Visit any green market this month and you will find it bursting with sweeter than August corn, plumper than July tomatoes, as well as autumn classics like sugary figs and juicy apples. With the availability of such alluring ingredients, preparing a delicious meal couldn't be easier. At The Four Seasons, we celebrate October's abundance by inviting a few fun friends over for a harvest party.

We love to start a relaxing Autumn celebration with tastes of black bass seviche and heirloom tomato bruchetta. Light and refreshingly simple, they are prepared in tiny portions created to tease the appetite. The seviche is served best in tiny cucumber cups and the tomatoes on crisp country bread, making sipping champagne and grabbing a bite an effortless pleasure of now you see the hors d'oeuvre, now you don't. In the glow of dozens of votive candles, guests move through the room, sampling hors d'oeuvre and chatting with each other, without looking like jugglers in search of a place to rest their drinks.

When the mood is right and everyone is relaxed, we seat our guests at a table simply set with a napkin and a minimum of silverware and glasses. Sometimes we add a humorous touch, like a jack-o-lantern, but nothing large enough to obstruct the view or fragrant enough to interfere with the sensual flavors and seductive aromas of the food. When everyone is comfortable and ready to eat, we entice our guests with a first course of Butternut Squash and Calabasa Pumpkin Bisque. Warm and earthy, it makes the perfect beginning for an Autumn meal. For a spectacular presentation, we sometimes serve the bisque in a tureen made from a pumpkin or on individual bowls made from the shell of the squash. I like to pair it with a crisp Pinot Gris from Oregon, but you should choose your favorite wine. At the Four Seasons we don't believe in strict rules for enjoying food and wine. We think you should drink what you like.

A great follow up to a hauntingly delicious bisque is Potato-Crusted Salmon with Roasted Root Vegetables. Sinfully good, it is one of the most popular Autumn dishes we have ever served. Prepared uniformly pink and moist, and wrapped in crunchy potato, we like to pair our salmon with a red wine sauce you'd expect to find on game -- a daring fusion that can work as well in your home as it does in a restaurant, provided you take the time and care to slice the potatoes thinner than paper. Otherwise you will have trouble wrapping them around the salmon. At The Four Seasons we use a mandolin. If you do not have one, you should slide the potato into very thin slices.

When you visit your farmer's market, feel free to choose whichever root vegetables look best to you. For the recipe here we chose carrots, parsnips, celery knob and pearl onions, as well as red and yellow beets. You may add others if they look irresistibly good, or if you need to make substitutions.

I love to serve this hearty Autumn dish with a wonderful Italian Barolo wine. A particularly good one I had recently is the 1990 made by Marchesi di Barolo, but truthfully I've never had one I didn't love. That's why I can't wait for October 23rd when eleven of the most important Barolo producers are visiting The Four Seasons for a tasting dinner. If you would like to join us for this or any of our other special dinners, please email me at SpecialDinners@aol.com.

After dinner, we like to give our guests the chance to relax a bit before we serve dessert. It offers them time to stretch their legs and build an appetites for Pastry Chef' Patrick Lemblé's Maple-Pecan Tart. While most chefs are satisfied with a pecan tart made with molasses, Patrick always offers a fresh spin on an old favorite, opting for maple syrup for his Autumn specialty. Without question it is the best I've ever had.

Many people like to serve dessert wines, but I have never really liked sweet drinks. I save a few swirls of Barolo to taste with dessert. If you are interested in trying one, ask your local wine merchant for a good Sauternes, like Château d'Yquem or Château Rieussec.

We like to serve coffee and espresso after dessert with a variety of cookies on a small tray that we place in the center of the table. Our guests love to sample them as they continue the dinner conversation through the evening.

No matter what you serve at your Autumn dinner, remember October is the perfect month for a dinner party. All you need is a few fun friends, something delicious to eat, and the time to enjoy them both.

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