A vegetarian barbecue

It looks like it's going to be a lovely weekend, and I thought some of you might be looking for a vegetarian dish for the barbecue.

Here's something to celebrate the sunshine and the fact that it's still the English asparagus season. And it's delicious enough to please carnivores and vegetarians alike.

If you don't have the weather or the opportunity to get the barbecue going, well, it works just as well if you cook the vegetables on a ridged griddle pan. Failing that, cooking them under the grill or in the oven will do.
 

Spring greens

Here's a super-healthy vegetable dish that only takes about ten minutes to make. It can be a vibrant, spring-like side dish; a topping for bruschetta; a mixture to stir into a risotto; or even a meal in its own right, topped with a poached egg and perhaps with some fresh bread on the side.

Frozen vegetables are the key to making this super-speedy, but feel free to use fresh broad beans and/or beans if you prefer.

Springtime on a plate: asparagus and peas with eggs and bulgur wheat

I can hardly believe it's the beginning of June and I haven't posted any asparagus recipes yet. I always try to make the most of the English asparagus season, which basically involves cooking it as often as possible for the seven or eight weeks that it's around. A lot of my favourite asparagus recipes are pasta-based, but sometimes it's nice to have something a bit different (and possibly providing more of my 5 - or 7? - a day).

This is a really interesting dish that works just as well hot for dinner or cold as a packed lunch the next day. I love the mix of different textures (the peas, the asparagus, the soft bulghur wheat and the crunch of the walnuts) and with the wholegrains, vegetables, egg and nuts, it feels nutritionally balanced too.

I know asparagus isn't the cheapest ingredient, but it's only around briefly - and you can pick up small bunches in a certain German supermarket for about £1.09. I've found good multi-buy offers at farmers' markets in the past, too.

Shakshouka - a kind of Egyptian omelette

Shakshouka is a dish found in several parts of the Middle East and Africa. I had thought of it as primarily Tunisian, but in my recent visit to Egypt found it popular there too. Previously, though, I have always seen it as a dish of eggs poached or baked in a spicy sauce of tomatoes or other vegetables (which is indeed delicious).

But in Egypt - specifically Luxor - the eggs were mixed in with the vegetables to give an effect which sometimes was more like a baked omelette or tortilla and other times more like spicy scrambled eggs.

Healthier brownies with a secret ingredient

A good brownie is a wonderful thing, but they can so easily be as disappointing as a broken promise. A dry, crumbly texture or stinginess with the chocolate are the most common failings. A brownie needs to be rich, with a big 'hit' of chocolate, and soft - perhaps even verging on gooey - in the middle.

Salad of peaches and cheese

I've recently been on a trip to Egypt. The food was simple but good - things like smokey baba ghanoush (or baba ghanoug as the Egyptians have it), and falafel (spicy and bright green inside due to being made from broad beans, rather than chick peas as is more common in other countries).

Flat Egyptian breads, slightly similar to pitta but round and usually made with a mixture of white and wholemeal flour, are consumed at every opportunity and are bought by the carrier bag full.

I was struck by the fruit, piled up in abundance at roadside stalls, in shops, on donkey carts, even on pavements.

Leek, mushroom and blue cheese pie

This is one of those dishes that you throw together from what's in the fridge - a few leeks, half a packet of filo pastry, some blue cheese - and it turns out to be unexpectedly delicious.

Like my previous recipe, leeks are the star of the show. I think these two dishes show what a versatile vegetable leeks are - from a light and elegant salad to rich and hearty pie.

Filo pastry is much lower in fat than other types of  pastry, so you can enjoy this pie, perhaps with some more vegetables on the side, and feel relatively virtuous at the same time.