The golden light lingers a little longer now, and somehow the evenings are full again. Autumn feels like the true social season of the year: the guest bedroom (for which we have an informal booking system) is full through to the end of the year, and suddenly every weekend and many weekday evenings are wrapped around company. Even if it’s just dinner at home for house guests, the rhythm has changed.

When it’s just us for dinner, anything goes – it is very relaxed and informal, and the emphasis is on ease of execution and speed of service. For a dinner party, meanwhile, we go all out: trips to the butcher and speciality deli, and as much time in the kitchen as is needed. But cooking for, and indeed with, house guests falls somewhere delightfully in between: cosy and welcoming, elevated but not exhausting. The kind of food that says: you’re here, you matter, let’s linger.

This autumn, we’ve been turning to the sort of recipes that hit that sweet spot. Rukmini Iyer’s roast red pepper and tomato orecchiette, topped with pistachios and ricotta, is an easy win – full of colour and comfort, but smart enough for guests. On chillier evenings, a pot of Felicity Cloake’s vegetable tagine, fragrant with saffron, squash, olives and prunes, practically cooks itself while you pour the wine and set the table.

Easy breakfast … Honey and Co’s sesame and pine nut air fryer granola. Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian.

And, for the kind of meal that asks very little of you, meaning it’s just perfect for the last night of a long weekend, we love Gill Meller’s chicken, paprika and tomato stew (pictured top), one of those dishes that comes out of the oven bubbling and ready to serve straight from the pan.

In the mornings, when houseguests drift into the kitchen in their slippers, there’s nothing better than a batch of granola: crunchy, gently sweet and endlessly adaptable, it’s the kind of thing you can make ahead and keep in a jar, ready for slow breakfasts and second cups of coffee. And, of course, when there are guests around, it’s never a bad idea to have a good, breakfast-friendly loaf cake kicking around.

This kind of cooking isn’t about showmanship, it’s about care. The dishes are forgiving, happy to wait a little, and they make space for friends to join in the cooking, to help set the table, for stories, laughter and another glass of wine. The tablecloth might not be ironed, the chairs might not match, but there’s a warmth that makes everything glow, and that makes us not mind all of the laundry that comes with operating a free bed-and-breakfast.

My week in food

Make it at home … Mandy Yin’s spicy glass noodle and prawn salad. Photograph: Matthew Hague/The Guardian.

Autumn reading (and eating)** |** Our cookbook of the season is Mandy Yin’s Simply Malaysian, a cuisine that, until now, has rather intimidated us. Her ginger chicken was practically inhaled, even though we accidentally spilled the contents of the pepper mill into the pot.

skip past newsletter promotion

after newsletter promotion

Dumpling legends** |** On the subject of social gatherings, when we need a place for a big group to come together for a meal that is affordable, crowd-pleasing, delicious and fun, Sunday dim sum at Imperial China in London’s Chinatown has been our go-to for years. Even the fussiest kid will be impressed when that tower of bamboo baskets turns up at the table.

Pan handlers** |** We’re thinking about Christmas already, and if you’re after gift ideas for the cook in your life, we can’t imagine anyone being disappointed to find the GreenPan x Stanley Tucci Tuscan Olive pan under the tree. We wouldn’t be, anyway. Just saying …

If you want to read the complete version of this newsletter please subscribe to receive Feast in your inbox every Thursday