My shopping begins with the fruit and vegetables. It always has done.
Thoughts about what is in season, what is at its best at this moment, have always come before anything else. Rummaging through market stalls or surveying the long table at the greengrocer’s is the part of food shopping I enjoy most. It always seems like a good place to start. But often that is where it finishes too.
This month’s recipes are suitable for vegetarians and two of them are — with a tweak here and there — good for vegans too. I have roasted cauliflower and made a chickpea sauce to go with it, as well as baked slices of golden-fleshed pumpkin to eat with a bean and winter tomato sauce.
There is also a crisp pancake of grated root vegetables to eat with a winter salad or stuff into a soft roll.
None of this is unusual. Meals without meat or fish have long been the mainstay of my eating and that seems set to continue. What matters most to this cook, is whether or not it is delicious.
Cauliflower, chickpeas and tahini
A creamy, vegan treatment for cauliflower. The sauce is made from chickpeas and tahini, then used as an accompaniment to the roast cauliflower and whole chickpeas. I use bottled or tinned chickpeas, but if you cook yours from scratch keep a little of the cooking water for the puree.
Serves 2-3
1 garlic head
1 large (1kg) cauliflower
Roughly 400g, cooked and drained (2 tins) chickpeas
A handful of mint leaves
A large handful of parsley leaves
For the sauce
2×400g tins chickpeas
2 Tbsp tahini
100ml olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan. Loosely wrap the whole head of garlic in a piece of tin foil, place in a roasting tin and bake for 25-30 minutes till the insides are soft enough to squash between finger and thumb.
While the garlic is roasting, trim the cauliflower and break into large florets, keeping as much of the stalk intact as you can. Bring a pan of water to the boil, place the cauliflower in a colander or steamer basket and place over the boiling water, cover with a lid and steam for 10 minutes. This will ensure lovely tender florets.
Remove the garlic and transfer the cauliflower to the roasting tin, add a good splash of olive oil and bake for 20-25 minutes.
While the cauliflower roasts, make the sauce: put the 2 tins of chickpeas and their liquid into a saucepan and warm gently, remove from the heat, drain and transfer to a food processor. Remove the roast garlic from its foil, then pop the cloves from their skins. Add 6 of the cloves of garlic to the processor and retain the others. Process the chickpeas, tahini and garlic to a smooth cream, pouring in the olive oil and 100ml of hot water as you go. You want a soft puree. Stir in the lemon juice and season with salt.
Drain the 400g of chickpeas and add to the roasting cauliflower, then return to the oven for 5 minutes till the beans are warm. Spoon the creamed chickpeas on to a serving plate then add the roast cauliflower and whole chickpeas. Scatter with the roughly chopped mint and parsley leaves.
Baked squash, haricot beans, winter tomatoes
The fudgy sweetness of roast pumpkin or squash is to be celebrated, but I always like to introduce a seasoning that will help balance the overly honeyed notes — chilli perhaps, or mustard. This time I used miso – the dark, deeply savoury version — to bring harmony to the accompanying bean sauce. Another vegan recipe.
Serves 4
Small (1kg) pumpkin or squash
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic
For the sauce
2 medium onions
5 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic
650g tomatoes
2 Tbsp brown miso paste
2×400g tins haricot beans
For the breadcrumbs
3 Tbsp olive oil
40g fresh breadcrumbs
20g basil leaves and stems
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan. Cut the pumpkin or squash in half and scoop out the seeds and fibres from within.
Slice into eight segments and place on a baking sheet or roasting tin.
Sprinkle with the oil, salt and black pepper, then tuck in the garlic cloves. No need to peel them. Bake for 45 minutes or until the squash is tender to the point of a knife.
While the squash is baking, make the sauce. Peel and roughly chop the onions. Warm the oil in a large saucepan and saute the onions till soft and pale gold. Peel and thinly slice the garlic and add.
Roughly chop the tomatoes and stir into the onions, season with salt, then partially cover with a lid and leave to simmer for 20 minutes until all is soft and squashy.
Stir in the miso, add a grinding of black pepper and check for salt.
Drain the haricot beans and stir into the tomato sauce, then continue to simmer over a low heat for 5 minutes.
Make the breadcrumbs: warm the oil in a non-stick frying pan, add the crumbs and let them cook, regularly moving them around the pan, until they are pale gold.
Chop and stir in the basil leaves and check the seasoning.
Place the slices of roasted squash on a serving dish, spoon over the tomato and bean sauce and scatter with the basil breadcrumbs.
Carrot, potato and cheese pancake
A good way of using up any spare carrots and potatoes you may have. A non-stick pan is essential, and a palette knife for easing the slices from the pan. I like to eat this with a leafy green salad, something crisp and fresh such as watercress and fennel or cos, cucumber and radish. I should also add that it makes a sumptuous filling for a roll.
Serves 4
200g potatoes, maris piper or similar
200g carrots
4 spring onions
3 large sprigs rosemary
1 egg, beaten
300g cheddar (or vegan alternative), coarsely grated
3 Tbsp groundnut or vegetable oil
2 handfuls basil leaves
Method
You will need a 24-25cm ovenproof frying pan that doesn’t stick. Set the oven at 160°C fan. Coarsely grate the potatoes using a matchstick size setting, as if you are making celeriac remoulade. Then do the same with the carrots. Put the grated vegetables into a mixing bowl.
Finely chop and add the spring onions. Finely chop the rosemary and add to the bowl. Grind in a little black pepper, then add the grated potatoes and carrots and gently turn them over. Add the beaten egg and grated cheddar and mix gently.
Place the pan over a moderate heat, pour in the oil, then tip the mixture into the pan, pressing it gently out to the edges but without compacting it. Let the potato mixture cook until the bottom is starting to colour, then transfer to the oven and bake for 30 minutes until golden. (Please note that the handle is very hot. I only mention this because it is easy to forget.) You can, should you wish, crisp the top a little by placing the pancake under a heated grill for a few minutes.
Pull the herb leaves from their stalks and pile them on top of the potato and carrot cake. Cut into wedges and serve. — Guardian News & Media
