but it will be more watery and less flavoursome than a petite culinary style variety. The sweet, slightly nutty taste of pumpkin combines well with other flavours, especially with nutmeg and cinnamon or herbs like rosemary and sage. And I've found that it goes really well with salty flavours like bacon and cheese too.

Pasta with butternut squash, feta and bacon

Serves 4

This is a versatile dish – vegetarians can just omit the bacon, you can substitute blue or goat's cheese for the feta and use spinach or broccoli instead of kale. It's my autumn cardi in a bowl.

• 1 medium sized butternut squash
• 75g pine nuts
• 200g feta cheese, cubed
• 6-8 rashers of maple cured bacon (the maple flavour teams with the sweetness of the squash)
• large handful kale, cut into ribbons
• 1 tbsp (approx.) oregano
• 2 handfuls cherry tomatoes
• 1 x 500g pack fusilli pasta
• 2 tbsps vegetable oil

1 Cut the squash into 2cm cubes and place in a baking tray with the tomatoes. Drizzle over the oil and sprinkle on the oregano. Bake in a moderate oven for 20 – 30 minutes, turning occasionally.

2 Meanwhile grill or fry the bacon and cut into strips. Toast the pine nuts (unless you're like me and can't help burning them, in which case just use straight from the packet). I don't pre-cook the kale, as by cutting it into ribbons it wilts enough in the dish (and thereby keeps its precious nutrients).

3 Cook the pasta. Once the pasta is drained, but steaming hot, add it to the other ingredients, combine them carefully and serve.

Stuffed baby pumpkins

Serves 4

If you can find – or grow – some mini pumpkins (I was given some called ‘Hooligan' last year; they were total thugs in the veg patch, but prolific and sweet and just the right size for this recipe). They look so pretty baked and filled with risotto, perfect for an autumnal supper.

• Allow 1 little pumpkin per person, plus another to chop up and put in the risotto
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1-2 tbsps vegetable or olive oil
• 200g arborio risotto rice
• 175ml dry white wine
• Approx 700ml chicken or vegetable stock
• 100g Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• A large handful of chopped, flat-leaved parsley

1 Bake the mini pumpkins whole in a moderate oven for approx. 40 mins, until the flesh inside is soft, but the pumpkin retains its shape and colour.

2 Meanwhile make the risotto – gently sauté the onions until soft, add the rice, stir and cook gently for a couple of minutes then add the wine, stirring until the rice has nearly absorbed it.

3 Then add the stock and cook gently for 10-15 minutes until the rice is soft enough. Add more liquid if necessary (until the risotto's the right consistency). Add the Parmesan and parsley and combine.

4 Remove the pumpkins from the oven, chop up the least attractive and add it to the risotto. Slice the tops off the rest and scoop out the seeds inside.

5 Stuff each pumpkin with risotto, put the ‘lids' back on and serve with any of the leftover risotto. The skins of these mini pumpkins shouldn't be too tough to eat, so depending on your preference, use them as bowls, or eat the lot.

Pumpkin gnocchi

These aren't quite as firm as potato gnocchi, but soft, sweet and flavoursome, they make an unusual accompaniment, or can be served as a starter (with blue cheese sauce) for two.

For the gnocchi:

• 1 medium pumpkin or squash – approx. 350/400g
• 60g flour
• 1 egg yolk
• 3 sprigs of rosemary
• 2 tbsps oil

For the blue cheese sauce:

• 50g butter
• 2 shallots or 1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic
• 100ml dry white wine
• 150g creamy blue cheese (I used dolcelatte)
• 200ml single cream

For the gnocchi: Cook the pumpkin; you can steam it, but I tend to cube and bake for 30 minutes or so with oil and herbs (in this case rosemary) as this gives it a sweet, roasted flavour. Once cooked, mash the pumpkin down (the roasted rosemary should crumble into the mixture too), add the egg and flour and combine until you have something resembling dough. It won't be as firm or easy to handle as potato gnocchi dough, but by using two teaspoons you can make an attempt at a gnocchi shape (note the word attempt). Boil a pan of water and then carefully drop the little dumplings into the boiling water. They will sink ominously to the bottom of the pan, but after a few minutes will bob back up again. When they've been cooking for about 4 or 5 minutes, remove them with a slotted spoon and keep them somewhere warm (or cool and then heat them up again) until you're ready to serve. Makes around 20 tiny dumplings.

For the blue cheese sauce: Gently sauté the chopped shallots and garlic until soft, then add the wine and let it bubble until it reduces by about half. Add the cream and simmer gently for around 5 mins or so, then crumble in the cheese, stir until everything's combined into a creamy sauce and then pour over the pumpkin gnocchi. Garnish with a few sprigs of rosemary and serve. I like this as a light lunch or starter with a salad (try sorrel – or rocket, lettuce, flat parsley, walnuts and sun-dried tomatoes).

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