It’s an exciting time of year, what with both Halloween and the Day of the Dead just around the corner. This year, Wahaca is hosting a three-day Day of the Dead event at The Vaults under Waterloo station in London on 3-5 November, where we’ll remember the dead, immerse ourselves in performance art, revel in wild Mexican music, and feast on Mexican cooking, from street food to a more upmarket supper club. At home, meanwhile, I’ll be celebrating with surprisingly easy, tea-smoked sweet potatoes in a salad to go with falling-apart sticky ribs, and an exotically spiced cheesecake made with pumpkin, a very Aztec ingredient – its burnt ochre colour is beautifully autumnal.

Sticky ribs with tea-smoked sweet potato salad

I tend to use rice to smoke vegetables, because I always have some in the house. Warm spices and smoky chipotle puree, meanwhile, give character to the ribs. Serves six.

5 medium sweet potatoes (about 1kg)
200g brown rice
20g tea leaves (I use Assam)
½ garlic clove, peeled and crushed
20ml maple syrup
50ml red-wine vinegar
50ml olive oil
1 handful mint leaves, roughly chopped
1 tbsp oregano leaves, roughly chopped
½ red onion, peeled and finely sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the marinade
200ml maple syrup
60ml Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp cinnamon powder
½ tsp cloves, ground
150ml ketchup
3 tbsp chipotle paste
3 racks of pork ribs, about 500g each

Heat the oven to 150C/300F/gas mark 2. Mix the marinade ingredients in a bowl and season generously. Rub half the marinade over the ribs, lay them in a snug-fitting oven tray lined with foil, then scatter on two tablespoons of water. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 90 minutes, until tender.

Put the remaining marinade in a small saucepan, bring to a simmer and leave to reduce for 10 minutes, until thick and delicious-smelling.

Meanwhile, cut the sweet potatoes in half lengthways. Double line a large wok with tinfoil, so it hangs generously over the sides. Pour in the rice and tea leaves, and lay the sweet potato on top. Carefully wrap up the foil package, so no smoke can escape, and put the wok on a high heat. When the rice begins to burn and smoke, after four or five minutes (check by unwrapping a corner or by smelling), leave to smoke for four minutes, then open the foil and tip the potatoes into an oven tray. Toss with a little oil, season and roast alongside the ribs for 45 minutes, until tender, then remove – the potato will get smokier as it cools.

Take the ribs from the oven and leave to rest. Chop the potatoes into chunks, and discard the rice and tea.

For the dressing, mix the garlic, maple syrup and vinegar in the base of a serving dish, whisk in the oil and season. Add the sweet potato, herbs and onion, and toss gently.

Spoon the sauce over the ribs and serve with the salad alongside.

Pumpkin and dark chocolate cheesecake with pumpkin seed praline

Butternut squash works very well in this, too. Serves eight to 10.

1 medium pumpkin
500g cream cheese
225g caster sugar
1-2 large pinches chilli flakes (optional)

1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ nutmeg, ground
4 eggs, beaten
Creme fraiche, to serve

For the biscuit base
175g dark chocolate digestives
70g melted butter, plus extra to grease
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 large pinch dried chilli flakes, ground
¼ tsp cinnamon powder

For the brittle
Sunflower oil, to grease
50g pumpkin seeds
125g caster sugar

Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas mark 6. Cut the pumpkin into wedges, scrape out the seeds and peel. Cut the flesh into roughly equal-sized chunks and steam for 20 minutes, until very tender to the point of a knife. Remove the steamer lid and leave over a low heat for a few minutes, so the pumpkin steams dry, then weigh out 450g flesh (save any excess for another dish – see below and mash with a fork until smooth.

Meanwhile, bash the biscuits into crumbs in a bowl and stir in the melted butter, cocoa powder, chilli and cinnamon. Lightly grease a 23cm loose-bottomed cake tin and press the buttered crumbs into the base.

Turn down the oven to 170C/335F/gas mark 3. Mix the cooled pumpkin flesh with the cream cheese, sugar and spices, then fold in the eggs. Spoon on top of the biscuit base, and bake for 90 minutes, until the surface is set but the middle still has a slight wobble. Remove and leave to cool.

Line a tray with greaseproof paper and oil the paper. On a medium flame, heat a saucepan with a light-coloured base (this makes it easier to see how dark the caramel is), and toast the pumpkin seeds until they begin to pop. Transfer to a plate, add the sugar to the pan and return to the heat. Leave the sugar to melt, watching it constantly and swirling gently. The moment it starts to caramelise, stir in the seeds, then pour the caramel into the lined tray. Tap the tray to level it out, leave the brittle to cool and harden, then bash into crumbs with a rolling pin.

Once the cake is cool, release from its tin, sprinkle on the brittle and cut into slices. Serve with creme fraiche.

And for the rest of the week…

The marinade doubles as a gorgeous barbecue sauce: smother over sausages and chicken before grilling or barbecuing. Dice any leftover sweet potatoes and stir through a mixed-grain salad with feta and lots of fresh mint for a substantial but refreshing autumnal salad. Excess pumpkin puree makes a fantastic ravioli filling, while the pumpkin seed brittle is great on ice-cream, with or without chocolate sauce.