What to do with leftover pigeon! Merci Elizabeth David.

I absolutely adore game, from duck to venison, to wild boar to capon, to hare to partridge. I spent my childhood holidays among Devon farmers every summer who, alongside raising and slaughtering their own sheep, cows, hens and chickens, also went hunting to provide game for local butchers. Kids growing up on farms seem to have such a better understanding of and respect for good food, the proper treatment of livestock and animals, and a greater pride in local produce.

Some of the best meals I've ever had were game based. A thick, almost syrupy wild boar stew in a hunter's retreat in the Andalucian mountains near Jerez, venison sausages with sage mash at home, rabbit and cider stew in Devon.

This weekend mum bought a brace of pigeons from a good game butcher in Sevenoaks. We stewed them in the oven and ate them with bitter cranberry sauce, nutty mushrooms sautéed in butter and swede mash.

Not wanting to throw the bones out, I made a rich pigeon stock with some chopped celery, carrot and onion, two tomato halves and a half tub of tomato passata as well as chopped fresh parsley. The result was a thick, rich, very meaty stock and I wasn't sure what to do next with it.

Enter Elizabeth David, doyenne of British cooking and absolute Expert (note the capital E) on French cuisine. I whipped out her bible of french provincial cooking and, since I had a pack of fresh beetroot in the fridge and had always wanted to cook it from fresh, I looked beetroot up in the book.

Beetroot consommé using a thick game broth. Perfect! My prayers answered!

I diced up three beetroot into small chunks and added them to the simmering pigeon broth for 30 minutes, before skimming the fat from the top of the broth, straining the broth to remove the beetroot and ending with a clear, ruby red, pungeant consommé with just a few beads of golden fat glistening on the top.

Served topped with a few chives, or some parsley and a dollop of crème fraiche and voilà!

Magnifique!

Autumnal Squash Soup

Leaves are falling, the days are getting shorter and early mornings have taken on a misty, golden hue. Autumn is here and in a month or so we'll be stomping through piles of red leaves in our wellies.

To celebrate the turning of the seasons and to warm my old cockles until it's cold enough to merit a log fire, here's one of my favourite autumn soups. Its warm, smooth, spicy and sweet with a fantastically strong orange burst hue to brighten your dinner table.

You'll need:

A selection of squash or one large pumpkin - I used two local varieties.

1 onion

Clove of garlic

1 square inch of grated fresh ginger

Bunch of fresh coriander

1 generous teaspoon of ground cumin

1/2 litre of vegetable stock

1 birds eye chilli - whole

olive oil, salt and black pepper

A great trick for peeling squash is to let it soak in a big tureen of boiling hot water for an hour, this softens the outer layer of flesh, making it easier to cut off the skin. Some people also like to slowly roast the squash in the oven then scoop the inside flesh out with a spoon, this imparts a slightly sweeter flavour, so you can try it both ways!

Chop your squash into large-ish chunks. Thinly slice your onion and chop up your garlic clove.

Heat a spoonful of olive oil in a large wok or deep saucepan. Add the onion, garlic, cumin and chopped ginger and cook until softened.

Throw in the chunks of squash and stir to coat the chunks with the spice and onion mix. After a few minutes, add enough stock to cover the chunks, bring to the boil then turn the heat down and cook the squash until soft, about an hour.

Use a blender to smooth into a creamy consistency, add more stock if necessary to thin down. If you like your soup chunkier, mash with a fork. Add some freshly ripped coriander, a dollop of yogurt or creme frèche and serve with hunks of warm bread. Either that or pour into a mug and sip in front of the telly.

Brodo di Francesco - Francesco's vegetable broth

At heart, every Italian man is a mummy's boy, and Francesco is no exception. If he's down with the snuffles, or it's been a cold day, or... even in the height of blistering Italian summer, there's few things Fra prefers than a bowl of steaming hot brodo, like his mamma makes, with a hunk of bread for dipping.

Reputed to have mystical healing properties (think of it as an Italian "Jewish chicken soup"), its piss-easy to make, tastes fantastic and probably does make you feel a whole lot healthier afterwards...

You will need the following in any quantities and proportions you prefer. We both like it with a generous dose of celery, I quite like it with leeks:

carrots

onions

leeks

zucchini

garlic

potatoes

flat leaf parsley

water

olive oil

vermicelli or small stars pasta

pecorino or grana cheese

Chop up your veggies, heat some oil in a pan and start by softening the onions, celery, parsley and garlic.

Add the carrots and potatoes, then finally the zucchini. Cover the lot with salted water and leave to simmer for about 40 minutes. Whip out your blender, or if you're feeling authentic and old-fashioned, a granny-style vegetable musher and blend all your veggies together until smooth and not too watery.

Bring to the boil again and add some vermicelli, or small pasta stars if you're really hungry or simply enjoy the soup as it is. Drizzle some olive oil on top, a grating of cheese and serve with good bread.

And no drinking cold liquids with it, or you'll have Fra to deal with...