We do love a risotto, it’s pleasurably soothing and relaxing to make and the rich, creamy result is perfect comfort food, all that’s required is some patience for stirring, a bowl and a spoon. There is no cheese in this recipe but feel free to indulge and don’t be afraid to use extra virgin olive olive when frying the vegetable base, if Italians can use it for cooking them so can you.
Prawn and spinach risotto
Roast celeriac and king oyster mushroom salad with halloumi and walnut pesto
Salads aren’t just for lazy summer days, enjoy this hearty bold autumnal salad either as a small starter, side or indeed as a stunning vegetarian main. The idea for this ensemble is from dirt candy, a vegetarian cookbook from a vegetarian restaurant in New York. There are a number of elements to building this salad so preparation is key to pulling it all together at the end and you need to be very good at multi tasking so read the instructions first.
Turkish pepper, black-eyed bean and quails egg salad with za’atar
Summer isn’t over until the salad days end. This is a very simple salad to make no longer than the time it takes to boil and egg or two, a classic from Turkish Cuisine, can be a simple side salad or a main on it’s own. I’ve used quails eggs here but you can use regular chicken eggs and if you can’t get Turkish peppers, regular peppers are absolutely fine.
Corned beef hash
A classic British cheap meal just like mother used to make, no frills, tasty and hearty.
Hungarian Goulash and Csipetke noodles
Goulash is more of a soup than a stew, it’s packed with lots of vegetables so feel free to swap and mix them up, swap the celeriac for parsnip or skip the potatoes and add some squash, if you don’t have fresh tomatoes then use tinned or tomato puree. The only ingredients you can’t miss out are the paprika and caraway or it simply wouldn’t be a goulash.
Anelletti pasta cake
In Italy this would be ‘Timballo di Anelletti’ or’ Anelletti alla Palermitana’ and is often translated as a pasta pie however as the final cooking process uses a cake tin then I’ve chosen to call it Anelletti pasta cake instead.
As with any traditional Italian pasta dish there are of course many variations, you can add small cubes of diced and fried aubergine into the mix, or even chopped boiled eggs and small chunks of ham. The main focus here though is to make a nice thick rich ragu and by all means use all beef if you have no pork or even some veal instead if you’d like. If you can make you’re own rich tomato sauce then all the better if not then please make sure you buy a quality tomato sauce or passatta.
Liver and onions
Liver and onions was a weekly event when I was a child, my mum used ketchup, OXO cubes and Bisto gravy browning, this is as near to her recipe as I could get.
Serve with mashed potatoes and a green vegetable of your choice.
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.
Sweet Onion, fennel and tomato lasagne
An indulgent vegetarian lasagne, if you use quality ingredients the blend of onion, fennel and tomato is magical.