Our chef Mark Hix cooks with partridge, pear and quince

With a wonderful balance of sweet and tart, autumn fruits are the season's superstars

Partridge with apples and cider brandy (Jason Lowe)

After a great season for the whole spectrum of colourful summer fruits, we now come to orchard fruits and the odd hedgerow berry, That's the beauty of seasons for you. Of course, you can eat imported summer fruit all year round these days – but who wants to do that? Besides, you can have just as much fun with autumnal fruits. They make great game garnishes and will certainly liven up a cocktail.

Now is also the time to get preserving for the cold winter months. Those options are endless, so fill up your larder with jams, chutneys and bottled fruits.

Partridge with apples and cider brandy

Serves 4

You could use pheasant or mallard instead of partridge, and if you haven't got Somerset cider brandy in your cupboard then calvados will suffice.

For the sauce

A good knob of butter

2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped

2tsp flour

150ml cider

250ml chicken stock

1tbsp double cream

4 oven-ready partridges

100g butter

2-3 dessert apples

150ml Somerset cider brandy

To make the sauce, melt the butter in a thick-bottomed pan, and gently cook the shallots for 2-3 minutes until lightly coloured. Add the flour and stir well over a low heat for a minute. Gradually add the cider, stirring to avoid lumps forming, and then gradually add the chicken stock. Bring to the boil and simmer very gently for about 20-25 minutes, whisking every so often, until the sauce has reduced by about two-thirds and thickened. Remove from the heat and add the double cream.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Rub the partridges with butter, season, and cook in a roasting tray for 15-20 minutes, keeping them pink. Remove from the oven. While the partridges are cooking, scoop the apples into balls with a Parisienne scoop, also known as a melon baller, or simply cut them into wedges or chunks.

Once the partridges are cooked, place the roasting tray on the stove on a low heat, add the apples and shake them in the tray for a minute or so. Add the cider brandy, stand back and ignite with a match or oven lighter. Let it flame for a minute or until the flames die down, remove the partridges and put to one side.

To serve, halve the partridges, remove from the bone or simply present whole. Add the remaining butter to the pan with the apples, then plate the partridges, spoon over a little of the hot sauce and finally the apples and juices.

Quince, chicory and blue cheese salad

Serves 4-6

If you are lucky enough to have a quince tree in yours or a friend's garden, you can have a lot of fun with this pear-like fruit. We Brits tend not to make enough use of quince, perhaps because most varieties can't be eaten raw, so it takes a bit of effort – well worth it though.

I stumbled across the Granary Oil Company, which makes British cold-pressed walnut oil, at Feastival a couple of months back. It works perfectly with the ingredients below. I also left the festival with some of Alex James's fantastic Blue Monday cheese, which is perfect for this – or use a good-quality blue of choice.

2 quinces, peeled and cored

A small piece of cinnamon

6 cloves

150g granulated sugar

For the dressing

1tbsp cider vinegar

4tbsp walnut oil

1tsp clear honey

1tbsp chopped chives

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

120-150g Blue Monday or other good-quality, creamy blue cheese

Handful of chicory leaves (red and white if possible)

Put the quince in a pan with the cinnamon, cloves and sugar, and cover well with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 45 minutes-1 hour or until the fruit is tender. Leave in the liquid to cool. Once cool, halve them and cut them into thin slices and put to one side.

Whisk the dressing ingredients together, and season. To serve, break the cheese into nuggets, toss the endive and sliced quince with the dressing, season to taste, then arrange on individual or one large serving dish.

Pear tart (Jason Lowe)

Pear tart

Serves 4

Choose the ripest pears you can find for this; less ripe ones can be cooked in the same way as the quince (above) but for about half of the time, so they are still a little firm. Serve with clotted cream, crème fraîche or almond ice-cream.

150g butter puff pastry, rolled to ½cm thick, and chilled

2 large ripe pears, halved and cored

2tbsp Nutella or similar spread

1tbsp icing sugar

1tbsp nibbed almonds

Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Lay out the pastry on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper or silicone. Cut out four pear shapes from the pastry, 1cm larger than the actual pear halves themselves. Fold up the excess and freeze it for another time. Prick the pastry all over the centre with a fork to prevent it rising, and spoon the Nutella in the centre of each. Cut the pear halves into 5 or 6 slices horizontally, keeping the slices together. Place the sliced pear halves in the centre of each pastry shape, flat side down.

Dust the pear and pastry edges with icing sugar using a sieve or tea strainer then bake for 10 minutes. Scatter the nibbed almonds on top and dust with more icing sugar, then return to the oven for another 6-7 minutes. Serve immediately.

Somerset bramble cocktail (Jason Lowe)

Somerset bramble cocktail

Serves 4

The frozen blackberries here act as ice cubes and you can add as many as you wish. If you have made the quince salad above, you can use the infused cooking liquid in this if you wish, along with some apple juice so it's not too sweet.

150-160ml Somerset Pomona or Kingston Black cider liqueur

24 frozen blackberries

10-12 crushed fresh blackberries

250-300ml good-quality apple juice

To garnish (optional)

4 blackberries

4 crab apples

Put the Pomona into tall glasses with the frozen and crushed blackberries and apple juice, and stir well. Thread the crab apples and blackberries on to cocktail sticks and rest on the tops of the glasses.