Vegan

Maple-Roast Parsnips

I’ve always roasted honeyed parsnips alongside a turkey but as a marker of the culinary special relationship celebrated at Christmas, I’ve remodelled slightly, adding intensity of sweetness to the alr…

View recipe

White Bean Mash

This is a garlicky, lemony, ultra-fabulous, utterly addictive bean mash. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

View recipe

Breakfast Bruschetta

This is quick to make, absurdly easy in fact. The strange thing is that it is as easy to eat, even first thing. I can wolf this stuff down.

View recipe

Mint Julep Peaches

There's something about mint juleps that I associate with the deep heat of midsummer. I have to say this association is an entirely literary one: I've never sat in the wilting sun drinking a mint jule…

View recipe

I have made this more than once and it is summer heaven. Perfect combination of soft flavours and textures finished with the freshness of mint. Go ahead and try, you won't be disappointed.

Spinach, Avocado and Pumpkin Seed Salad

This is one of my favourite salads: superb with salmon; wonderful alone. If you don't have any pumpkin oil, simply replace both pumpkin and groundnut oils with good extra virgin olive oil.

View recipe

Lentils with Tamarind and Dates

I love this dal-inspired combination of earthy lentils, sour tamarind and sweet dates. It's so full of tang and flavour that you really need eat nothing else with it, save some flatbread or naan, thou…

View recipe

Pasta E Fagioli

This is that life-saving, thick, pasta-and-bean meal of a soup — pasta fazool — as sung about by Dean Martin in That's Amore. It's just the thing you want to eat when the rain's battering against the…

View recipe

Spinach With Pinenuts and Sultanas

This is a fabulous sidedish with a plain roast or piece of meat or fish, but is good enough to be relished alone, even for those who are not vegetarian. I tend to buy spinach in 250g / ½ lb bags, and…

View recipe

This dish was beautiful - simple, yet every flavour so satisfying.

Chilli Jam

Although I call this chilli jam, I don't mean by this that it's the sort of thing you'd spread on your toast at breakfast (though smeared inside a bacon sandwich, it could be a real help one hungover…

View recipe

Spiced Peaches

I've used bottled peaches, I've used canned peaches, and it honestly doesn't matter which, but I'm afraid you have to resist the healthier peaches canned in fruit juice rather than syrup. If you can f…

View recipe

Fig and Olive Chutney

I often give homemade chutneys to Italian friends when I visit, as I’m proud of our traditional recipes and know that an English chutney can pair magnificently with an Italian cheese. Italians themsel…

View recipe

Jumbo Chilli Sauce

This chilli sauce is big — big flavour, big kick, big reward. The name, however, derives from the fact that the recipe was given to me by my brother-in-law, Jim, Jimbo to me, but often known teasingly…

View recipe

Happiness Soup

Forgive the tweeness of the title, but this is a soup of such sunny, mood-enhancing yellowness that it overcomes even the most pervasively innate cynicism. To eat this is to feel cheered; even cooking…

View recipe

Tomato Curry With Coconut Rice

Balance is everything in cooking: here, the acid brightness of the tomatoes is met with the sweetness of peas and the rich creaminess of the coconut rice, itself pricked with the sharpness of lime and…

View recipe

Pasta Salad Primavera

This recipe does involve a lot of fiddly preparation, but what it creates is addictive; every mouthful repays the effort a hundredfold. What's more, you can stash it in a Tupperware or similar and lea…

View recipe

Redcurrant Slush Sorbet

Just as with ice cream, the glorious thing about home-made sorbet is that you can make flavours you could never buy in a shop. And the texture is so much better, too: smoother, richer, without all tha…

View recipe

Egyptian Tomato Salad

I found this salad in a lovely little book — 'a memoir with recipes' — called Apricots on the Nile, by Colette Rossant. And although it sounds a lot of bother blanching and peeling the tomatoes, all i…

View recipe

Moonblush Tomatoes

You may have come across Sunblush Tomatoes in delis; these are my homespun version. I halve cherry tomatoes, sprinkle them with herbs, a little salt and a pinch of sugar and drizzle over oil, put in a…

View recipe

Chickpeas With Rocket and Sherry

This is not quite a stir-fry, though I do cook it in my wok. The chickpeas get soused with the sherry and infused with cumin, and the tangle of deep green peppery rocket wilts leggily in the pan.

View recipe

Raw Beetroot, Dill and Mustard Seed Salad

I am convinced that it is when raw that beetroot is at its best, and this recipe offers the most persuasive evidence; I promise you that it is loved even by those who were traumatised by putridly swee…

View recipe

The Rainbow Room's Carrot and Peanut Salad

This is not the place for in-depth social history, unless you take the view — as I do — that all food is social history, but I do need to provide a bit of provenance. Once upon a time there was Biba,…

View recipe

Hokey Pokey

Hokey pokey is a Cornish term for honeycomb. It is wonderful eaten in golden shards or crumbled into the best vanilla ice cream. It is also the perfect present to take to a dinner party. Better than f…

View recipe

Dark and Sumptuous Chocolate Cake

This cake. It confounds me. It delights me. I never ever thought I would be in raptures about the joyfulness of a — yes — vegan chocolate cake. I now make this as my chocolate cake of choice for peopl…

View recipe

Roast Stuffed Pumpkin With Gingery Tomato Sauce

There is something so magnificent about a whole pumpkin stuffed with jewelled rice, that it doesn’t really need too many side dishes to detract: its starchy interior means you can forgo potatoes or th…

View recipe

Minestrone in Minutes

This is child's play to make, and I use the term advisedly, since it is the invention of my then ten-year-old son Bruno (Brunostrone, we call it) and we make versions of it constantly. Use any beans o…

View recipe

Sesame Peanut Noodles

I always make a large vat of these since they're lovely to pick at in the fridge. Plus, although they're easy to make, you do need quite a few ingredients — and this holds true whether you're making a…

View recipe

Spinach and Coconut Soup

This is an almost instant, super soothing supper made easily from store cupboard ingredients. I have stipulated two tablespoons of Thai green curry paste, but do be prepared to add more if you like a…

View recipe

White Miso Hummus

While I freely concede that adding sweet white miso to hummus produces something of a culinary culture clash, the result itself yields a deeply seductive spread. I must also confess that I have to sto…

View recipe

A Simple Salsa

As far as I'm concerned, you can never go wrong with a simple, spiky salsa and a bowlful of tortilla chips. True, this is on the fiery side — those who want a little less heat should de-seed the chill…

View recipe

Warm Spiced Cauliflower and Chickpea Salad With Pomegranate Seeds

This is one of my favourite suppers, although there’s nothing that says you can’t serve this as a vegetable side as part of a more conventional meal. And you could also bolster it further by crumbling…

View recipe

Cauliflower, Garlic and Turmeric Soup

Packed full of vegetables and phytonutrients, it is undeniably true that this soup is both soothing and bolstering as well as easy and gratifying to eat. Baking the garlic gives a lot of depth while t…

View recipe

South Indian Vegetable Curry

This is another way of making sure the odd handful of beans or other vegetable fragments can be eaten up when none of them individually can offer a meal in themselves. You can vary the vegetables acco…

View recipe

Butternut and Sweet Potato Curry

This is a rambunctiously vibrant curry, both to look at and eat. It is rich, sweet and hearty, with tomatoes providing a balancing acidity and the curry paste bringing uncompromising fire. I like the…

View recipe

Lemon Tendercake with Blueberry Compote

This cake has a miraculous texture — almost like a super-aerated fluffy pancake — and a delicate flavour; it is scented with lemon rather than tingling with it. And even though there is coconut milk i…

View recipe

This cake is an absolute delight! It’s light, fresh and a doddle to make! Will definitely make again for the family.