'Chicken' supreme with rice

You can’t get a much more family-friendly veggie recipe than this - it’s classic comfort food which works really well in the colder months and should satisfy even the most committed meat eaters. My carnivore sons who are not especially enamoured with Quorn will eat this without complaint!

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 50g butter

• 50g tbsp flour

• 900ml semi skimmed milk

• 1 ½ tsp vegetable bouillon

• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast

• ¼ tsp sea salt

• 6 Quorn chicken fillets, sliced or cubed

• 200g frozen peas or sweetcorn

• 220g brown rice or 280g white rice

Method

• First make the bechamel sauce. Add the butter to the pan, melt and then tip in the flour, mix thoroughly and allow to warm through for a minute.

• Start pouring the milk in slowly, 50ml at a time at first, so you don’t get lots of splashing as you whisk it in. Quickly add the next 50ml and repeat until you’ve got to about 300ml and then you can start adding 100ml at a time.

• Once you’ve poured in all the milk leave on a low heat for 15 minutes to cook through and get rid of the floury taste, but whisk or stir regularly so the bottom doesn’t stick and cause lumps.

• Cook the rice as per the instructions on the packet.

• Heat ½ tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan and add the Quorn pieces, cooking for for 6-8 minutes until browned on at least a couple of sides.

• Add the Quorn and peas to the white sauce for 5 minutes, or until the peas have warmed through.

Courgette, pea & spinach soup with lemon feta

I always miss the green vegetables of spring and summer at this time of year, so I wanted to find a way of using them without the environmental impact of cooking with unseasonal ingredients. It’s a compromise as I’ve used fresh courgettes, but in November they don’t have to travel much further than Jersey, along with frozen peas and spinach which are much cheaper for you to buy and work really well in soups.

I love the bright salty taste of the lemon feta as it really lifts the flavour of the soup, so it is really worth adding that element if you can. A good vegan alternative to feta here would be a plant based plain yoghurt; just add the lemon zest and a sprinkle of sea salt.

Ingredients

Serves 6-8

• 1 large onion, chopped

• 1 large clove garlic, grated

• 2-3 courgettes (approx 800g whole), sliced

• 400g frozen peas

• 300g frozen spinach

• 1 handful basil, stalks chopped, leaves reserved

• 1 vegetable stock cube

• 500ml water

• 1 3/4 sea salt

• 2 tbsp lemon juice, plus zest

• 200g feta, crumbled

Method

• Preheat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large pan and fry the onions on a low heat for 15 minutes.

• Next mix in the garlic and cook for about a minute, before adding the courgettes.

• Cook for 20 minutes with the lid on until the courgettes have softened, then add the peas, spinach, basil stalks and stock. Simmer for 10 minutes.

• Add the basil leaves and then blitz with a hand blender until smooth.

• Now add the salt, lemon juice and a good grind of black pepper.

• Mix the feta and lemon zest in a bowl.

• Serve with a sprinkle of feta and a wedge of buttered sourdough toast.

Pea, broadbean & avocado dip

This is one of my fave spring / summer dips to make. It’s light, fresh, soooo green and always seems to be the star of any plate or spread. Everyone always loves it and the good news is that it’s another easy one to whip up quickly.

Ingredients

• 200g frozen broad beans

• 200g frozen peas

• 1 avocado, mashed roughly

• 10 mint leaves

• 15 basil leaves

• 4 tbsp olive oil

• 2 tbsp lemon juice

• 1/2 tsp sea salt

• A good few grinds of black pepper

Method

• Cook the broad beans in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, then take off the heat and pour in the peas. Let then stand for 2 minutes until the peas have defrosted.

• Drain well and put in a food processor along with the rest of the ingredients, except the avocado. Blitz until you have the texture you want, I like mine to be a little rough so I don’t mix it for too long, but if you keep going you’ll get more of a puree.

• While you’re blitzing the peas, scoop out the avocado into a medium sized bowl and mash leaving a few chunks for texture.

• Scrape out the mixture from the food processor into the avocado and mix well.

• Serve!