This one’s stretching the rules a bit again. Galettes have become quite trendy and I’ve only started making them recently. A galette is a single crust, free-form pie, which can be sweet or savoury – this eye-catching vegetarian one comes from Ottolenghi’s Flavour, published in 2020. We’ve eaten it twice and although the list ofContinue reading “Butternut, orange & sage galette”
Category Archives: Vegetables
Cheesy Leeks
This is so basic that it hardly warrants a whole post to itself, but no collection of family favourites would be complete without it. Cheesy leeks were created out of a need to disguise the vegetables accompanying Sunday roasts when you were small and fussy fussier. Cauliflower was never on the cards, that excellent vegetableContinue reading “Cheesy Leeks”
Grilled pepper salad
This is very much a family invention and therefore open to as much variation as you like. It’s a colourful accompaniment to a summer barbecue and can be made well in advance. Just save the addition of the basil until just before serving. Red and yellow peppers are easier to peel than green ones (whichContinue reading “Grilled pepper salad”
Piperade
Variations upon a stew of onions, peppers and tomatoes are found across a range of cuisines. The name we use for our version, Piperade, is of Basque origin, although in a departure from the traditional template I would usually choose red and yellow peppers over green. In Italy, the dish is called Peperonata, while inContinue reading “Piperade”
Courgettes, courgettes
Courgettes (or zucchini) are wonderfully versatile vegetables. Cheap and quick to prepare, they can be served as a side dish or beefed up to make a main meal in themselves, and they go well with an array of herbs and spices from all sorts of cuisines. The recipes and pictures below are a mere selection,Continue reading “Courgettes, courgettes”
Potato salad
A homemade potato salad is infinitely preferable to anything you can buy in a shop, although you should feel no guilt about using ready-made mayonnaise, as you might for this dish’s close relative, tartare sauce. The main difference between the latter and this recipe is that I use spring onions here to bump up theContinue reading “Potato salad”
Aubergine steaks
A long-standing regular on the weekly menu, this recipe makes a great meat-free supper dish, substantial enough to justify the description ‘steak’. I came across it in Marie Claire magazine in the early 1990s, when I was in a five-year vegetarian phase that ended decisively over a dish of beef carpaccio, at Woz in NottingContinue reading “Aubergine steaks”
Coconut dal with lime kale
Last year, a pressing sense of responsibility towards the planet prompted us to sign up for Veganuary. We soldiered on through gamely, experimenting with all sorts of alternative foods, but were not prepared to commit to long-term veganism: the end of our month-long meat and dairy drought was marked by a slap-up full English breakfastContinue reading “Coconut dal with lime kale”
Colcannon potatoes
Your father’s recently-confirmed Irish heritage justifies the special place this dish touches in our collective stomachs. We’ve been eating it, typically with sausages and a tomato salad, since 1995, when Delia Smith published her Winter Cookbook, and it has reappeared regularly since we signed up for Oddbox deliveries and found ourselves obliged to experiment withContinue reading “Colcannon potatoes”
Sweet & Sour Okra
Here is another one from Madhur Jaffrey, doyenne of Indian cookery . Okra (also called bhindi or ladies’ fingers) is in plentiful, cheap supply in local greengrocers during the summer months and this is a wonderful way to cook it. In colour and texture it complements Lake Palace Aubergines very well. Serve with raitha andContinue reading “Sweet & Sour Okra”
Years of Practice 