Picnic loaf (pan bagnat)

I have fancied trying this for a while, and a shared picnic gave me the opportunity. I used this recipe from Delicious mag but it's really simple and flexible! A large round loaf, some grilled veg, cheese and herbs, and some time.

The base is a crusty white "boule" loaf - mine was from Waitrose, 400g. It would have been handy for it to be a bit taller, but there wasn't any choice. It still worked. I cut a lid off and then scooped out the insides. The recipe said to leave 2-3cm of bread at the crust, but this was too much and I would leave a thinner border next time; it was quite bready to eat and I had leftover veg and cheese that wouldn't fit in. The bread can't be too thin or else it will fall apart, but I think it would be fine with 1-2cm. Also, I think my bread was fresh (instore bakery) on the day I constructed the loaf, rather than day old as specified, but I did the cutting and scooping and left it under a teatowel while I did the veg, so it did dry out a bit.

For the veg I used 2 medium courgettes sliced diagonally (0.5cm), 4 portobello mushrooms, and average sized red and yellow peppers cut into sixths. The grilling was the most time consuming element, but it was worth tending to them to get good and even browning. I marinated the grilled veg in oil, red wine vinegar, garlic and fresh basil, as per the recipe, for a couple of hours.

I spread tapenade into the bread bowl before layering up the marinated veg with some sliced ball mozzarella and more fresh basil, pressing everything well into the outside edges underneath the lip. Even packing it in, I still had enough leftover veg and cheese for lunch the next day! You could probably spin out a single mozzarella ball to do this recipe if you sliced it thinly enough.

The finished loaf was wrapped tightly in clingfilm and left under a baking tray weighted with six tins of beans (~3kg), a bit more than suggested in the recipe. After being pressed for a couple of hours I sliced it into 6 wedges (not 8) and left it in the fridge overnight. It was well recieved at the picnic and I'd make it again for a similar occasion .

Variations I would try:

• include olives, capers, sun-dried tomatoes, peppadew peppers or artichoke hearts (easy to make a tasty vegan version with some of these and no cheese)
• add salami or other flavourful meat
• try goat's cheese or feta
• swap tapenade for pesto
• individual versions in bread rolls

Squashage rolls

I take zero credit for this recipe - it's thanks to my friend Flo, who's a whizz at finding ways to use up squash :)  I baked them for a cake sale and they got rave reviews, so this is to help out those who wanted the recipe.


1 large butternut squash (1.5kg), halved and de-seeded
1 onion, finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, to taste, finely chopped or crushed
small handful fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
125g mascarpone
1 medium egg plus another to brush on pastry
salt and pepper
500g pack puff pastry
oil for roasting and frying the onion

Oil the cut surfaces of the squash and roast at 150°C until tender. Allow to cool while you sweat off the onion and add the garlic, sage and seasoning.

Peel the cooled squash (I find it easier this way), mash half to two-thirds of it, and chop the rest.

Mix , taste and season as needed. If your squash was quite wet you might not need all the egg - a softer mix is harder to work with. You could add breadcrumbs if it's too sloppy.

Roll out the pastry to the desired size (I did it in four lots to keep things manageable) - you need to make a longish sausage that you can then cut into individual rolls. If the mixture is too soft then it's this bit will be difficult. As you can see from the pic, my rolls were full and quite narrow, and I think wider would have been better. You could also try cutting the pastry and then adding the filling.

Use beaten egg to seal the pastry and glaze the top, then bake at 200-220°C for 20-25 mins until golden brown.

Any leftover mix  can be cooked in dollops on a non-stick baking mat and used a bit like felafel, e.g. with salad, in a pitta, etc. If it's quite soft it makes an awesome toastie filling!

Parsnip cake

A Moosewood recipe, originally entitled Anna's Country Spice Cake. I have metricated the (American) recipe and added my own topping - orange-cinnamon icing with caramelised walnuts. You could sub carrots for the parsnips.

It's possible to make this vegan by subbing the eggs with aquafaba.

Mix together 120ml (=100g) vegetable oil, 165g brown sugar, 2 eggs [6 tbsp aquafaba] and the zest of a large orange. When well combined, stir in 300g grated parsnip (equated to one large one, minus the toughest bit of core) and 120g chopped/crushed tinned pineapple (half a tin of chunks, drained then chopped roughly).

Sift together 225g self raising flour, extra 1tsp baking powder, a pinch of salt, and then cinnamon, ginger and cloves to taste (suggest 1.5tsp cinnamon, 1tsp ginger, 0.5tsp cloves). Stir into wet mix, then fold in dried fruit and nuts to your preference (cranberries work really well, also sultanas, and walnuts).

Bake in a 20cm square tin (greased & lined) for approx 1 hour at 160°C (fan) or until risen and springy.

To decorate: make up icing sugar to the desired consistency with orange juice, and add orange zest and cinnamon. This could be just a drizzle or enough for a full-on topping, as you like. Optionally, sprinkle with chopped walnuts, and for an extra touch use caramelised ones (55g sugar, 15g butter, melt and coat (chopped) nuts, then separate on a silicone mat before they solidify, or deliberately allow to set together then bash/chop into pieces of brittle).

I made this again for a bake sale and topped it with a pack of Violife 'cream cheese' blended with icing sugar and orange zest to taste. I caramelised some pecans using sunflower spread and caster sugar - they're a bit grainy but it works!

Lentil and spinach curry

An easy weeknight veggie recipe from Prima. This was really tasty and very simple. My modified version used no chilli, and no stock as the tinned lentils were already cooked and needed no extra liquid. Even without it, the curry was quite soupy.

Fry a chopped onion until translucent, and add 3-4 tbsp (or to taste) of curry paste and a little water. This time I used Patak's Rogan Josh. Tip in 2 drained tins of green lentils and one of tomatoes, plus a small tin of coconut cream/milk (I used cream) and simmer while you cook the rice. With about 5-10 mins left, drop in several blocks of frozen spinach (I used about 7 since that's what was left in the bag!) and cook until defrosted and heated through. This made 4 polite portions or 3 hearty ones.

Next time I'd add a load of finely chopped mushrooms with the onion, to bulk out the curry and add a different texture. Definitely one to cook again.

Porotos granados (squash & bean stew)

This is one from HFW's Veg Every Day! book that for some reason I didn't blog before. It's become a bit of a favourite - a good tasty one-pot meal and a nice veggie recipe to add into our rotation. Can be done stovetop or in the slow cooker.

The recipe is online here but essentially it's a stew of squash, green beans, sweetcorn and tinned beans (we usually use black-eyed or pinto but any will do), in an onion, garlic and stock base, with smoked paprika and oregano plus a bay leaf. My only amendment to the recipe is, if I'm cooking on the hob, the usual pre-cooking of the peeled and chopped squash (I microwave it on high for 8-9 minutes while I do the onions and garlic) which ensures it's nice and soft in a reasonable cooking time on the hob. Nothing worse than being all ready for a comforting stew and finding hard chunks of squash that need more cooking :(

Slow cooker: it's fine after about 5 hours on high, depending on the squash.

I find it really benefits from plenty of herbs and black pepper, but the combination of soft squash and beans, and crunchy greens and sweetcorn, is great. It's a good winter warmer and goes well with dumplings on top!

When out of both green beans and sweetcorn I added (frozen, shelled) edamame. They keep their texture a bit more when slow cooking. A good squeeze of tomato puree and a dash of cumin also work well.

Christmas 2013

My first crack at a proper Christmas dinner :)

I decided on pork as I love crackling, so I ordered a roast from the local butcher as I know their meat is far better quality than the supermarket's. I didn't specify what cut but it looked like loin and there was plenty of it (I ordered for "3-4 plus leftovers") so I cut the smaller end off and it's in the freezer for another week.

Good old Delia came up trumps for a recipe: roast pork with crackling. All I had to do was dry the skin and salt it, and place the meat on a topped, tailed and halved onion. I adjusted the oven temperatures down slightly for our fan oven, and did 25 mins at 220° and then another 2h at 180°. This was a bit of a mistake as I calculated the time on the original weight and not after I'd cut a bit off. Still, the pork was well done rather than overcooked, with perfect crackling and very tender meat.

What did perhaps suffer a bit was the meat juices. Although they were supposed to go to make gravy, it was entirely fat in the tin. I poured it off, and what was left was very dark - not tempting crusty bits so much as blackened. The outer layers of the onion had also burned, so I binned those before deglazing the pan with cider and making up gravy with that, stock (~150ml each) and flour (1 tbsp plain), with water to taste later - there was a definite dark tang to it but I had no other means to make gravy so had to make it work! Straining the finished product removed the onion bits before serving, and the verdict was fairly good but by no means perfect.

Of course, it's not just the meat - alongside it we had apricot stuffing, roast potatoes, red cabbage, brussels sprouts and parsnips. Oh, and sausages in bacon, but they negate the point about the meat :)

Apricot stuffing: a fairly random recipe pick, it's American style stuffing involving an onion and 2 cloves garlic, cooked in butter with thyme, then adding chopped dried apricots, bread, and cream. It turned out rather sweet, and a dash of worcester sauce evened it out. Next time I'd use the suggested variation of subbing some of the cream for stock as it was quite rich.

Potatoes: large King Edwards, parboiled (or rather boiled, since I forgot them) and then tossed about a bit in vegetable oil and a dash of salt, and roasted in the oven for a good 30 minutes.

Red cabbage: braised with cider and apples. I used 600g cabbage, made necessity-based substitutions of a bramley apple, white wine vinegar, and tangerines, and used half of all the other ingredients except the sugar which I reduced a bit further. An hour's cooking time was fine.

Brussels sprouts: peeled, halved, and stir fried/braised with streaky bacon trimmings from the sausages in bacon. Several splashes of water, and a lid on the pan, kept things moist and helped them to steam as well as fry in about 20 minutes.

Parsnips: peeled, chopped, roasted in oil, honey and wholegrain mustard with a dash of black pepper. I didn't really roast them for long enough, so next time would pop them in for 45 mins to an hour.


Dessert wasn't my responsibility, so that's it for this year :)

Spinach and coconut dal

I have found a new blog I love - Tinned Tomatoes. On name alone it should appeal, since I use a lot of said ingredient, but there are over 500 vegetarian and vegan recipes on there, many of which I am very keen to try. And they don't all feature tinned tomatoes... like this one:

Spinach and coconut dal is the easiest thing I have cooked in ages. And one of the tastiest! At 600 cals per portion (using the whole lot as 4 portions) it's not the lightest, but once in a while does no harm. It would also be great as part of a thali-type mixed meal.

First wilt 200g fresh spinach: wash, then in the colander pour over boiling water, then cold water. Squeeze out the excess moisture (keep it - see below) and then chop. Or use frozen spinach :)

Put 400g red lentils, 400ml coconut cream, 600ml stock and spices (1 tsp each coriander, ginger, tumeric and chilli powder, 2tsp cumin) together in a large pan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 mins, stirring occasionally. Add the spinach and simmer 5-10 mins more. Serve seasoned with black pepper, accompanied by breads or rice.

I didn't keep the spinach liquid, and wished I had. It looked like I was pouring good stuff away, and then I needed to add more liquid to the dal. Sigh. Also I used some coriander I had previously blitzed and frozen, rather than fresh (must do that more often), and there was some extra water in that, so if using fresh you'd almost certainly need to add water.

I had mine with rice and mango chutney, but to be honest some chapattis would have suited it better. Later this week I might try blitzing it down with more stock to make a soup, as suggested on the blog - I think it would work really well. Finally, I might also freeze a portion and then make more before too long, but use less-calorific coconut milk instead of cream. Then I can do a taste test!

Chickpeas and spinach with ginger

Another veggie (vegan, in this case) one-pot recipe, chickpeas and spinach with ginger is very similar to the spinach and chickpea curry that we already do, pretty much just swapping curry paste for ginger. I don't think I've blogged the curry, since it hardly counts as a recipe, so this post covers both.

The ginger recipe is from Serious Eats, and part of a whole series of vegan recipes. Since it took a bit of searching to confirm the can sizes for chick peas and tomatoes, I'll just add that I used 2 of each, normal sized cans (~400g, or ~240g drained in the case of the chickpeas). Needless to say, I did not use the massive amounts of oil called for, but if your diet allows, by all means leave a comment to tell me what I am missing...

Fundamentally the recipe blends half the tomatoes with a good amount of fresh ginger, and adds it to cooked onions and garlic, then adds spinach, and finally chickpeas. Bay leaves, salt and soy sauce ramp up the flavour, although I omitted the suggested vinegar and oil for serving. I will say that I simmered mine for a lot longer to further soften the chickpeas, and ended up with beautifully silky spinach and a richer sauce. There wasn't really enough spinach as I thought the large bag I bought was big enough, but it really could take more. I didn't use the can liquid from the chick peas as suggested, and I think it would have been too runny if I had.

I served this on its own, and we demolished the whole lot in a greedy-pig-portion each, with some left over for Small. Next time I'll do it with rice or another grain, or possibly some sort of bread, plus more spinach, and make it last two meals. The flavour was excellent with the ginger, something I never would have thought of adding to tomatoes, and I can see it becoming a regular on our menu.

The curry we already do is very similar, without the blending. Cook the onions slowly in curry paste and some of the juice from the tomatoes. Add the rest of the tomatoes, chickpeas, and spinach, and simmer for as long as you want to. Butternut squash is another common addition if I have some already cooked (I often roast a squash, just cut in half, to use in various recipes through the week such as risotto, macaroni cheese, cous cous, etc.), but it takes too long to cook from raw in this recipe.

A taste of HFW's Veg Everyday

Continuing my journey to find more meat-free meals, I borrowed Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Veg Everyday! (exclamation mark is his) from the library. It's a hefty tome, and despite good recommendations from a couple of friends I thought I'd take a look before I thought about buying. He also has a Baby & Toddler cookbook which isn't in the library, so out of the two I'd be more likely to buy that one, I think - pending a sneaky flick through in a bookshop first of course.

Anyway. Digression alert.

The first recipe I tried was Spiced Carrot and Chickpea Pitta Pockets. The full recipe is here on the Guardian site, along with some others from the book but it really is pretty simple. Soften some thinly sliced carrots in butter along with cumin seeds and smoked paprika, add chickpeas, garlic and lemon juice, and serve in a pitta. Job done - healthy (depending on the amount of butter, perhaps), tasty and meatless.

Of course I can't leave well enough alone. I know from experience that the smoked paprika I have is hot, despite not being labelled as such, so I used sweet paprika with a dash of smoked, and added some ground cumin for luck. Next time I would allow a bit more heat, then cook for longer and add a bit more liquid (maybe water and a blob of tomato puree, or low-salt stock), as I found it all still a bit al dente when it would have been fabulous if it had been softer - and our 8 month old daughter would have been able to eat it more easily too.

So far, HFW's book looks good, and it's as well the library reservation slip was very long as I've torn it into several temporary bookmarks. Sweet potato and peanut gratin (another one on the Guardian preview), carrot houmous, most of the soups (reimagined as stews), and most of the curries. There might be a few renewals before we get through all of them!

Jerk sweet potato & black bean curry

I am always on the lookout for easy, interesting, and preferably cheap meat-free meals. As well as making our budget go further, I think it's a good idea to eat less meat for environmental reasons too, but as much as anything I think it's good to mix things up and try a wide variety of foods.

This is (guess what) another BBC Good Food recipe. It caught my eye in the magazine as part of a "cook for a group of 10" article, but I usually halve it and make four decent portions. It sounded good to me as a combination of things we already eat often (sweet potato, pulses), things we're less familiar with (jerk seasoning, ready roasted peppers), all in an easy one-pot recipe. It's become a firm favourite!

Ingredients

• 2 onions, 1 diced, 1 roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 50g ginger, roughly chopped
• small bunch coriander, leaves and stalks separated
• 3 tbsp jerk seasoning (I'd use less the first time you make it, until you find a balance between the brand of jerk you use and your own taste/tolerance - I found it pretty intense first time)
• 2 thyme sprigs
• 400g can chopped tomatoes (I use a whole can, less some of the juice, even if halving the recipe)
• 4 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 3 tbsp demerara sugar
• 2 vegetable stock cubes, made up with 600ml water
• 1kg sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 x 400g cans black beans, rinsed and drained (in some supermarkets these are in the "world foods" section (Jamaican), for some reason, rather than with the other canned pulses - or they're in both and the world foods ones are cheaper...)
• 450g jar roasted red peppers, cut into thick slices (these keep well if halving the recipe. Again, world foods aisle is the place for the cheap ones. Lidl/Aldi often have enormo-jars.)

Method

Whizz together the roughly chopped onion, the ginger, coriander stalks and jerk seasoning, and set aside. In a jug, combine the vinegar, sugar and stock.

Soften  the diced onion in oil, and when it starts to become translucent add the jerk mix. Fry "until fragrant", about 2-3 minutes, and then add the stock mix, tomatoes and thyme. Bring to a simmer and then leave bubbling for about 10 minutes to get the flavours well combined.

Drop in the sweet potato and simmer for 10 minutes or until the chunks are starting to become tender (might be longer - you don't want them crunchy!). Add the peppers and beans, and simmer for 5 minutes more. Chop the coriander and stir in just before serving, saving a few leaves for garnish.

We serve it with rice or tortilla wraps, or just a larger portion with no accompaniment, and plain yogurt on the side. I've slipped a few chopped green beans in when there have been some to use up, and they're a good addition. Butternut squash also works in place of sweet potato, but needs to be simmered for longer than 10 mins. Black beans work very well but you could probably substitute any pulses if you can't find them - I haven't tried others yet. This is one of those "even better the next day" recipes as the flavours really do their thing overnight in the fridge.

Courgette rice salad

Based on an old Weight Watchers recipe, this is useful for getting through a glut of courgettes. The proportions don't matter too much (i.e. I didn't weigh anything this time!) and nor does the other veg.

2 med-large courgettes*
200g rice (I used a basmati-wild rice mix)
2 large red or yellow peppers **
med bunch parsley
med bunch coriander

juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp dark soy sauce, or 2 tbsp light soy sauce (light is probably better)
1-2 tsp tabasco, to taste

handful each of sunflower and pumpkin seeds

* if they have grown into marrows then you might want to peel them as the skin can get tough/bitter. Also remove the central part if it's gone spongy, and any seeds.
** mange tout, sugar snaps or green beans also work well


Cook the rice, drain, rinse, and leave to cool.
Grate the courgettes (a food processor is your friend...) and finely dice the peppers. Finely chop the herbs.
Combine the dressing ingredients.
Mix everything together.
Toast the seeds in a dry frying pan, and scatter over the top of the salad.

Lucky dips

For a lovely festive get together with friends today, I made some dips as my contribution. They were based on the following BBC Good Food recipes:

Butter bean, lemon & herb pate

Tangy roast pepper & walnut dip

Cream cheese & sweet chilli dip

Of course, I can't leave anything alone, so my tweaked recipes are:

Butterbean dip
2 400g cans butterbeans, drained
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Handful of torn coriander
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 good tsp ground cumin
2-3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Whizz everything in a food processor to the desired consistency. If you need more liquid, add water or runny yogurt. Next time I think I will add some toasted and well-ground cumin seeds.

Hard to say how many it serves as it depends on the situation, but this makes a takeaway container full.


Roast pepper dip
2 jars roast red peppers (not hot!)
150g walnuts
1 clove garlic, crushed
A good squeeze of tomato puree (2 tbsp?)
1 tbsp cider vinegar (or any decent vinegar)
5-6 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp 'normal' paprika
small pinch of hot smoked paprika
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil gently with the spices and garlic. Meanwhile, whizz the other ingredients together in a food processor, and pour in the warm oil and spices. Adjust consistency and seasoning to taste.

This makes half to two-thirds of a takeaway container.


Cream cheese & sweet chilli
1 regular pack cream cheese
1 regular pot greek yogurt, e.g. Total
Handful of coriander, torn
Salt to taste
Sweet chilli sauce

Whizz the yogurt, cream cheese, coriander and salt together (I used a stick blender this time). Pour it into a serving dish, and layer the sweet chilli sauce on top (adjust amount to taste). Dip your dipping things through it to get some of each layer.

All the dips are vegetarian, and the first two are vegan.

Dipping things
To dip, I just put together lots of lovely fresh veg, and some home made pitta chips: split pittas, cut into rough triangles, brushed with oil, seasoned, and baked at 180°C for 8-10 mins until crisp.

It turned out to be easiest to cut the pittas with scissors - first crosswise into two pockets, then each pocket flatwise (if that's even a word) into separate sides, and then each side into triangles. My idea of microwaving them to puff them up and separate the two sides didn't work, they just got soggy and harder to cut.

Spiced winter root vegetable cake

Hmm, sounds appealing, huh? It's delicious, honestly! Basically you can make this with either carrots or parsnips. If you want to try other root veg, you're on your own (but let me know how it turns out if you're brave enough!) It's a lovely seasonal winter cake.

I got this from the Moosewood Book of Desserts, and they say it's originally a USA pioneer recipe, which is why you have no perishable ingredients like dairy, eggs or fat. This makes it vegan, and moderately healthy but remember fat-free can still be calorific... especially if you use the full whack of sugar. The recipe is very easy as long as you plan ahead (and maybe have a food processor to do the grating!). It's American, so all in cups - I reckon 2 cups of grated veg is about 3 large carrots or 2 med-large parsnips. I keep meaning to weigh the ingredients myself next time I make it, but always get halfway through before remembering... (1 cup = 8 fluid ounces in a measuring jug if you don't have any measuring cups, or try this site to convert to grams for specific ingredients.)

Ingredients

• 2 cups (packed) finely grated carrots or parsnips
• 0.75-1 cup packed brown sugar [original amount in the recipe was 1.5 cups but I found it too sweet]
• 1.75 cups water
• 1 cup sultanas or other dried fruit (chopped to sultana size). Sultanas are great, but I also like apricots with carrots, and cranberries seem to go well with parsnips, but you could use dates, figs, whatever you have lurking. A small amount of candied ginger, finely chopped, can be a nice addition.
  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 0.25 tsp ground cloves
• 0.5 tsp ground nutmeg or fresh grated
• 0.5 tsp ground ginger, or 1-2 tsp fresh grated ginger
  [be a little heavy handed with the spices if you want more of a winter warmer gingerbread effect, but go easy on the cloves, tiger]
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder

Method
Combine the carrots, sugar, water, fruit (plus fresh ginger, if using) and vanilla in a saucepan - bring this to the boil, simmer for 5 minutes, remove from heat, cover, and let sit for >1hr or overnight. All the fruit plumps up and the flavours mingle. Yum!

Preheat oven to 300F / 150C / Gas 2. Grease and flour a 9-10" pan, or put cases in a 12x muffin tin.
Combine the dry ingredients (flour, spices, salt, baking soda and powder) in a bowl. Stir the carrot mix into the dry mix just until no dry traces are left. Pour the combined mix into the pan, and bake until firm/springy and a skewer comes out more or less clean (you want it to be moist, but cooked) - about 1 hr for a cake or roughly 30 mins for muffins I think (keep an eye on them).

Cool the cake in the pan for 10 mins, then on a rack. Optionally, poke a few holes in the cake while warm and drizzle a lemon/orange sugar syrup over the top. If you don't need the cake to be vegan, cream cheese based icing/frosting is decadent but occasionally called for :) (Cream cheese, icing sugar, citrus zest/juice or spices to taste - just make sure the cake is fully cool before spreading it.) But to be honest, this cake is good just as it is.

Butternut squash with lentils and feta

This was surprisingly tasty given the utter lack of seasoning, spices etc. It was thrown together while I was doing other things.

Wash and halve a butternut squash (no need to peel) and scrape out the seeds and some of the flesh (save for another recipe).
Place it on a baking tray at ~150C for ~1h-1h30 depending on size.

Finely chop a couple of cloves of garlic and an onion.
Fry slowly until well softened but not browned (use water once the oil is gone), about 20 minutes.
Add a can (drained) of green lentils and heat through (about 5 minutes)
Add half a pack of Feta, cubed, and mix in.

Take the squash out of the oven and add half the lentil mix on top of each.

Eat.

Parsnip and cauliflower curry

A nice contrast to Christmas food - comforting, but not rich, and plenty of veg.

Vegetable curry with parsnip and cauliflower
(Waitrose)

I omitted the (nasty, yukky, slimy) okra that would have been in the curry kit, and guessed at 2 medium chillies, a lime, a thumb of ginger, half a medium bunch of coriander for the rest of its contents. Surprised there was no garlic. Very tasty, definitely one to make again.

Ingredients

• 1 Waitrose Fresh Indian Curry Kit *
• 2 tbsp groundnut oil
• 3 tbsp Patak's Korma Curry Paste
• 400ml can Bart Spices Coconut Milk
• 50g ground almonds
• 1 cauliflower, about 950g, cut into large florets
• 1 large parsnip, about 300g, peeled and diced into 2cm chunks

* Kits no longer on sale - they contained onion, ginger, chillies, okra, fresh coriander and a lime.

Method

1. Prepare the curry kit ingredients: cut the onion into chunks, peel and finely chop the ginger, and deseed and finely chop the chillies. Top and tail the okra, cut in half then wash and dry thoroughly.
2. Heat the oil in a large, wide pan or wok with a tight-fitting lid. Add the ginger, half the chilli and the okra. Stir-fry over a high heat for 4 minutes, or until just starting to soften, then season to taste. Place the okra mixture on a plate and reserve.
3. Return the pan to the heat and add the korma curry paste and onion. Reduce to a medium heat and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the onion begins to soften. Add the coconut milk and ground almonds and stir in the cauliflower and parsnip. Cover and cook for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are just tender. Add the reserved okra and cook 1 minute to heat through.
4. Roughly chop the coriander from the curry kit, and cut the lime in half lengthways. Squeeze the juice of half the lime over the curry and scatter with the remaining chilli and coriander. Serve with the remaining lime cut into wedges, and naan bread.

Barbecue with friends

My contribution to mains: a roasted vegetable salad.

I started with this and made a few changes. OK, a lot of changes! Final recipe was:

2 medium-large butternut squashes, peeled, deseeded, cubed (1-1.5cm)
1 red onion, roughly chopped
3 long sweet red peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped
2 handfuls rocket
8 rashers streaky bacon
1 pack stilton

5 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1-2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

Coat the chopped squash in oil and roast slowly (about 1hr at 150-170C) until soft, sweet but not too charred.
Roast the pepper and onion alongside for the last 20-30 mins.

Tip into a bowl with the combined dressing ingredients and leave to absorb while the veg cools.

Grill the bacon until crispy, and cut into strips.
Chop/crumble the stilton.

Add the stilton and bacon and rocket to the dressed vegetables, and toss gently. If you are serving this to vegetarians, just put the bacon (and cheese, if non-vegetarian) in separate bowls for people to add.