I seem to be climbing back up to high levels of catering. We used to have large numbers of friends over on a near weekly basis, but that dropped off last year when we moved to a new place. Now it seems we are getting more settled, and the familiar hustle and bustle of having lots of people in my dining room is returning. It is a lot of work and takes a lot of time, but I love feeding people good food. Here are a few of my catering exploits this past month.

First, about a month ago, I served a five course birthday meal to a good friend of ours and her husband. Little children in bed, larger children plonked in front of the TV, we managed to create a few hours for ourselves for a candlelight dinner. The menu:

Starter: Deep fried courgette and pumpkin flowers stuffed with ricotta cheese, mint and chili

Fish Course: Sea bass topped with Cornish crab, with a saffron sauce

Main Course: Roasted poussins served with a lemon sauce, baby new potatoes roasted with garlic, spinach and carrots

Dessert: Raspberry and lavender trifle

Cheese Course: Brie de Meux, local fresh goat's cheese, lavender cheese, and blue stilton, served with chili jam, lavender jelly, gooseberry chutney, and charcoal biscuits

The highlight of the evening for me was, surprisingly, the sea bass. I had brought some very special fresh crab back with me from Cornwall (fretting for the entire two day return journey as to whether I was keeping it cold enough) and when I got home I threw it in the freezer and waited for a special occasion. I was going to make a cream of crab soup, or something along those lines, but I came across a recipe in the internet for crab-topped sea bass and thought it was worth a try. I adapted the recipe to suit my tastes, combining it with a medieval Italian recipe for sea bass and flaked almonds.

Holly's Crab-Topped Sea Bass

75 grams fresh white crab meat
50 grams small white bread crumbs
50 grams unsalted butter
1 egg, beaten
handful of flaked almonds
2 sea bass fillets

Combine the bread crumbs and melted butter, then add the crab and finally the egg and almonds. Place the sea bass fillets skin side down in a pan lined with lightly greased tin foil. Press the crab mixture on top of the fillets. Sprinkle more flaked almonds over the fillets. Bake for about 20 minutes at 190 degrees celsius.

My second catering moment this month was, happily, with a dear friend whom I have not seen since 1993, maybe even earlier. Like a true friend, she came with no expectations, and therefore it would have been hard to disappoint her - culinarily speaking, at least. But, me being me, I still tried to impress, which means the food wasn't as good as I wanted it to be, but it was still fun to try. The lunch menu:

Duck breasts served with blackberry sauce on a bed of baby leaves
Parsnip mash

I love blackberries, and I love it even more when I can cook with them in unexpected places, like the main dish of a meal. The blackberry sauce - which I got from Henrietta Green's book - is so simple: cook about 300 grams of blackberries in a 125 mls of water, adding some fresh thyme and honey. Boil up the blackberries until they are cooked, and then - this is the best bit - press them through a fine-holed strainer. This makes the most wonderful puree, and is essentially the sauce for the duck. You can add it to the juices in the pan after you have cooked the duck breasts, and heat it up a bit, thin it out if you need to, etc. It is the perfect thing to serve in September, and I make sure I do it every year.

My third catering adventure consisted of feeding twelve people -the family of one of my daughter's friends from school. I wasn't sure how to proceed, because I didn't want to serve chili - again. I have had somewhat of a re-awakening when it comes to roasted chicken, so I decided to go down that route. The menu:

Main Course: Roasted chicken, with twice baked potatoes, tomato and bread salad with anchovies and olives, and a green salad.

Desserts: Blackberry and apple crisp, chocolate custard served with fresh raspberries and crushed amaretto biscuits, and rice krispie treats.

Cheese Course: Gorgonzola, Gruyere, Ossau Iraty, and Vacherin, served with my plum and gooseberry chutneys.

September fare features heavily here: tomatoes, blackberries and raspberries are all at their peak. The seasonal highlight for me, though, was the Vacherin - a gooey, creamy, stinky cheese, only available from September to March, I was delighted to find the season's first of it in my local deli this week.

I am proud to say that my thirteen year old daughter came up the with chocolate custard/raspberry item on the menu. I thought that was a choice that showed a lot of sophisication.

Speaking of the re-awakening regarding roast chicken, I found out this month that I can change an ordinary, though still delicious, roast chicken into something extraordinary by stuffing the cavity of the bird with some very simple things: garlic cloves, thyme, sage and a half of a lemon. The top of the chicken needs to be smothered in unsalted butter, and I put unsalted butter under the skin as well, for good measure. Roast the chickens on top of some sliced onions, and baste the chickens every 20 minutes or so. The results are unbelievable. Just when you thought a roast chicken couldn't get any better, it actually can.

I love simplicity in cooking. I am happiest in my kitchen when I use simple ingredients to great effect: humble, fresh thyme, and sage, and garlic, and a lemon. Nothing artificial, nothing processed. Roman soldiers could have cooked this way.

It's September! For the past month I've cooked incessantly with plums, raspberries, blackberries, and now, new season apples. Corn on the cob features heavily, too, this time of year. I should be cooking with tomatoes as well, but the tomatoes I am trying to grow in my garden are still a shameful green!

I've always suspected that plums make exceptionally good chutney, but in the past when I have made plum chutney I have gotten a bit carried away with adding other seasonable vegetables and fruits - heady combinations of fresh courgettes, onions, apples etc. - which have diluted the taste of the plums to the point where I can't really tell if they are there. So, this year the rule is, as it was with my gooseberry chutney (which I am enjoying very much, by the way, with strong cheddar in my frequent, solitary ploughman's lunches): keep it simple; that is, keep the flavors simple. So, here is my original plum and ginger chutney from this season, which has turned out, I am pleased to say, very fruity and plummy indeed:

Plum and Ginger Chutney

1 kilo plums (stoned weight - I used Victoria plums, but other varieties would do also)
250 grams onions, chopped
250 grams sultanas or raisins
300 grams light brown sugar
1 eating apple (I used a cox), diced
2 pieces stem ginger in syrup, chopped
50 grams dates, chopped
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon corinader seeds
350 mls cider vinegar
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2-4 tablespoons ginger syrup, depending on taste

Put everything into a large, deep pan. Bring to the boil, then turn it down and let it simmer for a couple of hours, until the chutney becomes thick to the point where you can see the bottom of the pan when you stir it with a spoon. Mostly this should be done without the lid on the pan, but sometimes I sneak the lid on half way for a little while, just to help us all cope with the smell of cooking vinegar! Pack into clean, hot jars, and seal.