Eat well, waste less and make vegetarian food exciting

Creating bold, satisfying meals that hit the spot is cookbook author Jessica Prescott’s aim.

From growing up in Napier to now living in Melbourne, Prescott creates nutritious recipes based on seasonal vegetables.

“It’s about taking simple ingredients and turning them into a dish that’s greater than a sum of its parts, whether through layering flavours, balancing textures or adding the perfect finishing touch.”

It is also about cooking smarter, building confidence and embracing flexible, unfussy meals that deliver big flavour without big effort, she says.

"Meals that can be stretched, swapped and scaled to suit what’s in your kitchen and dishes that will recharge, comfort and entertain.”

The idea, Prescott says, is not to turn people into Michelin-starred chefs but help them eat well, waste less and make vegetarian food easy, satisfying and exciting.

"When you understand the building blocks of flavour, texture and balance, cooking without meat becomes effortless and exciting.”

She lost her joy for cooking for a while but got it back writing her latest book Epic Veg. 

It aims to meet those days when people do not have the energy to cook and days when they have the time and energy to make sauce from scratch.

"Start with whatever vegetable you’re craving or something fresh and vibrant  that jumped out at you at the markets — and let everything fall into place around it.

"Because when you put veg first, delicious things happen.”

Note: All tablespoons are 20ml and temperatures are for fan-forced ovens.

 

 

Caramelised onion, corn and silverbeet savoury muffins

Don’t you love a recipe that’s easy to learn by heart, totally adaptable and basically impossible to mess up? This is one of those.
Once you’ve memorised the base batter and bake time, you can mix and match whatever veg and greens you’ve got on hand – aim for around 1½ cups of veg and 2 cups of greens. Cooked onion is the one non-negotiable (trust me, it makes all the difference), but everything else is fair game.
You can make these into standard-sized muffins or BIG BOYS — proper meal-sized muffins that are just as perfect for breakfast on the go as they are for working-from-home lunches or midnight snacks straight from the fridge.

Makes 12 medium or 6 large muffins
Prep 15 minutes
Cooking time 25 minutes

50ml (2½ tbsp) extra-virgin olive oil or melted butter, plus extra for cooking
1 onion, sliced
½ bunch silverbeet  (6-8 large leaves), stems removed, leaves chopped, approx. 150g 
400g tinned corn, drained and rinsed, excess water squeezed out, or 300g (2 cups) frozen corn kernels
1 small handful of chopped herbs (I love dill here but use whatever you have)
2 eggs
125 ml (½ cup) milk (I use soy, but any unsweetened variety is fine)
225g (1½ cups) self-raising (self-rising) flour
½ tsp sea salt
150g (2 cups) grated cheese
1 handful of pumpkin seeds
butter, sliced avocado, to serve (optional)

 

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°C  fan-forced and grease the holes of a 12×125 ml (½ cup)-capacity muffin tin or a 6×250 ml (1 cup) tin for big boy muffins.
Place a large frying pan over a medium heat and add a lick of oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onion and cook for around 10 minutes. Add the silverbeet and cook until wilted, then add the corn and herbs to the pan and stir to combine. Allow to cool.
While the onion is cooking, make your batter. Crack the eggs into a measuring jug, add the milk, and top up to 250 ml (1 cup) of liquid (either with additional milk or cream, sour cream, yoghurt; anything you have that needs using up). Add olive oil and lightly beat to combine.
Combine the flour and salt and most of the cheese in a large bowl and stir with a whisk to combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl and whisk to a smooth batter. Add the cooked veggies and stir to combine (you may wish to switch to a silicone spatula for this; give the whisk a bang on the side of the bowl to get any stuck bits of cheese out).
Spoon a heaped tablespoon of batter into each muffin hole and then divide the remaining mixture evenly among the holes. Top each muffin with the remaining cheese and a small pinch of pumpkin seeds.
EPIC TIP
Best served warm. Leftover muffins should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge, or frozen. To defrost, nuke for 30 seconds in the microwave.

Haloumi and root veg tray bake

This tray bake is a winner for a simple and comforting weeknight meal or to prep ahead of time for lunches during the week. Parsnip is not a veg I would usually seek out, but it’s nice to know what to do with them when they appear in your veg box.
I am happy to eat this straight from the tray, picking up different combos of veggies and haloumi and dunking it into the sauce — like soft fries — but it’s also delicious piled into a pita or on to a toasted wrap, as pictured.

Serves 4–6
Prep 20 minutes
Cooking time 25 minutes

For the veggies
40ml (2 tablespoons) extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for brushing
1 tsp pomegranate molasses
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp sumac
1 tsp sea salt
1kg root vegetables, peeled and chopped into planks (E.g. 1 parsnip, 1 carrot, 1 potato, 1 sweet potato, 1 beetroot/beet)
3 garlic cloves, skins on
250g  haloumi, cut into 1cm planks

For the yoghurt
110g (½ cup) Greek-style yoghurt
20ml (1 tablespoon) tahini
½ tsp dried mint
½ tsp sea salt
squeeze of fresh lemon juice

To serve
toasted wraps or soft pita breads, warmed
baby spinach leaves
fresh coriander (cilantro)
pink pickled onions

Method

Preheat the oven to 220°C (fan-forced).
To roast the veggies, combine the olive oil, pomegranate molasses, cumin, sumac and salt in a large bowl. Add the chopped veggies and the garlic and toss to evenly coat in the sweet, oily, sticky marinade. Transfer the veg to two baking trays and spread into one even layer per tray.
Reduce the oven temperature to 200°C and bake for 25 minutes. Halfway through cooking, remove the garlic and set aside, then flip the veggies and shuffle them a little to make room for the haloumi. Brush a little oil on the tray and add the haloumi to the tray, cooking it with the veggies.
To make the yoghurt, place the yoghurt, tahini, mint, salt and lemon juice in a small bowl. Mix to combine. Once the roasted garlic is cool enough to touch, squeeze each clove out of its skin and mix it into the yoghurt. Taste and season as desired.
Heat the wraps, then wrap in a clean, dry tea towel (dish towel) until ready to serve (this will keep them soft).
Check that the veggies can be easily pierced with the tip of a knife and the edges are starting to blacken, then remove the baking tray from the oven and allow to cool for five minutes. Loosen everything with a spatula. Pile everything into soft, warm wraps and devour.
Epic Tips
1. No yoghurt? Hummus or pesto are great substitutions.
2. Vegan? Swap the haloumi for baked tofu or make a tray of Shredded tofu instead.

Baked chickpea and cauliflower curry

This recipe takes the brothy baked chickpeas on an adventure with a few extra spices and a cauliflower that becomes delectably soft after an hour in the oven. You’ll notice the second addition of bicarb is optional — this is because the cauliflower gets so deliciously tender, some people prefer the contrast of a slightly firmer chickpea.

Serves 4-6
Prep 15 minutes plus 8-12 hours soaking time
Cooking time 2 hours, 15 minutes

 

200g (1 cup) dried chickpeas
1 heaped teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), plus ¼ tsp extra (optional)
40ml (2 tbsp) extra-virgin olive oil or ghee
1 red onion, diced
30g  ginger, minced
30g  garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander (cilantro) stems
2 tbsp tomato paste (concentrated puree)
2 tsp sea salt
1 small–medium cauliflower, tough outer leaves removed, stalk trimmed
For the tadka
40ml (2 tablespoons) extra-virgin olive oil or ghee
3 sprigs curry leaves
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds, lightly crushed
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1 tbsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground fenugreek
½ tsp asafoetida (hing powder)
½ tsp ground cinnamon
black pepper
To serve
185g (¾ cup) full-fat Greek yoghurt
coriander leaves (cilantro), to garnish
roti or other Indian bread
Indian-inspired tomato salad optional
Mum’s brinjal pickle or any other Indian condiment (optional)

 

Method
Place the chickpeas in a bowl large enough to account for the chickpeas expanding to three times their size. Generously cover with water and stir in the heaped teaspoon of bicarb soda. Set aside to soak for 8-12 hours. Drain the chickpeas and rinse under running water to remove any bicarb residue.
When you’re ready to cook the chickpeas, preheat the oven to 160°C fan-forced.
In a large, heavy-lidded ovenproof pot, heat a generous glug of olive oil over a medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the onion and a large pinch of salt and cook for 5-10 minutes.

Add the ginger, garlic, coriander stems and tomato paste and cook, stirring, for another 2-3 minutes. Add the drained chickpeas, 1 litre (4 cups) of water, the salt and ¼ teaspoon bicarb, if using. Stir well and bring to the boil. Once boiling, cover with a lid and place in the hot oven for one hour.
After one hour, remove the chickpeas from the oven and carefully remove the lid – they will be steaming hot. Carefully nestle the cauliflower into the pot, then use a spoon to collect some of the juices and pour over the top of the cauliflower. Cover with the lid and return to the oven for a further hour.

To check if it’s done, insert a skewer or paring knife into the cauliflower. It should be tender and the chickpeas should be soft enough to squish on the side of the pan.

To make the tadka, heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the curry leaves and whole spices and cook for about a minute, stirring frequently, until the leaves are fragrant and crispy, and the spices are starting to pop. Add the remaining (ground) spices, give it a quick stir, then remove from heat. Pour most of the tadka over the cauliflower, reserving a couple of tablespoons.

To serve, cut into the cauliflower with a knife or slotted spoon (it should be soft enough to use the latter) and divide among serving bowls. Top with chickpeas, a dollop of yoghurt , the reserved tadka and coriander leaves.
Enjoy with roti, tomato salad and Mum’s brinjal pickle, if you like.

 

The book: Epic Veg, by Jessica Prescott, published by Hardie Grant Books. Photography: Rochelle Eagle