We are now in the center of autumn, and it's almost time for the cast iron stockpot to come down from the shelf. There are also seasonal delicacies-wild birds and chestnuts, glowing red apples and figs, purple as tender as bruises.

I made a dinner this week-all kinds of celebrations-pot roasted pheasant and scarlet apples. The carving of this bird is not very professional, with cider, bacon and sage broth. .

This is good, but almost better is the soup we made the next day from the carcass, the meat peeled from the bones, stewed with onions, carrots and celery, and a bunch of thyme and bay leaves. We threw a handful of brown lentils and turned the soup into a meal.

The almost irresistible figs are baked in crumbly pastry boxes with onions and whipped cream. We bake the pheasants before they come in and eat them while they are hot, just like you would eat Lorraine quiche, before the birds. The remaining two people served as a box lunch for the next day.

Eating a small pastry alone is particularly satisfying. The pastry is best placed in the refrigerator for 20 minutes before being used to arrange the pie tins, and is unlikely to shrink during the baking process. Be careful not to sprinkle the fillings on the edges of the pie, as they will stick to the can. Make 6

100g butter 200g plain flour egg yolk 1 a little water filling: 2 red onions large (or 3 medium) butter 40g fig 200g fresh cream 200m egg yolk 1

You will need 6 pie tins with a width of about 8 cm and a depth of about 3 cm.

To make pastries: Put flour in a food processor, add butter, and process for about a minute until coarse crumbs appear. Add egg yolk and enough water to harden the dough. (I start with 1 tablespoon and add a few drops until I have an easy-to-handle dough.)

Remove the dough from the machine, knead it gently on a floured board, then pat it into a circle, wrap it in kitchen paper and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Set the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Peel the onions, slice them into thin slices, and let them cook in butter over medium heat until they are very soft. Stir them from time to time-they may take 20 minutes. Give them time to become shiny and slightly sticky. Remove them from the fire. Cut the figs into small pieces and mix them with the whipped cream into the onions. Beat the egg yolks with a fork, then stir into the mixture and lightly season with salt and pepper.

Spread a little butter on the pie tins and place them on the baking sheet. Roll the pastry thin and cut into 6 discs about 15 cm in diameter. Use discs to fill the pie tin and gently push the pastry into the corner. Put a piece of paper and baked beans in each pie box to prevent the pastry from slipping or rising. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the tray containing the tart box from the oven, remove the paper and beans, and put the eggshells back in the oven for 3 or 4 minutes until they feel dry to the touch.

It is worth carefully loosening the pie box in the tin to make it easier to remove after filling and baking. Stir the filling, then spoon into the pie. Bake them for another 30-35 minutes, remove them from the oven and let them sit for 10 minutes before serving.

I found that even the fattest pheasants can only feed two people, but when you make soup with bones, they become very valuable. Bacon-or bacon you like-is not only for taste, but also for its fat, which is often lacking in pheasants. Regularly check the progress of the chicken in the oven, but I found mistakes in undercooking, rather than overcooking will produce more juicy results. 2 servings

Pheasant 2 Butter 30 grams of unsmoked pork belly bacon 6, cut into short slices, or cut into small pieces of bacon onion 2, medium dry cider 250 ml bay leaf 2 sage leaves 3 or 4 apples 4-6, Small and sour

Preheat the oven to 160C/gas mark 3. Season the pheasant with salt and black pepper. Peel and chop the onion. Put the butter in a deep casserole or baking dish, melt over medium heat, add bacon or pancakes, sizzle for a few minutes until the fat is golden brown, then add onions and continue to fry until soft and light golden. Remove from the pot and set aside.

Put the pheasants in the pot and let them change color on all sides. If necessary, pour them into the fat until they turn golden brown. Take them out and set aside the bacon.

Pour the cider into the pot and boil, add the caramelized juice at the bottom, and then put the bacon, onion, pheasant, and any leaking cooking juices back into the pot.

Scratch the middle of each apple with a knife-this will prevent them from cracking in the oven. Add bay laurel, sage leaves and apples to the pot, then close the lid and bake in the oven for about 50 minutes.

Test the maturity-the meat should be juicy, slightly pink inside and the skin should be amber-gold. Remove from the oven and set aside, still covered, and let stand for 10 minutes.

Serve the bird with apples and pot juice. The aroma in the can should have the smell of late autumn apple.

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