More beetroot...this time a salad

An easy weeknight dinner this one, which I knocked up using some of the same dressing from the pink fritters that I made the other night. It's substantial and comforting - sweet and a little spicy.

To serve three or four, peel and chop up some beetroot into half moons, and peel some baby shallots (or use onions but cut smaller). Toss with cumin seeds, olive oil, salt and pepper and roast until done in a fairly hot oven - about 25-30 mins.

While that's going on, making the dressing. See the pink fritters recipe for how. Open a couple of cans of chickpeas, drain and tip into a bowl with a handful of sultanas, a handful of toasted pumpkin seeds, some chopped parsley and the dressing.

Plate up with some nice salad leaves, adding the onions and beetroot. Top with some natural yogurt that's been slighty salted and had some more chopped parsley stirred through.

A comforting spring vegetable broth

This is a great way of eating spring veggies at their very best; cooking for the minimum time possible to retain their sweetness and gentle crunch. Tiny mint and basil leaves along with chopped fennel tops enhance the flavour, although dill could work equally well, (but mine hasn't grown yet). The white wine brings a lovely freshness. You could use chicken stock as well if you're not veggie.


I think a lot of people wouldn't try cooking lettuce, but actually it's a fantastic way to use little gem or other romaine lettuces, which can sometimes be a bit bitter, because the compact heart means it'll keep its shape well. Everything needs to be sliced up super small and cooked for very little time, as it'll carry on in the bowl when you're eating it.It'd also work with any other spring veg you've got - perhaps beans, baby carrots or asparagus. It's a nice way of cooking spring veg as a side dish too (although a shame to waste the tasty broth) - perhaps serve with fish if you're that way inclined?

This would work really well as a starter as it's wonderfully light, but works equally well as a tasty lunch with some day old bread to mop up the juice.

Spicy squash bean burgers

It’s barbecue time here in the UK! We’ve had gorgeous weather for the past week or two which has coincided really nicely with the easter bank holidays.

For a squashy twist on the run of the mill beanburger veggies are so often served up, try these. They’re really easy, tasty, and freeze well, so you can whip one and whack it on the grill if needed in an emergency (!). Load them up in freshly baked baps with homemade guacamole (or perhaps some coleslaw made with red cabbage and fennel) and enjoy alfresco eating.

Makes 4 large burgers

Spiced cauliflower salad

To use up the rest of my vegbox cauliflower, I used this recipe as a starting point (thank you BBC!). As I said before, I think cauliflower is yummy with plenty of spice, so I added a few things and some extra nuts and it turned out great. Roasting cauliflower isn’t something that most people would think to try, but it really does enhance the flavours. Here’s my version.

Coconut cauliflower dahl with cumin fried leeks

Cauliflower’s one of those vegetables that people seem to love or hate, probably because of the memories we all have of the watery, mushy weird stuff we were served up at school. I think it’s great though, but for me, it lends itself to spices, and lots of them. Served up as a creamy, substantial dahl, cooked slowly with coconut and delicate spices, or as a crunchy, exotic salad with nuts and dried fruit (my next recipe), it’s easy to enjoy cauliflower without any cheese sauce in sight*.

I love making dahl – it’s the ultimate comforting one-pot wonder – and I do experiment quite a bit with different spices and textures. This one is very thick with the addition the coconut and cauliflower (more of a lentil and cauliflower curry), but I think it could also be turned into a more soupy variety by using less lentils and more coconut milk or stock. I try to roast whole spices then crush them up as I think it makes the flavour deeper, but you can of course use ready ground if it’s easier.

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.

Onion, fennel and thyme pasty (with a bit of Jerusalem artichoke for good measure)

This was our Sunday tea this evening. It’s not actually a pasty at all but a tart really, however the cynics in my house couldn’t get past the poshness of a tart (my cooking is anything but posh) so we adopted pasty as a not-too-threatening name.

It’d be nice without the fennel too if you can’t get it, but when roasted it adds a real depth of flavour to the tart and is a little bit more interesting. I really liked the Jerusalem artichoke added – it’s got a lovely nuttiness to it. I roasted it then chopped it into smaller bits when it was really soft and caramelised.

You could also make individual tarts, use shortcrust pastry instead of puff (I’d like to try it with a wholemeal shortcrust), perhaps add some tapenade or sundried tomato paste, use a different kind of cheese (maybe try blue cheese – this would really work with the nuts and fennel, or perhaps feta if you want something a bit lighter and zingier) or even no cheese at all. This made 3 big portions (enough for two hungry people for dinner and some for lunch the next day).

Half a pack of puff pastry
2 onions (I used red, could use a combination of different kinds)
a bulb of fennel
about 3-4 knobs of jerusalem artichoke
olive oil
thyme (fresh or dried – I only had dried)
a handful of walnuts, broken into pieces
soft creamy goats cheese (or alternative as above) – as much as you like

Once you’ve roasted the veggies this is just an assembly job. I roasted the onions, fennel (both sliced fairly thickly) and artichoke (whole knobs, peeled) with some thyme, seasoning and olive oil for just under an hour at about 160 degrees.

Once that’s done, just roll out the pastry and draw a box around the outside with a knife (this is so the sides puff up nicely) and arrange the veggies (chop the artichoke into smaller pieces first, making sure you eat plenty of it while you’re doing so), nuts and cheese within the border. Then it just needs a little drizzle of olive oil and a twist of pepper and a hot oven for about 25-30 mins (my fan oven was about 185 degrees).