How To Entertain This Month, With Alexandra Dudley

/ 07 October 2025

How To Entertain This Month, With Alexandra Dudley

Alexandra Dudley is a food columnist, cookbook author and host of the Come For Supper podcast. In this instalment of her monthly column, she shares an autumn-ready dinner-party menu that makes the most of seasonal squash – as well as her favourite new entertaining extras.

Alexandra Dudley

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Big flavours and textures, but not too much effort. This is exactly the kind of thing I like to eat this time of year. This month’s menu includes two very good veg-centric sharing dishes. Golden roasted cauliflower with chewy dates and roasted pecans on a creamy whipped tahini, and a crunchy, seedy, spiced butternut squash and pear salad. There’s a very simple pudding to finish, celebrating the last of stone-fruit season, and pulling on lunch-box nostalgia with the hero ingredient.

DISCOVER ALEXANDRA'S MENU

Butternut Squash Pear & Herb Salad

Fresh but satisfying, this is a good accompaniment to almost anything. I’ve served it as part of a medley of good veggie dishes here, but it would be excellent alongside some fish or meat too.

Serves

4-6

Ingredients

1 butternut squash

Olive oil

Sea salt

1 tsp of ground cumin

1 tsp of ground coriander

1 tsp of cinnamon

2 ripe but firm pears

1 large bunch of parsley

1 small bunch of dill

130g of pumpkin seeds

Juice of ½-1 lemon

Method

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 200ºC Fan.

Step 2

Chop the butternut squash into roughly 2cm cubes and toss on a tray with a good glug of olive oil, a generous pinch of salt, and the cumin, coriander and cinnamon. Roast for 30-40 minutes until golden. Allow to cool.

Step 3

As the squash cooks, toast the pumpkin seeds in a dry frying pan over a medium heat until they begin to pop and turn golden. Allow to cool.

Step 4

Peel and chop the pears into roughly 2cm pieces. Roughly chop the parsley and dill.

Step 5

Add the squash, pear, chopped herbs, toasted seeds with the lemon juice (start with the juice from just ½ first), a pinch of salt, and a good glug of olive oil. Taste for seasoning, adjusting as you wish, and transfer to a serving dish.

Golden Roast Cauliflower With Dates, Pecans & Whipped Tahini

I love cauliflower cooked this way, and it’s great if you’ve got vegetarian friends coming over for supper. It works as part of a medley of other veg-centric dishes, but it also makes for a very good starter – or could even be the main event with some warm flatbreads to mop up the leftover tahini. The roasted leaves are the best bit of this, so be sure not to waste them.

Serves

4-6

Ingredients

2 heads of cauliflower

Olive oil

Sea salt

1 tsp of ground turmeric

1 tsp of ground cumin

1 tsp of ground coriander

50g of pecans

4 dates

Juice of ½ lemon

For the whipped tahini

5 tbsp of tahini

1 small garlic clove, finely grated

Juice of ½ lemon

Good pinch of salt

Water

Method

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 200ºC Fan. Separate the leaves from the head of the cauliflower, keeping hold of the leaves, and chopping the cauliflower into large florets.

Step 2

Toss the cauliflower on a parchment-lined tray with a good couple of glugs of olive oil, a generous pinch of salt, and the ground spices. Roast for 40 minutes until golden and charred in places.

Step 3

Toss the leaves with olive oil and sea salt on a separate parchment lined tray, and roast for 10 minutes until crispy.

Step 4

Toast the pecans on a clean baking tray for 10 minutes until they smell nutty. Allow to cool and roughly chop.

Step 5

Remove the stones from the dates and roughly tear them.

Step 6

For the whipped tahini, combine the tahini, garlic, lemon juice and salt in a bowl and whisk. It will seize, do not worry. Pour in water in a steady stream, whisking as you do until the tahini is smooth and creamy.

Step 7

Spoon the tahini onto a plate, top with the cauliflower, pecans and dates, a good drizzle of olive oil, and the crunchy roasted cauliflower leaves. Finish with lemon juice and a pinch of flaky sea salt.

Baked Plums With Tahini Cream & Crushed Sesame Snaps

This is an incredibly delicious but very easy pudding to make. The tahini cream is the perfect balance of sweet and rich, and the crushed sesame snaps bring a satisfying crunch.

Serves

4-6

Ingredients

12 plums

1 tbsp of caster sugar

Juice of ½ lemon

300ml of double cream

2-3 tbsp of tahini

1 tbsp of runny honey

1-2 packets of sesame snaps

Method

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 180ºC Fan.

Step 2

Halve the plums and remove the stones, then toss with the sugar and lemon juice on a baking tray, rearranging them cut side up.

Step 3

Bake for 20-25 minutes until they are soft and have started to release their juices. Allow to cool completely.

Step 4

Place the cream, tahini and honey into a bowl, and whisk until you have a think lightly whipped cream. Take care not to over whisk.

Step 5

Bash the sesame snaps on a chopping board with a rolling pin to break them up.

Step 6

To serve, spoon roughly a heaped tablespoon of cream into a bowl, top with 3-4 plum halves, and crush over a small handful of sesame snaps.

THE ENTERTAINING ACCESSORIES ALEXANDRA’S ADDING TO HER TABLE

Hand-Painted Chubby Saucer

£22 | Damson Madder

I have my eye on this to use as a butter dish – or perhaps to chop up an apple on with some peanut butter as a bougie snack. My husband pointed out that it would make a great soap dish too.

Available at DAMSONMADDER.COM