My purchasing begins with the fruit and greens. It at all times has carried out. Ideas about what’s in season, what’s at its finest at this second, have at all times come earlier than the rest. Rummaging by market stalls or surveying the lengthy desk on the greengrocer’s is the a part of meals purchasing I take pleasure in most. It at all times looks like an excellent place to begin. However usually that’s the place it finishes too.
This month’s recipes are appropriate for vegetarians and three of them are – with a tweak right here and there – good for vegans too. I’ve roasted cauliflower and made a chickpea sauce to go together with it; baked slices of golden-fleshed pumpkin to eat with a bean and winter tomato sauce, and marinated and grilled aubergines. There’s a crisp pancake of grated root greens to eat with a winter salad or stuff right into a comfortable roll, and dessert too, a refreshing tackle a conventional rice pudding.
None of that is uncommon. Meals with out meat or fish have lengthy been the mainstay of my consuming and that appears set to proceed. What issues most to this prepare dinner, is whether or not or not it’s scrumptious.
Cauliflower, chickpeas and tahini
A creamy, vegan therapy for cauliflower. The sauce is produced from chickpeas and tahini, then used as an accompaniment to the roast cauliflower and complete chickpeas. I exploit bottled or tinned chickpeas, however if you happen to prepare dinner yours from scratch maintain a bit of of the cooking water for the puree.
Serves 2-3
garlic 1 head
cauliflower 1 giant (1kg)
chickpeas roughly 400g, cooked and drained (2 tins)
mint leaves a handful
parsley leaves a big handful
For the sauce
chickpeas 2 x 400g tins
tahini 2 tbsp
olive oil 100ml
lemon juice 2 tbsp
Preheat the oven to 180C fan/gasoline mark 6. Loosely wrap the entire head of garlic in a bit of tin foil, place in a roasting tin and bake for 25-Half-hour until the insides are comfortable sufficient to squash between finger and thumb.
Whereas the garlic is roasting, trim the cauliflower and break into giant florets, maintaining as a lot of the stalk intact as you may. Deliver a pan of water to the boil, place the cauliflower in a colander or steamer basket and place over the boiling water, cowl with a lid and steam for 10 minutes. It will guarantee beautiful tender florets.
Take away the garlic and switch the cauliflower to the roasting tin, add an excellent splash of olive oil and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Whereas the cauliflower roasts, make the sauce: put the two tins of chickpeas and their liquid right into a saucepan and heat gently, take away from the warmth, drain and switch to a meals processor. Take away the roast garlic from its foil, then pop the cloves from their skins. Add 6 of the cloves of garlic to the processor and retain the others. Course of the chickpeas, tahini and garlic to a clean cream, pouring within the olive oil and 100ml of sizzling water as you go. You desire a comfortable puree. Stir within the lemon juice and season with salt.
Drain the 400g of chickpeas and add to the roasting cauliflower, then return to the oven for five minutes until the beans are heat. Spoon the creamed chickpeas on to a serving plate then add the roast cauliflower and complete chickpeas. Scatter with the roughly chopped mint and parsley leaves.
Baked squash, haricot beans, winter tomatoes
Baked squash, haricot beans, winter tomatoes. {Photograph}: Jonathan Lovekin/The Observer
The fudgy sweetness of roast pumpkin or squash is to be celebrated, however I at all times wish to introduce a seasoning that can assist stability the overly honeyed notes – chilli maybe, or mustard. This time I used miso – the darkish, deeply savoury model – to deliver concord to the accompanying bean sauce. One other vegan recipe.
Serves 4
small pumpkin or squash 1kg
olive oil 2 tbsp
garlic 4 cloves
For the sauce
onions 2 medium
olive oil 5 tbsp
garlic 3 cloves
tomatoes 650g
brown miso paste 2 tbsp
haricot beans 2 x 400g tins
For the breadcrumbs
olive oil 3 tbsp
recent breadcrumbs 40g
basil leaves and stems 20g
Preheat the oven to 180C fan/gasoline mark 6. Lower the pumpkin or squash in half and scoop out the seeds and fibres from inside. Slice into 8 segments and place on a baking sheet or roasting tin. Sprinkle with the oil, salt and black pepper, then tuck within the garlic cloves. No have to peel them. Bake for 45 minutes or till the squash is tender to the purpose of a knife.
Whereas the squash is baking, make the sauce. Peel and roughly chop the onions. Heat the oil in a big saucepan and sauté the onions until comfortable and pale gold. Peel and thinly slice the garlic and add. Roughly chop the tomatoes and stir into the onions, season with salt, then partially cowl with a lid and depart to simmer for 20 minutes till all is comfortable and squashy. Stir within the miso, add a grinding of black pepper and test for salt.
Drain the haricot beans and stir into the tomato sauce, then proceed to simmer over a low warmth for five minutes. Make the breadcrumbs: heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan, add the crumbs and allow them to prepare dinner, repeatedly transferring them across the pan, till they’re pale gold. Chop and stir within the basil leaves and test the seasoning.
Place the slices of roasted squash on a serving dish, spoon over the tomato and bean sauce and scatter with the basil breadcrumbs.
Carrot, potato and cheese pancake
Carrot, potato and cheese pancake. {Photograph}: Jonathan Lovekin/The Observer
A great way of utilizing up any spare carrots and potatoes you might have. A non-stick pan is crucial, and a palette knife for alleviating the slices from the pan. I wish to eat this with a leafy inexperienced salad, one thing crisp and recent reminiscent of watercress and fennel or cos, cucumber and radish. I also needs to add that it makes a luxurious filling for a roll.
Serves 4
potatoes 200g, maris piper or comparable
carrots 200g
spring onions 4
rosemary 3 giant sprigs
egg 1, crushed
cheddar or vegetarian different 300g, coarsely grated
groundnut or vegetable oil 3 tbsp
basil leaves 2 handfuls
You have to a 24-25cm ovenproof frying pan that doesn’t stick. Set the oven at 160C fan/gasoline mark 4.
Coarsely grate the potatoes utilizing a matchstick measurement setting, as if you’re making celeriac remoulade. Then do the identical with the carrots. Put the grated greens right into a mixing bowl.
Finely chop and add the spring onions. Finely chop the rosemary and add to the bowl. Grind in a bit of black pepper, then add the grated potatoes and carrots and gently flip them over. Add the crushed egg and grated cheddar and blend gently.
Place the pan over a reasonable warmth, pour within the oil, then tip the combination into the pan, urgent it gently out to the perimeters however with out compacting it. Let the potato combination prepare dinner till the underside is beginning to color, then switch to the oven and bake for Half-hour till golden. (Please word that the deal with could be very sizzling. I solely point out this as a result of it’s simple to overlook.) You possibly can, must you want, crisp the highest a bit of by inserting the pancake beneath a heated grill for a couple of minutes.
Pull the herb leaves from their stalks and pile them on high of the potato and carrot cake. Lower into wedges and serve.
Grilled aubergines with steamed basmati and mint yoghurt
Grilled aubergines with steamed basmati and mint yoghurt. {Photograph}: Jonathan Lovekin/The Observer
The marinade I make for these aubergines, with tiny, super-hot hen’s-eye chillies, is on the spicy aspect. Tame the warmth, must you want, by bringing down the variety of chillies or utilizing one of many bigger, milder crimson varieties rather than the punchy little ones I recommend. Steaming the aubergine earlier than grilling provides solely quarter-hour to the recipe however produces a sublimely tender outcome. To veganise this recipe, use your favorite non-dairy substitute rather than the yoghurt.
Serves 4
aubergines 2, medium to giant
For the marinade
ginger 40g piece
small sizzling chillies 4
garlic 3 cloves
floor chilli 1 tsp
floor turmeric 1 tsp
salt 1 tsp
sugar 2 tsp
white wine vinegar 2 tbsp
groundnut oil 3 tbsp
basmati rice 200g
complete black peppercorns 6
inexperienced cardamom pods 6
For the yoghurt sauce
dairy or vegan yoghurt 200ml
mint leaves 2 tbsp, chopped
white wine vinegar 2 tsp
Peel and roughly chop the ginger, then put it in a meals processor or blender. Take away the stems from the chillies and add them to the ginger. Peel the garlic and put that in too. Now add the bottom chilli and turmeric, the salt, sugar and white wine vinegar. Pour within the groundnut oil, then course of briefly and pour right into a bowl.
Put a pan of water on to boil coated with a steamer basket or colander and a lid. Take away the stems from the aubergines, reduce them in half lengthways after which in half once more. Lower every into brief fats chunks about 3cm in size. There is no such thing as a should be too meticulous about this. Put the aubergine within the steamer basket, cowl and depart to steam for 15-20 minutes. You need them to be comfortable however not soggy. Take away them and place rigorously on kitchen paper for quarter-hour or so until all of the steam has gone.
Tip the aubergines into the marinade, toss gently to cowl, taking care to not break them up, and put aside for a few hours. The occasional cautious stir is a completely good factor.
Wash the rice thrice in heat water, then put it in a saucepan and canopy with sufficient water to cowl the rice by about 3cm. Add salt, the peppercorns and the cardamom pods and convey to the boil. Cowl tightly with a lid, and decrease the warmth so the rice putters away gently for 10 minutes. Take away from the warmth, leaving the lid in place and put aside. Chop the mint and stir it into the yoghurt with the vinegar.
You possibly can prepare dinner the aubergines in two methods, both on a sizzling griddle (which is able to produce a lot smoke however scrumptious, crisp, charred edges) or beneath the grill within the oven, which is able to lack the smoky notes of the griddle, however will nonetheless be excellent. To griddle them, place the aubergines on a sizzling griddle and prepare dinner till the underside is darkish and toasted, then slide a palette knife beneath every bit and switch them over. Let the opposite aspect brown, then take away from the griddle. To prepare dinner them beneath a grill, place the items on agrill pan or baking sheet lined with foil, place beneath a sizzling oven-grill and prepare dinner for 5-10 minutes until golden.
Serve the aubergine with the rice and yoghurt sauce.
Creamy rice with berries and citrus
Creamy rice with berries and citrus. {Photograph}: Jonathan Lovekin/The Observer
A baked rice pudding with its cushion of glowing golden pores and skin is a factor of pleasure, however I don’t at all times have the required couple of hours required. Bringing rice to a satisfyingly creamy consistency could be carried out on the hob, the rice being boiled first, then simmered with cream, vanilla and sugar. Partly as a result of I wish to have some left over for breakfast – a completely good factor – I stir in a number of spoons of thick yoghurt because it cools. Upon getting the rice cooked you may serve it in all its purity or jolly it up with blueberry sauce, slices of grapefruit and pistachios or flaked almonds.
Serves 4
pudding rice 150g
water 500ml, plus 3 tbsp for the berry sauce
full fats milk 500ml
blueberries 250g
golden caster sugar 2 tbsp
caster sugar 3 tbsp
thick pure yoghurt 100g
pink grapefruit 1 small
chopped pistachios 2 tbsp
Put the pudding rice in a medium-sized, heavy-based pan with the 500ml of water. Let it boil till the water has virtually evaporated. Keep watch over it and stir it often.
Add the milk, deliver again to the boil, then decrease the warmth so it simmers gently. Partially cowl with a lid and depart for about quarter-hour, stirring repeatedly and maintaining a detailed watch on the liquid stage.
Make the blueberry sauce: put the blueberries in a medium-sized saucepan, add the two tablespoons of golden caster sugar and the three tablespoons of water, then simmer for 5-6 minutes, till the berries begin to burst and the juice is deep purple. Put aside.
When the grains of rice are comfortable and swollen, stir within the 3 tablespoons of caster sugar and let it dissolve. Stir within the yoghurt.
Peel the grapefruit with a kitchen knife, then reduce into skinny slices, catching as a lot of the juice as you may.
Spoon into dishes, place the grapefruit slices on the rice, trickle over any juice, then spoon the blueberry sauce excessive.
It’s also possible to add chopped pistachio nuts or pumpkin seeds, dried barberries or cherries. I additionally advocate toasted flaked almonds.
