Pies and pumpkins

The beginning of dark nights always marks a step-change in the food I feel like cooking. Soup, stews, sponge puddings, pies.... I have a weird fondness at this time of year for institutional food - you can probably trace it back to boarding school. So today was chicken palm pies. You do them with shortcrust pastry in a non-stick muffin tin with a filling of chicken, pancetta, sage and onion.

Mark loves them cold the following day for packed lunch, when, as the name suggests, they fit perfectly in your hand. but he's going to be sadly disappointed tomorrow, because we have scoffed the lot.

Chef Johnny got very engrossed in his rolling. And why, oh why did I bother mopping the kitchen floor this morning? Never mind, by candlelight the dirt doesn't show.

Happy Halloween everyone.