Squash falafel (like Leon's)

I was so excited when I found this recipe on 101 cookbooks for the lovely squishy squashy baked sweet potato falafel made famous by Leon. Since discovering it, I've made it in the sweet potato version, but also experimented a bit with peas and feta in the summer, and today, with roasted squash.

They're fantastically light falafel (not as you know them), healthy because they're baked, and have a wonderful flavour. They also freeze really well - pop them in when you've shaped them, and cook as you need from frozen. As with an awful lots of the things I'm cooking lately, you begin by slowly roasting the squash to develop its flavour.

Broccoli salad with added fire

The broccoli around at the moment is fantastic and great when you need an injection of health in your life, having eaten way too much cake. We had two huge heads this week so I set about making a broccoli extravaganza this evening - first a big batch of chopped with 2 peas soup and secondly this healthy salad with crunchy florets, silky roast squash, nutty puy lentils and pumpkin seeds and a fiery harissa dressing. Would be great with some feta also, and you can make it as fiery or not as you like! Perhaps you could also try adding in some raisins if you like them. It was great with the addition of the romano peppers sliced thinly - you could of course use a chilli pepper for even more heat.

I love using puy lentils in salads - they're really substantial and filling but also super tasty. I like to make a version of this in the summer with cherry tomatoes that have been roasted for 5-10 mins in lots of olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano just until they're squishing, blanched french beans and sundried tomatoes.

You could serve this on its own, or for a more substantial lunch serve with bread and some yogurt to cool off and perhaps sprinkle with feta.

Chopped with 2 peas soup (broccoli!)

When me and my sister were much younger, we used to go and stay with our mum's cousin and his wife for weekends, where we'd spend time cooking and crafting. The name of this soup came about when my sister was writing out the recipe - she was clearly a bit better at spelling than my auntie thought a primary school child should be - part of the recipe was 'broccoli chopped (with two p's)' which she wrote as 'chopped with 2 peas' and it's forever been known as that. Unfortunately that draft of the recipe had to be re-written and didn't make it home, but here's the re-written version. I made it tonight with cheddar rather than red lesiter (!) and it was just as yummy as I remembered.

Pear, honey and almond tart

I fell in love with Valentine Warner’s recipe for raspberry and peach tart that he made as part of his ‘what to eat now – more please’ series a little while ago the first time I made it. It’s the most tasty, sweet, happy-inducing tart ever I think, and I’ve made it loads of times.

The best thing about it is that it can be adjusted to whatever fruit you can get that’s in season, so while raspberries and peaches are great in summer, it was especially great with figs or plums, and you can experiment with different jams, too. This time, having a large number of pears to use up, I figured another version of this versatile delight should be on the cards, but this time with honey.

I have to say from the start that (sorry Valentine) I don’t use the pastry from the recipe – firstly because I think it’s rich enough without using a pastry with egg in, and secondly, because my mum is the queen of pastry. I have honestly never tasted such incredible, melt in the mouth, crumbly, light pastry as my mum’s, so naturally, I’ve got to make sure I can carry on this family tradition.

I make the quantities in the recipe but because I don’t have a 25cm flan tin, it usually makes enough for two smaller tarts. For the first time, I’ve tried freezing one to see how it behaves – I don’t see why it should do anything nasty but will update if it does.

It’s labour intensive but definitely worth it – despite being a long wait it’s very easy, impressive and can be adapted. It can be eaten hot or cold and keeps for a good few days, although it won’t last that long with hungry people around. What more could you want from seasonal food eh?!

Makes about enough for two tarts, 18-20cm

My various-root borek

I LOVE Turkish, Greek and middle eastern food. I have a friend who's half Greek and one who's Turkish so I get to learn brilliant things about this wonderful cuisine, as well as being fed olives for breakfast and things like that.

I first made these borek stlye parcels a few Christmas Eves ago for a drinks gathering and they went down a storm, especially with my mum's Thai friend who is a fantastic cook. The great thing about them is that you can make them with pretty much anything you've got - they'd work with pretty much any root veg I think, roasted with cumin, cinammon or a bit of chilli, you can add honey, cheese, herbs, any nuts or seeds you like, perhaps some green veg (spinach would be good). They also freeze really well - I usually make a big batch then freeze and just cook up what I need.

They're really nice served as part of a mezze style spread. I made some tzatziki (grated cucumber, add 1/2-1 clove of garlic, greek yogurt - the 0% stuff is fine - then herbs - dried at this time of year is fine, I used dill and mint), a strange sprouted seed salad which turned our suprisingly well (sprouted seeds, chopped artichokes and sundried tomatoes from jars, cucumber and feta), some houmous and pita. The only thing missing was the Turkish bread, which I absolutely adore. I used to buy this all the time when I was living in London, but sadly haven't managed to find it anywhere up here yet!

A week of coloured soups...

Soup making isn't rocket science - just bung some stuff in a pan and simmer it for a bit then either eat with lumps and all or blitz - but still, there's probably nothing more comforting than a warm bowl of soup.

This week, I've had almost a rainbow of soups - bright pink beetroot and celeriac, deep grey mushroom, and a 'using up' golden orange rooty soup. I think beetroot and celeriac work really well together, and the soup really has the most wonderful colour that the photo doesn't do justice. I went travelling to Russia in the latter part of last year, and I found this soup really took me back to the beetroot and sour cream cuisine (!) that we encountered there. Here's the recipe.

Teriyaki smoked tofu, stir fried greens and udon

I really wanted to make something that felt wholesome and cleansing after eating way too much thai food the other night. This felt just right – it’s really low in fat, the smoked tofu adds a great flavour and the greens make you feel like you're really doing your body good! I used a ready-made teriyaki by clearspring - you could of course make your own too – which had a peppery bite to it. I added some honey to give a sweetness and slight stickiness. I’d also like to add some sliced root ginger to this, and perhaps some chilli oil. Serves two

Roots n beans

Keeping it really simple with this one - roasted roots with honey, orange zest and rosemary, tossed with a few cherry tomatoes and butter beans. It was delicious and filling, sweet and creamy, and very orange!

Simply roast the root veggies for about half an hour to 40 minutes, drizzled with olive oil, a bit of honey, some orange zest and some rosemary. For the last 5 minutes of cooking, add the drained beans and some halved cherry tomatoes. Serve with extra olive oil, a dusting of chilli flakes and a blob of creme fraiche for extra creaminess.

Fruity nutty carrot muffins

The other night, I really wanted to try out making some carrot and apple cake, but I’d run out of apples. Hmm. Instead, I decided to mix lots of things together that I like into some muffins, and the result was pretty good. They’re really moist (I added ground almonds in place of some of the flour), a beautiful orange colour and I think do the carrots justice. They’re not as dense as some carrot cakes that are around, either. I didn’t use any frosting but I’m sure they’d be great with some mascarpone with orange zest on top. I’ll also get around to trying the apple and carrot version one day!

Makes 8 muffins
125g butter at room temperature
125g light brown soft sugar
100g plain flour
30g ground almonds
1 tsp cinnamon
1 ½ tsp baking powder
50g dried fruits – I used a mixture of raisins and sultanas (really big ones)
A handful of almonds
A couple of handfuls of walnuts
Zest of one orange
A tablespoon or two of the juice from said orange
1 egg
About 150g carrot (or mixture of carrot and apple), grated

Preheat the oven to 170 (fan) and line a couple of tins with muffin cases.

Cream together the butter, sugar and zest until it’s light and there are no grainy sugar bits left. I like to add the zest in at this stage because I think the beating brings out the lovely orangey-ness. Add the egg and beat again.

Chop the nuts roughly (don’t leave any really big bits but I quite like mine to be relatively chunky) and add these and the fruits into the flour, cinnamon, ground almonds and baking powder. Mix these dry ingredients into the butter, sugar and eggs gradually. You don’t need to worry too much about being very careful as it’s quite a heavy cake mix.

Then add the grated carrot and mix well to ensure it’s all evenly distributed. Depending on how juicy your carrots are, you might want to add a bit of orange juice in at this point.

Divide the mixture between the cases – they will rise a bit, so don’t fill them too full – and bake for between 25-30 mins.

Note: depending on the juiceiness of your carrots, you might need to add a bit of milk to your cake batter. Just play it by ear and make sure it's thin enough that it falls off the wooden spoon!

Saturday soda bread

I have to say that it's pretty hard to make bread with an elbow that's been broken and in a sling for the last few weeks, but I was dying to make something crunchy and rustic to go with my jerusalem artichoke and carrot soup. Soda bread is pretty much the only option - but it's also quick, easy and really delicious, so not really a problem at all!

I used Hugh's recipe for a classic soda brea, but used a mixture of flours - white, spelt and rye. Gave it a great colour and lovely texture.