• 1 kg pumpkin flesh
• 25 g butter
• 100 mls cream
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• large pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tblspn chopped fresh coriander
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 tblspn grated ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• ½ tsp chopped dried chillies
• 4 tomatoes, chopped
• 50 mls red wine
• splash of shoyu
• 1 tsp tomato puree
• 240 g kale
• 24 walnut halves, lightly toasted

Lemon-Cumin Cream, for Four

• 300 mls light stock
• 1 small onion, quartered
• 2 whole cloves of garlic
• rind of 1 lemon
• 1 tblspn lemon juice
• 200 mls single cream
• 2 tsps cumin seeds, toasted and ground
• ½ tsp salt

12 Aubergine-Chilli Rolls

• 2 aubergines
• a little olive oil
• 80 g ground almonds
• 60 g sambal oelek

YOU WILL NEED a pumpkin, or pumpkins, of at least 1.5 kg to get 1 kg of flesh. Peel the pumpkin, chop it in half and scoop out the seeds. Chop the pumpkin flesh into chunks and boil or steam it until just done, then drain it well. It is important that the cooked pumpkin is as dry as possible so, if you boiled it, put the cooked and drained pumpkin back in the pan over a low heat for a few minutes to evaporate any clinging water. Mash the pumpkin thoroughly or blend it in a food processor (I think this gives a better result). Melt the butter in a pan, add in the cream, salt, cayenne pepper and nutmeg. When this is warm, add the mashed pumpkin and stir it over a medium heat for about five minutes. This should give you a fluffier, richer mash but also a drier one, which is important if it is to sit on top of the gratin. Leave it to cool before adding the egg yolk and coriander.

Heat some cooking oil in a pan and cook the onion with the ginger, garlic and chilli for a few minutes until the onion is soft. Then add in the tomatoes, wine and shoyu. Use the tomato puree only if the tomatoes are not ripe and, well, tomato-flavoured. Bring this up to the boil and simmer it until the tomatoes have broken down to a rich, thick sauce. If you use tinned tomatoes leave out the juice. Cook the kale in boiling water until just done, drain it, chop it into bite-size pieces and add it to the tomato sauce.

Lightly oil the insides of the rings and place them on baking parchment on oven trays. Put a layer of the gingered kale into each one, slice the walnuts and scatter them over the kale, then put a layer of pumpkin mash on top. Bake for about 20 minutes at about 400°F (Gas Mark 6), until the pumpkin starts to brown. Lift a gratin to a (very close) plate with a slice, run the back of a knife between the gratin and the steel ring and lift the ring off. Pour some lemon-cumin cream around each one, then garnish with the aubergine rolls - three each is perfect but chilli fiends will gobble any spares.

HEAT THE STOCK in a pan with the onion and garlic cloves and simmer it for ten minutes or so, until it has reduced to 100 mls. Discard the vegetables and add in the lemon, cream, cumin and salt. Bring the sauce back to the boil and keep it at a lively simmer for a few minutes until it has the consistency of a slightly thickened pouring cream. You should still have about 200mls of sauce.

TRIM THE SIDES of the aubergines by taking a thin lengthways slice off opposite sides. Now cut fairly thin slices, lengthways again, about 5mm thick - you should get six slices from an average aubergine. Brush both sides of each slice with olive oil and roast them on oven trays until cooked through and very lightly coloured. Stir enough ground almonds into the sambal to make a thick spread. It is not possible to be completely accurate about these measurements - what you need is a spread with a consistency something like soft peanut butter. Use a butter knife to spread a thin layer on each cooked aubergine slice, then roll up the slices. The aubergine rolls need only to be warmed through, so put them in the oven for the last five minutes of the gratins’ cooking time, or put them in for the few minutes that you are allowing the gratins to cool before serving.