Autumn in the village

We're embracing autumn this week with a recipe for a simple pumpkin gratin, made from what I had in the cupboards.

October is a time of endings and beginnings. In the market, there are the very last of the good tomatoes and the first of the squash and mushrooms. Bright orange kaki fruits sit in baskets where there were once peaches and melons.

On the edges of the village, the vines have been relieved of their fruit. Where only a couple of weeks ago, narrow  tractors …