Method

In a large saucepan, on a low-medium heat, add the olive oil and onion with a pinch of salt and cook for 5-10 minutes until soft and translucent but not brown. Add in the leek and celery and cook for a further 10 minutes with the lid on until they begin to soften.

Add the butter, garlic, rosemary and bay leaf and cook for a further few minutes. By this time the vegetables should be softened.

Add the celeriac, stir well and season with salt and pepper. Cover with the lid again and sweat for 10 more minutes. Meanwhile boil a kettle of water for the stock.

Add the jar of beans with the liquid they come in. Add the stock pot with 500ml of boiling water. Turn up the heat to a simmer, leave to cook for 45 minutes with the lid off on a medium heat.

When the celeriac is soft, remove from heat and take out the rosemary stalk and bay leaf.

If you’re using a stick blender, do this in the same pan and blend as smooth as you can get it.

If using a blender (recommended), use a sieve to drain the liquid from the soup and reserving the liquid. Add the solid mixture to the blender and mix until smooth. Once there are no lumps, start adding the reserved liquid back in. Transfer back to a pan to heat through.

If it’s too thick you can add more water at this point. Taste and adjust seasoning accordingly.

Heat through and serve into bowls. Ripple through a spoonful of crème fraîche and scatter over the some finely chopped chives if you like.

Enjoy!

Method

In a large saucepan on a medium heat, add 1 tbsp of olive oil and add the chopped onion and fry gently until translucent.

Add the garlic and cook for a few more minutes, then add the chopped carrots and celery and season well. Put a lid on the saucepan and sweat the vegetables until they begin to soften slightly – about 10-15 minutes.

Add the ground spices and cook for 2-3 minutes. Meanwhile, boil a kettle for the stock.

Pour in the vegetable stock to the saucepan, it should just cover the vegetables, then add the honey, cloves and bay leaf. Remove the lid and cook until the vegetables are soft – about 30-40 minutes or until the liquid has reduced to a thicker consistency.

Add the artichokes, chickpeas and prunes to the vegetable tagine and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, add the bulgur wheat to a small saucepan on a medium heat. Crumble in half a stock cube and pour over the boiling hot water. After 5 minutes of simmering, cover with a lid, turn off the heat and let it stand on the hob for 10 minutes, and when there is no liquid left at the bottom add the butter and a little seasoning.

Before serving the vegetable tagine, remove the bay leaf and cloves. Serve with the bulgur wheat and scatter over the parsley. Also great served with Beluza Chermoula and plain yoghurt.

Enjoy!

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.

Prepare the kohlrabi by peeling the outer layer then slicing into eighths, add to a roasting tray, season and drizzle with oil. Coat in the oil then cook for 45mins to an hour or until a knife goes through easily.

In a small bowl, prepare the dressing. Taste for seasoning. Set aside.

Meanwhile, rip off the radicchio leaves into a large bowl – medium size pieces are good. Quarter the dried figs and add to the bowl along with the radicchio.

In a small pan on a medium heat, add the crushed hazelnuts. Toast for a minute or two until they start releasing a nice aroma. Add half of the toasted hazelnuts into the bowl with the radicchio and season. The remaining nuts will be to scatter over the top later.

When the kohlrabi is done, add the sliced goats cheese to the same roasting try and bake for 3-5 minutes until soft and maybe a little golden on top.

Just before serving, add the dressing over the salad and toss in the large bowl. Plate the salad and goats cheese then scatter over the remaining nuts.

Enjoy with duck breasts, spatchcock chicken or simply on it’s own as a healthy weekday dinner!

Method

Add the olive oil to a medium sized saucepan on a medium heat. Add the onion, fry until translucent then add the chilli and garlic. Continue to fry for a couple of minutes.

Meanwhile, dice the tomatoes and roasted red peppers into 1 cm squares and add to the saucepan, cook for 5-10 mins.

Bash the cardamon pods to break the husks, remove the black seeds and add to a pestle and mortar along with the cloves. You can discard the outer cardamon husks. Grind to a fine powder then add to the saucepan.

Add the paprika, cumin, coriander, sugar, salt and pepper to the saucepan then stir well and cook for a further minute. Add the tomato puree.

Add the fregola to the saucepan, stir well so its coated in the mixture. Pour in the vermouth and stir again. When the liquid has mostly been absorbed, pour in the stock a little at the time. You’ll need to treat this like risotto as the fregola will easily stick to the bottom of the pan so you’ll need to stir frequently for about 20-30 minutes. Taste for seasoning.

When the fregola is almost cooked but still has a little bite, grate in the zest of half a lemon. Reserve the juice for later.

Now you can start cooking the cod and samphire. Season the fish with salt on both sides. Add a little oil to a good non-stick frying pan, fry the cod for 3ish minutes one side before flipping and finishing for another 2 minutes on the other – squeeze over some lemon juice. Leave to rest and season both sides.

Meanwhile in a pan of boiling water, add the samphire and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Serve the fregola in a large shallow bowl, scatter over the samphire, place the cod on top, crack a little black pepper over, then sprinkle over the micro-coriander.

Enjoy!

Method

Add the oil into a large saucepan and fry the onions until soft, then add the prepared parsnips. Cover the pan with a lid and sweat the veg on a low heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring every few minutes or so.

Add the nutmeg, cumin, garam masala, turmeric, garlic paste and seasoning. Stir so it coats the vegetables.

Gradually add the milk to the pan and then the stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until the parsnip is soft.

Meanwhile, prepare the croutons by tearing up the sourdough and add to a mixing bowl with a good glug of olive oil. Season generously with salt and pepper and toss. Then transfer to a baking tray and cook in the oven for around 15 minutes at 180°C, or until golden and crunchy.

When the soup is ready, use a hand blender to liquidise the soup until smooth. Alternatively, you can use a blender but you may want to do this in batches.

When smooth, reheat the soup and adjust seasoning as needed. Serve with a swirl of plain yoghurt and top with the croutons.

Enjoy!

Method

Drain and remove the tofu from the pack. Wrap in a cloth to absorb the extra moisture for 2-3 minutes.

Remove from the cloth and cut the tofu into 8 pieces – I did mine into triangles. Place the pieces back into the cloth to absorb any extra moisture.

Heat a frying pan with 1 tbsp of oil until very hot.

Whilst the pan is heating, combine the tamarind and sweet chilli sauce in a small bowl and stir. Leave to one side.

Add the tofu to the hot pan to fry until golden brown. This should be about 5-8 minutes on each side.

Remove from heat when ready – they’ll heat up after the sauce is added so don’t worry if they cool slightly.

Meanwhile, prepare the slaw by shredding the cabbage and add to a large bowl. Grate the apple and kohlrabi and add to the same bowl along with white parts of the spring onions, green chilli and the lambs lettuce.

To the slaw, add the vinegar and mirin and generously season with salt and pepper. Mix well and set aside.

Next, brush the tofu with half the tamarind and sweet chilli mixture you made earlier, so the pieces are covered on every side. Fry each side until nice and brown, about 4 minutes, then remove from heat. I recommend using a grill pan at this stage if you have one, not only does it look cool but it adds another dimension to the tofu flavour!

Serve the tofu on top of the slaw then serve with a dollop of the yoghurt and sprinkle sesame seeds and the remaining green parts of the spring onions on top. Also good with a side of roti/pitta bread.

Method

Start by adding the breadcrumbs, oregano and couple of sprays of the oil to a frying pan and cook on a medium heat for a few minutes. When golden brown, remove from the heat and set aside.

Meanwhile, chop the onion into thin half moons and add to a large bowl. Segment the tomatoes and add them to the bowl as well along with a generous pinch of sugar, the olive oil, balsamic glaze and seasoning.

Put a grill pan on a high heat then start segmenting the peaches. When the pan is hot, spray a little oil – if the pan sizzles then it’s ready. Put the peaches in and grill for a few minutes on each side. If you see dark grill marks then they are ready to turn. Remove from the heat when both sides are grilled and cool for a moment.

Add the peaches to the large bowl with a large handful of rocket and gently stir all the ingredients. Serve the salad and dollop the ricotta on top, then scatter the fragrant breadcrumbs on top of the cheese.

Enjoy!

Method

Finely chop the red onion and add to a bowl with the raisins and dry cous cous.

Add turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, ground ginger, ground coriander, paprika, chilli flakes, garlic purée, honey and lemon juice to the same bowl. Season well. Mix the ingredients in the bowl.

Boil a kettle and add a stock cube to a measuring jug. Pour in the boiling water and stir until the stock has fully dissolved. Then, pour the stock into the cous cous bowl and cover. Leave until the moisture is fully absorbed (approximately 10 minutes).

Meanwhile, grate the carrot and dice the cucumber into small ½cm cubes and chop roasted red pepper into similar size pieces.

Once the cous cous has absorbed all the moisture, mix in the carrot, cucumber and roasted red pepper. Add chopped parsley and flaked almonds then season to taste. Mix well before serving.

Enjoy!

Method

Boil the kettle for the pasta.

Slice the red onion in very thin half moons and put into a large bowl along with the already drained artichokes.

Spoon out the capers from the jar draining any excess liquid (if in vinegar it doesn’t matter if some gets in as it adds to the dish) and add to the same bowl.

Then boil the pasta in salted water according to pack instructions. Mine only took 5 mins.

Whilst the pasta is cooking, spoon a couple of teaspoons of the artichoke oil and the lemon juice into bowl with the onion, capers and artichokes. Season well.

When the pasta is done, drain it and blast it with a little cold water to cool it down quickly. It doesn’t have to be stone cold just cool enough that it doesn’t wilt the rocket leaves when put together

Finally add the rocket into the big bowl and give it a good mix so the dressing and ingredients are evenly dispersed. Then add the tortellini to the bowl and give another very quick mix. Serve.

Also tastes great with a crumble of feta on top!

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C

Start by combining the flour, baking powder, eggs, miso paste, mirin and rice wine vinegar in a large bowl to make a batter. Whisk until smooth and there are no more lumps and season.

Shred the cabbage finely and add into the bowl with the batter. Slice the mushrooms and chop two of the spring onions and add to the bowl. Give the mixture a good stir so everything has an even coating of the batter.

Add the kale to a roasting tin, generously season with salt and pepper and apply oil spray. Toss the kale and put in the oven for 10 minutes until crispy but not too brown.

Heat up the sesame oil in a frying pan on a medium heat. Pour in the mixture and spread out until it fills the frying pan. Fry for 8-10 minutes on one side then flip. I find flipping it out onto a plate then sliding it back into the frying pan the easiest way to do this. Cook for a further 5 minutes (depending how thick your okonomiyaki is). Whilst the bottom side is cooking smear an even layer of BBQ sauce on top of the okonomiyaki. 

When ready, transfer to a plate. Drizzle over the mayonnaise and top with the crispy kale and the other spring onion. Serve immediately.