Nigel Slater's recipes for baked aubergine with white beans and thyme, and banana brioche pudding

Welcome in the autumn with aubergines scorched in the oven and juicy baked bananas There has been a slight change of step in the kitchen. The jars of beans have come down from the top shelf to bake with aubergines and onions; the oven is on again (albeit less often than last autumn) and what I cook is as much about warming up a chilly evening as about the love of cooking. There has been a show of hot puddings, too: crumbles and crisps made with autumn fruit; a proper apple pie with a shortcrust ...