My procuring begins with the fruit and greens. It all the time has performed. Ideas about what’s in season, what’s at its greatest at this second, have all the time come earlier than the rest. Rummaging by market stalls or surveying the lengthy desk on the greengrocer’s is the a part of meals procuring I take pleasure in most. It all the time looks as if place to begin. However typically 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 along 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 smooth roll, and dessert too, a refreshing tackle a standard 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 remedy for cauliflower. The sauce is comprised of chickpeas and tahini, then used as an accompaniment to the roast cauliflower and entire chickpeas. I take advantage of bottled or tinned chickpeas, however should you prepare dinner yours from scratch hold a bit of of the cooking water for the puree.
Serves 2-3
garlic 1 head
cauliflower 1 massive (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 smooth sufficient to squash between finger and thumb.
Whereas the garlic is roasting, trim the cauliflower and break into massive florets, conserving as a lot of the stalk intact as you’ll be able to. Carry 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. This may guarantee beautiful tender florets.
Take away the garlic and switch the cauliflower to the roasting tin, add 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 easy cream, pouring within the olive oil and 100ml of scorching water as you go. You desire a smooth 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 entire 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 all the time prefer 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 convey 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
contemporary 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 must 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 smooth 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 go away to simmer for 20 minutes till all is smooth and squashy. Stir within the miso, add a grinding of black pepper and examine 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, commonly transferring them across the pan, till they’re pale gold. Chop and stir within the basil leaves and examine 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 will have. A non-stick pan is important, and a palette knife for alleviating the slices from the pan. I prefer to eat this with a leafy inexperienced salad, one thing crisp and contemporary 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 massive sprigs
egg 1, overwhelmed
cheddar or vegetarian various 300g, coarsely grated
groundnut or vegetable oil 3 tbsp
basil leaves 2 handfuls
You will want 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 dimension 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 overwhelmed 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 notice that the deal with may be very scorching. I solely point out this as a result of it’s simple to neglect.) You may, do you have to 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 prime 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, do you have to want, by bringing down the variety of chillies or utilizing one of many bigger, milder pink varieties instead of the punchy little ones I recommend. Steaming the aubergine earlier than grilling provides solely quarter-hour to the recipe however produces a sublimely tender consequence. To veganise this recipe, use your favorite non-dairy substitute instead of the yoghurt.
Serves 4
aubergines 2, medium to massive
For the marinade
ginger 40g piece
small scorching 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
entire 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, minimize them in half lengthways after which in half once more. Lower every into quick fats chunks about 3cm in size. There isn’t a must be too meticulous about this. Put the aubergine within the steamer basket, cowl and go away to steam for 15-20 minutes. You need them to be smooth however not soggy. Take away them and place fastidiously 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 totally 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 may prepare dinner the aubergines in two methods, both on a scorching 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 scorching 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 scorching 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 all the time have the required couple of hours required. Bringing rice to a satisfyingly creamy consistency may be performed on the hob, the rice being boiled first, then simmered with cream, vanilla and sugar. Partly as a result of I prefer to have some left over for breakfast – a totally good factor – I stir in a couple of spoons of thick yoghurt because it cools. After you have the rice cooked you’ll be able to 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 nearly evaporated. Regulate it and stir it sometimes.
Add the milk, convey again to the boil, then decrease the warmth so it simmers gently. Partially cowl with a lid and go away for about quarter-hour, stirring commonly and conserving an in depth 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 smooth 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 minimize into skinny slices, catching as a lot of the juice as you’ll be able to.
Spoon into dishes, place the grapefruit slices on the rice, trickle over any juice, then spoon the blueberry sauce excessive.
You can even add chopped pistachio nuts or pumpkin seeds, dried barberries or cherries. I additionally suggest toasted flaked almonds.