Mildly Wintry Dinner for 8

I think of this as a very calm menu: there’s enough food to warm but not so much that everyone will go staggering about afterwards vowing to turn macrobiotic. There aren’t potatoes with the monkfish – the pumpkin purée is starchy and filling – so you can comfortably accommodate the cream and the pastry in the tart. The cake for pudding is cooked in advance.