Kitchen stories: autumn-inspired salad, stuffed zucchini pancakes and homemade fruit pastille

This week's kitchen roundup leans into grapes and the autumn harvest, offering both fresh and hearty meal ideas.

Chicken and grape salad

The first recipe is a salad made with roasted or smoked chicken, grapes and celery stalks. This time, instead of chicken fillet, smoked hams bought at a local producers' market were used, skinned, deboned and diced. The grapes were halved, while the celery stalks were sliced into thin half-rounds. The dressing combined Greek yogurt with lemon juice, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper, and the finished salad was topped with chopped walnuts.

Zucchini pancakes stuffed with ground meat

The second recipe is zucchini pancakes made from grated zucchini mixed into a batter with egg, sour cream, kefir and flour. For the filling, onion was fried in a pan together with ground poultry meat and seasonings. Once the pancakes were fried on both sides, the filling was placed on top, the pancake was folded over it and fried a little longer under a lid. The dish is best served with sour cream, with grated cheese as an optional addition.

Lavash "envelopes" with cottage cheese

The third recipe uses lavash sheets cut into rectangles and filled with a mixture of cottage cheese, egg, grated cheese, chopped green onions and seasonings. The folded "envelopes" were pan-fried in a small amount of oil, seam-side down first. This dish works well for breakfast, dinner, or as a take-along snack.

Apple and peach pastille

The roundup closes with a homemade apple and peach pastille. Chopped fruit was simmered with a little water and sugar until soft, then blended into a smooth puree. Gelatin was stirred into the hot mixture, which was then whipped until fluffy, poured into molds and left in the fridge overnight to set. The next day, the pastille can be cut into pieces.