Autumn through to winter always gets us craving for a bowl of soup, miso is an ingredient we have embraced the past few years and always have some in the fridge, it sits happily there for ages and it’s very good for you. The inspiration here came from a book called ‘Miso Tasty’ by Bonnie Chung and it will teach you every thing you need to know about Miso.
Carrot, lentil and miso soup
Hot and tangy aubergine
Hot with the chilli and tangy from the tamarind, this is a great quick and easy way to serve up 1 aubergine, perfect for two as part of an Indian feast. As the aubergine brown in the oil it really picks up the flavour of the fennel and nigella seeds, feel free to only use one spice if that’s all you have and if you can’t find any tamarind paste then you can always substitute with lemon or lime juice
Roasted tomato soup
My mother used to make an amazing tomato soup, I have fond memories of the smell coming from the kitchen of tomatoes roasting away. She never used fresh garlic or basil as I have here and chilli was very much not on the palate of Morecambe folk in the late 70’s and 80’s so feel free to omit if chilli heat is not your thing
Cavelo Nero, herb and walnut pesto
Cavelo nero is the Italian name translated to black cabbage, like all cabbage it can be eaten raw, it’s deep earthy flavour blitzed with different herbs and toasted walnuts creates a vibrant green pesto, perfect to use with pasta, as a salad dressing, a dip or as Nigella suggested, “Divine! Would be so good dolloped into a roasted and split sweet potato”
Roasted carrot, courgette and chickpea salad, rose harissa, lime and mint
This middle eastern inspired salad came about after a glut of courgettes were delivered to us from a neighbour and we had some carrots that needed using in the fridge. Rose Harissa is an amazing chilli paste that can be used in many ways, once you start using it you’ll never stop.
Red Dragon Pie
Named red dragon pie because the Chinese call adzuki beans ‘red dragon’, these beans are packed with goodness, protein, fibre, potassium, magnesium, Vitamin B6 and iron.
A delicious potato topped savoury umami rich pie, perfect for a meat free dinner.
Kimchi hummus
Hummus Kimchi, Korean style hummus, I’m not sure how best to describe this, it was simply born out of a fridge forage of which we had some chickpeas left over from making a curry, half a jar of homemade kimchi and some gochujang paste so why not mix it all up and see what happens? Inevitably it turned out absolutely delicious, who would of thought about blending tahini with kimchi?
If you have access to an Asian supermarket look for rainbow prawn crackers, they are great for dips.
Quick ramen style noodle bowl
A meal for two in less than ten minutes using nothing but store cupboard and freezer ingredients
Coco ‘nut’ chilli dip
If you like a dip with a kick then this is for you and it’s very simple to make.
Brazilian black bean and squash stew
This is a vegetarian version of a classic Brazilian dish called Feijoada.