Squash Supper Club with Myncen Farm in Dorset

I pulled up to Myncen Farm just as the light was softening over the Dorset fields - the kind of October evening that already smells like woodsmoke and damp earth - and I remember thinking: this is exactly where a squash supper club should live. Not in a city restaurant, but right where the vegetables are grown, a few steps from the soil, with the people who nurtured them sitting at the table.

This was our Autumn Squash Supper Club with Myncen Farm - a cosy night of cider, friendly faces, and a full three-course menu built entirely around squash. Not butternut (we love her, but she’s not the only star), but kabocha, Crown Prince, and Red Kuri. We wanted to gently show our guests that squash is so much more than “roast it and blitz it in soup.” It can be punchy, elegant, herby, cheesy, silky, even dessert-y. It can travel from Georgia to Italy in one evening.

Why squash?

When we first chatted about doing an autumn event, the farm’s own squash harvest was the obvious anchor. Myncen Farm have grown some absolute beauties this year - each with its own colour, shape, and flavour. But in most home kitchens, butternut is the one everyone knows because it’s in every supermarket. We wanted to get people tasting further.

So I spent a few very happy days recipe testing with squash from the farm - roasting, steaming, blitzing, pairing with herbs, and trying to find that point where the vegetable still tastes like itself, but in a way people maybe haven’t had before. Then I sat down with Simon, Denise, and Bill and we pulled together a menu that would:

1. Showcase different varieties

2. Be repeatable at home (this was important to all of us - no chef tricks, just good easy cooking)

3. Taste new and exciting

And yes, we absolutely did taste our way through a few ideas before landing on the final three!

The welcome

Guests arrived to the farm and were greeted with drinks from Cranbourne Chase Cider - perfectly local as it's produced right here on the farm, and the apples are grown here too. There’s something very grounding about starting an evening with a drink that wasn’t hauled across the country. It sets the tone: this is where we are, this is what’s in season, this is who made it.

The atmosphere was exactly what we hoped for - low lighting, conversation weaving between the tables, people curious about the menu and the squashes displayed in baskets. It felt more like a gathering at a friend’s farmhouse than a “formal” supper club, which is always my aim.

Starter: Georgian squash pkhali

I knew I wanted to bring a Georgian element to the menu - partly because it’s so much a part of my cooking personality, and partly because Georgian food is incredibly good at making vegetables feel celebratory.

We used kabocha squash for the starter - an earthy, nutty variety that holds up beautifully when cooked and mashed. I roasted it until soft and sweet, then turned it into pkhali: a Georgian-style vegetable and walnut dish that’s usually made with spinach, but also works wonderfully with squash.

Into the squash went:

• Ground walnuts

• A good handful of fresh herbs

• Spices

• A spoon of red adjika from Happy Adjika for heat, garlic, and those very Georgian notes

• A balancing splash of acid

I served it on a bed of blue cheese crumbs - just enough to add a salty, creamy contrast. It looked beautiful on the plate: golden, herb-flecked squash, a little chilli warmth, then that blue cheese underneath like a secret.

People really loved this course because it was familiar enough (“oh, it’s squash”) but in a form you don’t normally see here. A few guests said, “I didn’t know you could do that with squash” - which is exactly the reaction I wanted.

Main: Squash “Carbonara”

I wanted a pasta course that was properly indulgent but still seasonal. Enter: Crown Prince squash - one of my favourites. It has this beautiful dense, slightly nutty flesh and the most gorgeous colour when blended.

I roasted the Crown Prince, then blitzed it into a silky sauce with cream and Pecorino so it had that carbonara-style savouriness, but no eggs. It clung to the pasta in that way you always want creamy sauces to cling - coating, not drowning.

And because I wanted this dish to feel wonderfully autumnal and seasonal I finished it with:

• Wild mushrooms (for that forest depth)

• Roasted hazelnuts (for crunch and warmth)

• Crispy sage (because sage + squash is just right)

It was rich without being heavy, and the colour was honestly show-stopping - this deep, glowing yellow bowl with browns and greens on top. I watched so many plates come back completely empty from this course - best feedback a cook can get.

Dessert: Red Kuri “Pumble”

For dessert we didn’t want to go overly fancy; we wanted comfort. The kind of thing you can genuinely make on a Sunday. So I made “Pumble” - our cosy, farm-supper version of a crumble using Red Kuri squash.

Red Kuri has naturally sweet, chestnutty flesh - the flavour is almost halfway between pumpkin and sweet potato - and it works brilliantly with autumn spice. I baked it down into a soft, spiced base and topped it with crumble. And then served it with:

• Salted pumpkin caramel (yes, pumpkin in the caramel too!)

• Crème fraîche to cut through the sweetness

The Pumble got high praise indeed - unexpected in a dessert, and oh so delicious.

What I wanted guests to take away

Of course I wanted people to enjoy their evening and their food. But there were a few deeper things I hoped they’d leave with:

1. Squash is versatile. You can make a Georgian starter, an Italian-style main, and a British farmhouse pudding out of it. One vegetable, three amazing dishes.

2. Local produce should be celebrated at source. Eating it on the farm where it was grown feels different. You remember it.

3. You can cook this at home. None of these dishes were impossible. We tested and chose them with Simon, Denise and Bill specifically so we could hand people the recipes at the end. Which we did - every guest left with recipe cards so they can recreate the whole menu in their own kitchen.

4. Seasonal food brings people together.There’s something about sharing a table in a barn/farm space in autumn that makes you talk to people you haven’t met before. Food does that, but seasonal food does it faster.

The people behind it

I have to say a word about Myncen Farm. Working with Simon, Denise and Bill was a joy. They care about their produce and about telling the story of the farm - where things are grown, why certain varieties are chosen, and what to do with them. It makes my job so much easier (and more fun) when the producers are this invested.

I also love that they were keen on keeping the menu accessible - that was something we all agreed on early. Yes, we can do fancy. Yes, we can plate it beautifully. But we also want people to cook squash next week because of this event.

And… the best bit

At the end of the night I finally got to step out of the kitchen, and chat. It’s always such a good feeling to see empty plates coming back, people smiling, asking questions about adjika, about where to buy Crown Prince, about whether you can swap mushrooms, about how to make the pumpkin caramel. That’s when I know the evening landed.

I left feeling full (figuratively) and really grateful for everyone who came out to the farm on an autumn evening to eat squash for three courses. My kind of people.

What’s next?

We’re already talking about the next one! There’s a rumour that February might be a game night - think venison, slow braises, and maybe a dessert with a darker, wintery mood. If that sounds like you, keep an eye on our socials @lanasuhova and on @myncenfarm on Instagram, so you don’t miss tickets.

Check out my Instagram post for behind the scenes and videos of the evening: https://www.instagram.com/p/DQWHDvQjRWy/?hl=en&img_index=1