Baked ratatouille

Ratatouile is an old fave in our house as it’s one of those stew/sauces that you can use in lots of different ways. We like it with cous cous, rice, pasta, on baked potatoes with lots of cheddar or feta, in wraps, with halloumi, fish or roast chicken - anything! If you have kids who don’t like large pieces of veg, then use a hand blender to blitz part of the sauce a bit (not fully or you’ll never get them used to a chunkier texture!).

Ingredients

• 2 aubergines, 1cm slices cut in quarters

• 2 red onion, half moon slices

• 2 courgette, 1/2 cm slices

• 2 red pepper, 2-3cm chunks

• 2 large garlic cloves, unpeeled 

• 1 tsp coriander 

• 2 x 400g tins of tomatoes (best quality you can afford)

• 1 tsp aged balsamic vinegar

• Handful of fresh basil leaves, torn roughly

• Sea salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºc. Get one roasting tray with deeper side and a baking trays.

2. Spread the veggies out on two trays, one with aubergine, onion and garlic, the other with courgette and red peppers. Sprinkle each with ½ tsp coriander, a good drizzle of olive oil and pinch of sea salt.

3. Put both in the oven for 15 minutes, turn and repeat.

4. Take both trays out and scrape all the veggies into the deeper tray.

5. Pour in the tomatoes and mix well, roast for a further 20 minutes.

6. Drizzle over the balsamic and add another good pinch of sea salt, mix well and serve.

Ratatouille

Less is more where ratatouille is concerned. I like to make a simple traditional recipe letting the taste of the vegetables shine through without too many extra flavours.

I’ve only added ground coriander and a few basil leaves, but they combine to make a rich sauce that is slightly sweetened by the natural flavours of the vegetables.

I love to eat ratatouille with baked potatoes and lots of cheese, cous cous, bulgur wheat, rice, in wraps or with grilled fish.

It’s so versatile that you can use it with a few different meals through the week and only have to cook it once, which is my kind of dish!

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 1 aubergine, 2cm cubes

• 1 large red onion, chopped

• 1 large garlic clove, grated

• 1 red pepper, sliced

• 1 courgette, halved and sliced

• 1 tsp ground coriander

• 2 x 400g tins of tomatoes

• 1 tsp sea salt

• A handful of ripped basil leaves to serve

Method

• Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large pan. Add the aubergine and onion, cooking for 10 minutes on a gentle heat

• Next add the garlic and red peppers for 5 minutes and then the courgettes for 10 minutes with the lid on.

• Stir in the coriander and pour in the tinned tomatoes, simmer for 40 minutes with the lid on.

• Add the salt and basil leaves, stir well.

Red pepper, aubergine & adzuki

A break in the sunshine calls for something slightly warmer today and this is a lovely stew that’s lightly spiced with harissa and full of flavour. I’ve used creamy aubergines and sweet peppers to compliment the nutty adzuki beans - which I’d forgotten much I liked!

Adzuki are a great addition to a veggie dish as they give a nice bite and texture, which works well to contrast with the softer vegetables. My husband isn’t a massive bean fan, but he likes adzuki as they’re relatively small compared to other types - they pretty much went under his radar!

This is another dish that I make a big pan of and store in the fridge for quick healthy lunches with a chunk of sourdough, or eat for dinner in different ways - with roasted squash wedges, a baked sweet potato or grilled halloumi, veggie sausages, chicken or fish if you’re BBQing with friends.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

• 150g dried adzuki beans

• 2 aubergines, 1cm slices

• 2 medium red onions, chopped

• 3 large garlic cloves, grated

• 1 tsp cumin seeds

• 1 tsp ground coriander

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• 1 tsp ground harissa spice blend

• 3 red peppers, sliced

• 2 tins 400g tomatoes

• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar

• 1/2 tbsp maple / honey

• 1 tsp sea salt

• A handful of fresh coriander

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180ºc.

• Simmer the adzuki for approx 45 minutes until soft, drain and set aside.

• Spread the aubergine on a large tray, brush with olive oil on both sides, sprinkle with sea salt, then put in the oven for 10 minutes.

• Heat ½ tbsp olive oil in a large pan and fry the onions gently for 10 mins, then add the garlic and ground spices cooking for 30 seconds.

• Next add the red peppers and cook for a further 10 minutes.

• Then add the tomatoes, aubergine and adzuki, simmer for 20 minutes.

• Add the red wine vinegar and maple, simmer for 5 minutes. Then finish by stirring in the salt. Serve with fresh coriander leaves

  Tip

• Other serving ideas: cous cous, brown rice, top with plain yoghurt or plant-based coconut. I like Coconut Collab, especially with savoury dishes.

• Use chickpeas instead of adzuki if you can’t get hold of them.

• You can cook the aubergine in the same pan if you prefer - fry on a medium to high heat using plenty of olive oil until 2-3 sides are browned. Set aside and add back in following the instructions above. I prefer to use the oven as I can get on with prepping the other ingredients while the aubergine cooks.

• Coriander is optional!

Aubergine, cauliflower, tomato & bulgur salad

The sun is out and it actually feels warm today, which is lovely, so I thought I would share this salad to celebrate! I’ve roasted all the veggies to get the best flavour out of them and made a vegan rose harissa yoghurt dressing to add a little creaminess and spice. The bulgur makes the salad more substantial, but you could leave it out if you’re planning to eat the salad as a side with a different type of carbohydrate.

Once a week (ideally on a Sunday) I try to make a large salad or warm dish that I can keep in the fridge, so I have an instant healthy option to eat when I’m in a rush or don’t feel like cooking. It also means that I’ve got a few quick, tasty lunches to grab and sit in the sunshine for a few minutes longer.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

• 1 aubergine, 2cm cubes

• 1 cauliflower, small florets

• 200g cherry tomatoes

• ½ tsp smoked paprika

• ½ tsp ground cumin

• 200g bulgur wheat

• 1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained well

• 120g coconut yoghurt (Coconut Collab)

• 4 tsp rose harissa (Belazu)

• 1 tbsp tahini (Belazu)

• ½ lemon

• sea salt (quantities in recipe)

• A handful of coriander leaves (optional)

Method

• Preheat the oven to 200ºc. Put the cauliflower onto a large tray, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle over the ground spices and a pinch of salt. Put the aubergine and tomatoes onto another tray, separate them into two halves as the juices will stop the aubergine from browning.

• Place both trays in the oven, aubergine tray at the top, cauliflower in the middle. Roast for 10 minutes then turn and put back in for another 10.

• Remove the aubergine and move the cauliflower to the top shelf and roast for a further 5 minutes then set aside.

• While the veggies are in the oven, cook the bulgur according to the packet instructions. I usually rinse with cold water, then simmer for 10 minutes.

• Drain the bulgur and rinse with cold water to prevent it from cooking anymore. Allow to drain thoroughly and then put back in the pan and drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil, plus juice of ¼ lemon and a pinch of salt. Mix well.

• When you’ve finished cooking the veggies, roast the chickpeas. Tip them onto a baking tray, drizzle with little olive oil (approx 2 tsp) and sprinkle with a pinch of smoked paprika, cumin and salt. Mix well and put in the oven for 15 minutes. Turn and then put back in for a further 10-15 minutes. You want them to be really crunchy (slightly browned) or when they cool they’ll go chewy, not crisp.

• Make the dressing while the chickpeas are crisping up. Put the yoghurt, rose harissa, tahini, juice of ¼ lemon and ¼ tsp sea salt into a bowl and mix well. Add 1 tbsp of water to loosen the dressing.

• To serve, layer the salad with a spoon of bulgur, a mix of the vegetables, coriander leaves and a few spoons of dressing, repeat.

• Finish with a few spoons of dressing, coriander and crispy chickpeas.

tip

• Switch the coconut yoghurt for plain / Greek

• Leave out the coriander if you hate it!

• You don’t have to use the brands I have recommended in the ingredients, but they are the products I think are particularly good quality.

aubergine parmigiana

Inspired by my friend Anna, who makes an amazing aubergine parm, I thought I’d have a go at making my own version. I’ve stayed traditional in that I haven’t messed about it a classic (if it ain’t broke..?!) : there are layers of creamy aubergine, my go-to tomato sauce and LOTS of cheese.

This would be another great dish to make for friends if you’re eating outside over Easter. Aubergine parmigiana makes a lovely side with a BBQ (chicken or white fish would work really well), or you could stay veggie and serve with baked rice or a salad and some greens.

A note on the tomato sauce - my recipe is for a large batch, so you’ll have plenty to keep in the fridge (for up to a week) - I have lots of serving suggestions on the recipe page, so you can turn it into different meals. Or freeze the rest of the sauce in small tubs for quick dinners or to use on homemade pizzas.

If you don’t want to make extra, I would probably halve the recipe especially if you’re adding the celery an carrots as suggested below in the Tips.

Ingredients

Serves 4 as a main or 6 as a side

• 700ml tomato sauce (recipe here)

• 3 aubergines, 1cm slices

• 50g breadcrumbs

• 50g parmesan cheese, grated

• 150g mozzarella, halved and sliced (double if you like it really cheesy!)

Method

• Make the tomato sauce.

• While the sauce is cooking, preheat the oven to 180ºc. Brush a couple of large baking trays with olive oil and spread out the aubergine slices. Brush the top side of the slices lightly with oil .and place in the oven for about 20 minutes until softened and browned on one side.

• Mix 20g parmesan with the breadcrumbs.

• Assemble by layering the tomato sauce, a generous sprinkle of parmesan, a few pieces of mozzarella and then the aubergine in an oven proof dish (I used 21x27cm)

• Repeat 2-3 times, finishing with a layer of tomato sauce topped with the breadcrumbs and a few pieces of mozzarella if you have any left.

• Place in the oven for 25 minutes.

• Serve with baked rice, orzo salad (no feta), mini roasties, grilled fish or roasted chicken and a green salad.

tip

• You can add finely chopped celery (3 -4 sticks) and carrots (4 chopped in small cubes) to the tomato sauce to add extra flavour if you want to, just put them in with the onions right at the beginning of the recipe.

• Use 2 balls of mozzarella to dial up the cheesiness!

• If I can, I make the tomato sauce a day or two ahead, so I can quickly assemble the dish in 20 minutes.

Lentil bolognese

If you’re looking for a vegan alternative to a bolognese sauce this recipe is a good place to start. It’s protein rich and and after testing several times I think I’ve got a good depth of flavour. To do this I’ve used a few extra ingredients, but don’t be put off as they’re all easy to buy and the sauce cooks itself after you’ve fried the onions - I promise!

I always find that you need make a little bit more effort to get the right texture and flavour in vegetarian dishes, so it’s worth having ingredients that bring umami or a deep savoury taste in your cupboard if you want to cook like this more regularly.

Things I keep in stock are: nutritional yeast, veg stock cubes, vegetable bouillon, Marmite, Worcestershire sauce (veggie or normal if you aren’t strict like me!), dried porcini mushrooms, soy, miso, olives, toasted seeds or nuts, capers, plus vinegars or citrus to give dishes a lift before serving. To add zing I use balsamic (which also adds umami), red/white wine or cider vinegar, lemon or lime juice and zest.

This recipe is for a big batch of sauce that you can use in a few different ways. It’s always a win for me if I can get a couple of meals out of one recipe as it saves time in the kitchen and it’s always nice to get ahead of yourself. If you split the sauce in half you can serve it with pasta, courgetti, roasted squash wedges, baked sweet potato, or as a pie topped with cheesy mash, sweet potato or puff pastry. This time I went for tagliatelle and a ‘cottage’ pie with Maris Piper mash, but it would also work really well with sweet potato or squash mash.

And now on to the all important question: how the hell do I get my kids to eat it? Well, my trick is to use a hand blender to blitz either part or all of their portion so they’re not too freaked out by the lentils! Not rocket science and probably not in any parenting manual, but it’s one way to get/trick my (very picky) 15 year old son into eating something that isn’t a/ breaded b/ beige. The other obvious thing to do is serve with a mound of cheese as I find most things become more child-friendly covered in melted cheddar.

Ingredients

Serves 8

• 2 aubergines, 2 cm cubes

• 1.5 tbsp olive oil

• 2 red onions, small dice

• 2 celery sticks, small dice

• 2 large cloves of garlic, grated

• 600g mushrooms

• 175ml red wine

• 250g green lentils

• 2 x 400g tins of tomatoes

• 2 tbsp tomato puree

• 1 tsp oregano

• 1 vegetable stock cube or 2 tsp veg bouillon

• 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (vegetarian)

• 500ml water

• 1 tsp red wine vinegar

• 1 1/4 tsp sea salt

• Handful of fresh basil leaves, stalks reserved and chopped

• Parmesan to serve

Method

• Preheat the oven to 200ºc.

• Put the aubergine on a large tray and drizzle with 1 tbsp of olive oil. Place in the oven for 30 minutes, turning half way and adding a little more oil if needed. Set aside when cooked.

• Heat 1 tbsp rapeseed oil in a large pan and cook the onions and celery on low heat for 20 minutes then add the garlic for a further 1 minute.

• While the onions are cooking, put the mushrooms in a food processor and pulse until they resemble a rough crumble. I usually do 3-4 quick pulses.

• Turn the heat up a little and add the mushrooms and red wine to the onion mix. Allow to bubble for 5 minutes, to burn off the alcohol and some of the water from the mushrooms.

• Then pour in the lentils, tinned tomatoes, tomato purée, oregano, stock cube, Worcestershire sauce, water and basil stalks; cook with the lid on for 30 minutes

• Add the roasted aubergine and then cook for 20 minutes with the lid on adding the red wine vinegar for the last 5 minutes.

• Add the salt and basil leaves.

• Serve with parmesan or feta.

Aubergine & chickpea tagine with spiced cous cous

Aubergines are one of my favourite vegetables. I know this is a bit controversial as people seem to love or hate them, but my theory is that a lot of the haters have tried aubergine that is under-cooked when it’s hard, spongy and tasteless. Aubergines need to be cooked for quite a long time to soften and release their sweet slightly smoky flavour. They’re best when you roast or fry them to caramelise the outside, or roasted whole so the inside becomes soft enough to turn into a smokey dip. This tagine has an equal amount of red pepper and red onion in it, so although aubergine is in the title, the flavour is comprised of a mix of all 3 vegetables. So this recipe is ideal for someone who isn’t completely convinced about the wonders of the mighty aubergine (to reference Mr Ottolenghi), although I can’t begin to imagine why! Did I mention that I bloody love them?!

 Ingredients

Serves 6-8

• 3 aubergine, chopped into 2cm cubes

• 3 tbsp olive oil

• 3 red onions, sliced

• 3 sweet peppers, sliced

• 3 large cloves garlic, grated (I use a Microplane)

• 1 dried ancho chilli, chopped (makes about 1 tbsp)

• 2 tsp ras el hanout spice mix

• 2 x 400g tinned cherry tomatoes

• 1.5 tsp vegetable bouillon

• 60g sultanas or raisins

• Handful of coriander, stalks chopped, leaves reserved

• 1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained. If you use dried, soak and cook 130g

• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar

• 1 tbsp honey or maple

• 1.5 tsp sea salt (if you’re using fine grain table salt reduce by half and go from there)

Cous cous

• 1/2 onion, chopped finely

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 100g cherry tomatoes, small dice

• 1/2 tsp ground cumin

• 180g cous cous

• 1 tsp sea salt

• 1 tsp vegetable bouillon

• 800ml boiling water

• 200g crumbled feta, optional topping

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180°c

• Spread the chopped aubergine on a couple of large baking trays and drizzle with the olive oil, plus 1/2 tsp sea salt, mixing well.

• Roast for 25 minutes, turn then put back in the oven for 8 minutes until at least one side is browned and the pieces are soft all the way through.

• Meanwhile add 1 tbsp of olive oil to a large pan or casserole, heat and cook the onion and pepper together for 15 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes.

• Mix in the ancho chilli and ras el hanout spice blend and stir, allow to warm through for a minute.

• Put the aubergine pieces into the pan with the tinned tomatoes, vegetable bouillon, sultanas, coriander stalks and a full tin of water. Leave to simmer with the lid half on for 20 minutes, stirring regularly. Then add the chickpeas, red wine vinegar and honey simmer for 15 minutes without the lid..

• While the tagine is cooking start to make the cous cous. First heat 1/2 tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the chopped onion on a low heat for 15 minutes before adding the tomatoes and garlic, cook for 10 minutes.

• Add 1/2 tsp ground cumin and warm for about a minute.

• Turn off the heat and add the cous cous, vegetable bouillon and boiling water to the onions and tomatoes when the tagine has about 10 minutes left to cook. Put the lid on and leave the cous cous to absorb the water for 6-8 minutes. Fluff with a fork when ready.

• Serve the tagine and cous cous with crumbled feta and coriander leaves.

Tip

• I like to roast the aubergine pieces as I find it easier than frying them all in batches, plus it means I use a lot less oil. But you can pan fry if you prefer.

• Dried ancho chilli - I bought mine from Waitrose.

• Ras el hanout - I get my blend from local supplier Spice and Green, but they do mail order so it is probably worth asking if they can send to you. If not you’ll find a version stocked in most supermarkets. Ottolenghi do their own that you can order too - here or make your own using this Epicurious recipe.

• I have used tinned cherry tomatoes for their sweetness and extra flavour, but tinned plum would work fine as a sub.

• If you’re using dried chickpeas cook as per the instructions and then add to the sauce with the tinned tomatoes as they will be firmer and need a little more time to soften.

Creamy aubergine & tomato spaghetti

This is a classic combination that makes a great family friendly vegetarian dish - as the kids can pick out the aubergine . I’m hoping that one day, after feeding this to them 500 times, they might start trying it… who knows … anyway for now it’s one dish we can all enjoy in our various ways!

🌱Vegan option: replace the crème fraîche with @oatly cream, it tastes amazing!

Ingredients

• 2 aubergines, cut into 1 cm slices

• 2 large cloves garlic, minced

• 2 tins 400g plum tomatoes

• 2 tbsp crème fraîche or Oatly cream

• Handful fresh basil, stalks chopped, leaves ripped and set aside

• 350g spaghetti

• 200g feta, crumbled

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180°c.

• Lightly drizzle the tray with rapeseed or olive oil and spread out the aubergine slices evenly.

• Drizzle the top side of the aubergine and sprinkle with sea salt.

• Place in the oven 30-35 minutes until golden brown, turning halfway to colour both sides.

• While the aubergine is roasting, heat a couple of lugs of olive oil in a wide bottomed pan and add the garlic, allow to gently brown without burning.

• Pour in the tomatoes and heat through, add the basil stalks and turn down to a simmer for 20 minutes.

• Cook the spaghetti while the sauce simmers.

• Add the cooked aubergines to the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes and then spoon in the crème fraîche and basil leaves. Warm through adding 1/2 tsp sea salt and a good grind of pepper, plus some dried chilli flakes if you want a bit of spice.

Tip

Alternative vegan option: just leave out the crème fraîche and add a little balsamic vinegar to the sauce at the end, cook for 5 mins and sprinkle toasted pine nuts on top to serve.