THE ART OF FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER ELEANOR STEAFEL

Usher in the autumn with this delicious roast, which uses up the best of summer’s dwindling produce

September seemed to creep up on me this year. It feels like only moments ago that we were talking about Wimbledon and dusting off the Aperol bottles. Suddenly there is a definite nip in the air and the idea of donning a pair of 40 deniers doesn’t seem like a totally absurd idea. This is it. The end of the summer is upon us.

It’s time to round off the season with one last holiday feast. I’m afraid in my book the words “feast” and “vegan” simply don’t belong in the same sentence. For now, at least, the prospect of a perfect roast chicken is still far too enticing to pass up.

Autumn might be knocking at the door, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a few friends together in the garden, open a couple of bottles of something nice and share a meal to remember.

It could be a barbecue, a proper picnic, or something altogether more elaborate. This should be a real celebration, a sort of wake for August, with the best of the summer’s dwindling produce cooked simply to let their sunshiny sweetness sing.

Here, the old fail-safe roast chicken gets a late summer twist with a lemon and herb-flecked ricotta stuffing and a bath of tomatoes and white wine. I’ve served it with a mound of buttery, cheesy, charred corn. It seems a perfectly respectable way to bid adieu to the season.