While the glutof high summer may be past, this time of year still sees an abundance of fantastic British produce in our shops, markets andgardens. All those lovely, fleshy fruit-vegetables – I'm thinking aubergines and peppers, tomatoes and courgettes – are really at their peak, while other treats that have been around all summer – beans, potatoes, carrots and spinach – are still going strong. Inshort, there's no excuse not to pile your plate with delicious, home-grown or locallysourced veg.
But how to cook these riches? Even the most committed veg-lover might hanker for something new after a summer of salads and simply herbed and buttered baby spuds and carrots. Time, I think, to hit the spice cupboard. As anation, we are often a bit shy ofadding spices to vegetables, perhaps anxious that the likes ofchilli, cumin, paprika and saffron will somehow overpower the subtle flavours that we value in our greens and beans. But theseworries are largely unfounded. Asmany other cultures have proved, if the veg isgood to start with, its flavour usually stays very true and clear, even in quite a hot dish. Just thinkof delicious south Indian veg curries, delectable Italian antipasti or moreish Middle Eastern meze, and you'll see thatadding heat and intense, aromatic flavours toavegetable dish, as long as it'sdone with amodicum of finesse, can be avery fine idea indeed.
What's more, that touch of spiceor kick of chilli can be just the thing that transforms a veg dish from a side order to a centrepiece. And if you're holding back a bit onthe flesh, strong seasoning can be one of the crucial things that stops you missing the meat on your plate. It's no accident that the best vegetarian chefs often draw on the culinary cultures of Asia, India and north Africa – places where cooks are not shy of spicing up their veg – toproduce truly satisfying feasts.
Sweet potato and peanut gratin
Although they're not much grown in the UK, I do enjoy a sweet potato every now and then. Spiked with a little chilli and garlic to cut their sweetness, they make adelicious gratin. Here, I've added a seam of slightly salty, crunchy peanut butter with a hint of lime, which brings a touch of satay-like flavour to the whole thing, but leave this out if you prefer. Servesfour.
About 1kg sweet potatoes
2 tbsp sunflower oil, plus a little more for greasing
1 red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped, or 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
250ml double cream
Sea salt and freshly ground blackpepper
150g crunchy, no-sugar-added peanut butter
Finely grated zest of 1 lime, plus about 2 tsp juice
Heat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5 and lightly oil a large gratin dish.
Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into slices about as thick as a10p piece. In a large bowl, toss the sweet potato slices with a tablespoon of oil, the chilli, garlic, cream and some salt and pepper. Arrange half the sweet potato slices in the gratin dish, spreading them out with your fingertips – you do not have to layer them piece by piece, but try to ensure they are mostly lying flat.
Beat the peanut butter with the remaining tablespoon of oil, the lime zest and juice. Spread this mixture in dollops over the sweet potato in the dish. Add the remaining sweet potato and spread out. Pour over any cream remaining in the bowl.
Cover the dish with foil and bake for about 20 minutes, then remove the foil. Bake for afurther 30 minutes or so, until the sweet potato is completely tender and the top is browned and crisp. Forextra crispness, finish under the grill for a couple of minutes, but watch carefully. Serve piping hot with acrisp, bitter salad to balance the gratin'ssweetrichness.
Chard and new potato curry
This hearty curry is fantastic in late summer or early autumn. It's also very good made with spinach instead of chard – just remove any tough stalks from 600-700g spinach, add the leaves once the potatoes are done, cook for aminute or two, then add the yoghurt mixture. Serves four.
About 500g swiss chard
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 onion, peeled, halved and finelysliced
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
3cm piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp ground turmeric
3 cardamom pods, bashed
350g new potatoes, quartered
250g plain, full-fat yoghurt
1½ tbsp tomato puree
1 small bunch coriander, tough stalks removed, roughly chopped
1 small handful almonds, cashews or pistachios, toasted and chopped
Separate the chard leaves from the stalks. Cut the stalks into 2.5cm pieces and roughly chop the leaves.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and fry the onion until golden. Meanwhile, pound the garlic, chilli, ginger and a pinch of salt to form a paste. Add to the onion and cook, stirring, for two minutes. Tip in the remaining spices and stir for aminute or two. Add the potatoes and chard stalks, and fry for five minutes, stirring frequently so they're coated with the spice mixture. Pour in about 400ml water – enough to cover the veg – bring to a simmer, cover andcook for 10-12 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Add the chard leaves and cook until just wilted.
In a bowl, whisk the yoghurt, tomato puree and some of the hot liquid from the curry. Remove the curry from the heat, stir in the yoghurt mixture, return to the heat and warm through very gently. Stir in most of the coriander. Taste, season ifneeded, scatter over the remaining coriander and the toasted nuts, and serve with rice and naan or chapatis.
Aubergine and green bean curry
I've made twice as much of the curry paste as you need for this gorgeously rich curry – partly because it's easier to blend that way, but also because it's useful to have a second batch to hand for this or another veg curry. Keep it in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze it. Serves six to eight.
For the curry paste
5-6 shallots (or 1 onion), peeled and finely chopped
6 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
2 thumb-sized pieces ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
2 lemongrass stalks, tough outer layers removed, finely sliced
5-6 green chillies (medium-hot), deseeded and roughly chopped
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground turmeric
For the curry
5 large aubergines
About 6 tbsp sunflower oil
300ml passata, or sieved roasted tomatoes
400ml tin coconut milk
300g french beans
Sea salt and freshly ground blackpepper
1 handful chopped coriander leaves
75g cashews or almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped (optional)
Lime wedges, to serve
Put all the curry paste ingredients in a blender with a tablespoon of water; whizz to a coarse paste. If necessary, stop the motor a few times so you can scrape down the sides.
Cut each aubergine in half lengthways, cut each half into three lengthways, then halve each piece, so you end up with 12 wedges from each aubergine.
Heat two or three tablespoons of oil over a medium-high heat in a large, nonstick frying pan. Sauté the aubergine wedges in batches, until lightly browned, adding more oil as needed. As you remove each cooked batch from the pan, lay the wedges on kitchen paper to drain.
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large, deep saucepan and add half the curry paste (refrigerate the rest for another use). Fry over medium heat, stirring constantly, for three to four minutes, then add the aubergines and stir for a minute or two until coated with the spice mixture. Add the passata and coconut milk, and simmer, partially covered, for 10 minutes. Add the french beans and simmer until tender – about five minutes.
Season generously, then stir in the chopped coriander. If using the nuts, scatter them over the top. Serve with lime wedges and rice.
Cauliflower with sumac and seeds
Sumac is a crushed, dried berry thatlends a lovely, lemony-sweet tang to this dish. Serves four.
1 small, firm cauliflower (about 600g), broken up into florets
4 tbsp pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp sesame seeds
3 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 lemons
½ tsp sumac, plus more to finish
Flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 small handful parsley leaves, roughly chopped
Using a sharp knife or a mandolin, thinly slice the cauliflower lengthways. In a small frying pan, dry-fry the pumpkin seeds over a medium heat until fragrant and just starting to take on some colour. Tip into a bowl. In the same pan, fry the sesame seeds until they begin to crackle and turn golden. Tip into the bowl with the pumpkin seeds.
Whisk together the rapeseed oil, the juice of one lemon and the sumac. Toss the sliced florets and seeds in the dressing, and season well. Arrange on plates, squeeze over more lemon juice and scatter a few pinches of sumac and chopped parsley on top to serve.
Chillies stuffed with beans
I use fat, mildly piquant poblano chillies for this (buy them from peppersbypost.biz). If you can't get large, stuffable chillies, use small red or yellow bell peppers. Serves six as a starter, two to three as a main course.
6 large, fresh poblano, Beaver Dam or Hungarian hot wax chillies
1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
2-3 shallots (or 1 medium onion), peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
150g-200g tomatoes
400g tin beans (butter, borlotti or pinto), drained and rinsed
1 small bunch coriander, leaves picked and chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp hot smoked paprika
Sea salt and ground black pepper
For the garlicky yoghurt (optional)
6 tbsp full-fat plain yoghurt, rsouredcream
½ clove garlic, crushed
Heat the grill to high. Put the chillies on a baking tray and grill, turning from time to time, until the skin begins to char. Leave until cool enough to handle, then peel off the skin, taking care to keep the chillies whole. Cut around and remove the stalks and a flap of flesh to form a"lid". Scrape out the seeds and membranes from inside the chillies and lids, and tip out any juice.
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Heatthe oil in a frying pan over a medium-low heat, then gently sauté the shallots and garlic until soft – about 10 minutes. Cut the tomatoes in half and grate their flesh straight into the pan, holding back the skin. Simmer for a minute or two to reduce slightly, then remove from the heat.
Add the drained beans to the pan and roughly mash some of them with a fork so they break up a little – don't overdo it, you want plenty of them to stay whole. Add coriander, cumin and paprika, mix and season. Stuff the mixture carefully into thechillies and top with the "lids". Place in a lightly oiled oven dish andbake for 20 minutes.
While the chillies are baking, combine the yoghurt with the crushed garlic, season and set aside.
Serve hot, with garlicky yoghurt and some crisp, green salad.
Spicy carrot and chickpea pitta pocket
This is one of those recipes that transforms everyday fridge and cupboard staples into something surprisingly delicious. You could also serve this on bruschetta – or bread-free, as part of a vegetable meze-type feast. Serves four.
50g unsalted butter
1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
1 heaped tsp cumin seeds
4 large carrots (about 500g total), peeled and cut into 2-3mm slices
1 large clove of garlic, finely sliced
Finely grated zest of 1 orange, plus a good squeeze of juice
1 tsp hot smoked paprika
400g tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 pitta breads or fresh, soft flatbreads
4 heaped tablespoons plain yoghurt or soured cream
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Heat the butter and oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and let them fry for a minute or two. Add the carrots and fry for 8-10 minutes, stirring often, until tender and starting to brown, but still with some bite.
Add the garlic, orange zest, paprika and chickpeas and cook until the chickpeas are hot. Remove from the heat, season with salt and pepper and add a good squeeze of orange juice. Taste and add more salt, pepper or orange juice as needed.
Spoon some of the chickpea mixture into the pocket of a warmed pitta (or into the middle of a flatbread), top with yoghurt or soured cream and serve straight away.
Mexican tomato and bean soup
This fresh, piquant soup combines many of the ingredients you might find in a feisty salsa, but in this case they're all "souped up". Add more chillies if you like it hot; a handful offresh sweetcorn kernels, sliced straight from the cob, is a good addition, too. Serves four to six.
2 tbsp olive oil
2 red onions, peeled and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1-2 medium-hot fresh green chillies, such as jalapeño, deseeded and finely chopped
½ tsp ground cumin
600ml vegetable stock
200ml tomato passata, or sieved, roasted tomatoes
400g ripe tomatoes, cored, deseeded and finely chopped
400g tin black beans or black-eyed beans, drained and rinsed
1 handful fresh oregano leaves, roughly chopped
Pinch of sugar
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Juice of 1 lime
1 small handful fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped
To finish
4-6 tbsp soured cream (optional)
1 small handful fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped
Heat the oil in a saucepan over amedium-low heat and sauté most of the onion (reserve alittlefor garnish at the end), stirring from time to time, for about five minutes, until softened. Add the garlic, chillies and cumin, and stir for a minute. Add the stock, passata, fresh tomatoes, beans, oregano and sugar, season and bring to a boil. Simmer gently for 10 minutes, remove from the heat and add thelime juice and coriander. Adjust the seasoning to taste.
Serve topped with dollopsof soured cream, if you like, and scattered with more coriander andfreshly ground pepper.
Roasted new potatoes with harissa
Crisp, red and spicy, these potatoes are fantastic on their own, eaten greedily from the tin with your fingers. To turn them into even more of a meal, serve them with crumbled ricotta, puy lentils or a poached egg, or add a tin of drained chickpeas to the potatoes along with the harissa for the last 10 minutes of roasting. In all cases, serve with lots of green salad. Serves four.
750g new potatoes
3 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tbsp harissa
2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
Heat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5. Cut the potatoes into even-sized chunks and put in a roasting tin – you need one big enough for there to be a little bit of space between them. Add the oil, season, and toss the potatoes so they are well coated. Roast for 30-40 minutes, or until the potatoes are starting toturn golden brown and crisp. Remove from the oven, give themagood stir, then mix in the harissa, making sure it coats all the potatoes.Return to the oven for 10 minutes, until the harissa just startsto caramelise. Serve hot, scattered with chopped parsley.
