The 5 best green tomato recipes

It's the time of year when anyone who grows tomatoes might have some green ones left on the plant, with no chance now of ripening. So I thought I'd put my favourite recipes in one place for anyone wondering what to do with green tomatoes. And not a jar of chutney in sight...

Potato salad with attitude

As I write, there's a disconcerting chill in the air. This evening I've pulled on a jumper for the first time in a while. But I've not quite done with summer eating yet.

I hope that the sun will find its way out again soon. Either way, here's a potato salad that will add some excitement to even the dullest day. I like potato salad but all too often they can be bland, mushy and greasy. This one is light, low in fat and full of lively flavours.

Griddled courgettes with goats' cheese, couscous and beans

I confess to a slight love affair with griddled courgettes at the moment. Courgettes seem to be around in abundance, and griddling them in long strips gives them both sweetness and interesting charred notes.

With the help of some frozen vegetables, this easy dish took me less than 20 minutes to put together - ideal for a quick dinner after work.

Heat and fire: Griddled asparagus with roasted cherry tomatoes

One of the things that still fascinates me about food is the way that applying some heat can change the flavour so much. And different types of heat change the flavour in different ways.

I never get bored of steamed asparagus - and there's a lot to be said for this simple treatment that allows the vegetable to speak simply of itself. But griddled asparagus expresses itself just as eloquently, but with charred notes that bring an extra hit of umami, that sixth, intensely savoury taste. And because the asparagus hasn't been cooked in water, it keeps every bit of flavour. And then it's robust enough to marry with strong tastes like tomato, olives and goats' cheese.

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.

Warm salad of leeks and tomatoes

I often use leeks in pies and risottos, but here's a more summery, Mediterranean way with leeks. This fairly humble vegetable pairs really well with the more bright and glamorous flavours of tomatoes and olives. Use cherry tomatoes if you can - I couldn't get hold of any on the day I made this dish.

This makes a nice side dish, or perhaps a light lunch with some crusty bread. Adding some new potatoes will make it more substantial.

How to get your 5-a-day in one go plus 5 ways to vary it

I'm trying hard to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables (especially the vegetables). This is partly because I prefer a positive approach to healthy eating - ie eat lots of good stuff, rather than obsessing about cutting out the bad stuff. Plus, as I mentioned recently, there's good evidence that eating vegetables and fruit is linked to a longer life - and that seven portions is better than five (five is the current UK official recommendation, based on the World Health Organisation.)

Very green pie

This is, as the title says, a very green pie. No wonder when it's filled with punchy wild garlic leaves, earthy spinach which adds some mellowness, and sweet peas to balance out the other flavours. And of course, some feta cheese, which isn't green but adds a salty, creamy tang.

Apologies if any of you are getting bored of my springtime wild garlic dishes - but fear not, you can use extra spinach if you don't have any wild garlic.

Celebrating spring: wild garlic and pea lasagne

Yesterday was the perfect spring day - boundless sunshine, daffodils blooming and, finally, some real warmth in the air. Just being out in the countryside on a day like that is enough to bring joy to the soul. The previous day I had seen a pond full of frogs doing what frogs do in spring time, so all in all it definitely felt like nature was bursting into life.

I gained even more joy by discovering some wild garlic already looking lush and green in the Surrey Hills. I hadn't expected it to be ready for a few weeks yet - it's amazing how much earlier everything seems to be happening this year.

Here's the dish I created to celebrate springtime and the first of the wild garlic. Lasagne is often served with garlic bread, but I've put the garlic in the lasagne instead.

Risotto with peas and thyme

I think I've lost count of the number of times that a packet of frozen peas has saved the day. Versatile, cheap, almost as good as fresh, and there in the freezer when you need them  - what more could you ask for?

Last night I had very little in the fridge and even less inspiration. Peas and rice saved the day. Turning half the peas into a puree adds body to the rice and means that every grain of rice comes with the fresh, sweet flavour of peas. And my pot of lemon thyme on the windowsill turned it from a slightly pedestrian dish into something a bit more sophisticated. If you don't have lemon thyme, normal thyme will do, and you might want to add a bit of lemon zest. Or ring the changes with other herbs you have around - parsley, basil, chives...

Chick pea and spinach curry with cucumber raita

Here's a quick, healthy and cheap recipe - what more could you ask for? I've used curry powder to speed things up, but you could use a curry paste instead, or mix your own spices. I find the best approach with curry powder is to try a few brands and find one you are happy with.

This curry might be a good way to use the rest of the chick peas you have cooked for this previous recipe. Or you can use the tinned kind.

The cucumber raita is not essential, but the creaminess works really well in contrast to the curry, and it's cool and refreshing too.

Risotto with leeks, soft cheese and herbs

This was my Valentine's night dinner. You might not think it the most romantic meal imaginable, but I like its creamy texture, and the way the softened leeks give the dish a bit of oomph, but not too much. And then there's the cheese. You can use standard Brie or Camembert, or you can ring the changes.

Today I was admiring the cheeses at Partridges food market on the Duke of York Square, near Sloane Square. The Bath Soft (from the eponymous Bath Soft Cheese Co) is one of my favourites and is a cracking cheese to use in this risotto. Another stall featured Wildes cheeses, which were new to me but are made in Tottenham. They do a soft, mould-coated cheese which I think is probably called Londonshire, and I reckon that would work a treat here too.

Carrot pilaf

This dish takes humble ingredients and turns them into something remarkably tasty. Carrots and onions are cheap and good for you, even if they're not as trendy as kale or spirulina. Plus, they tend to be grown in this country. Add in some wholegrain rice, chick peas and spices, and you have a dish to nourish body and soul.
 

Rice 'n' spice: lentil 'risotto' with roasted spiced veg

I hesitate to use the word risotto here: it's certainly not a dish an Italian would recognise. Anyway, lentils and rice are great together, so I thought I'd try to find a different way of cooking them. The result is almost a savoury porridge, with some brightly-coloured spiced vegetables on top. But if you prefer, you could just cook the rice in a separate pan and have the lentils like a daal alongside.

Feel free to vary the vegetables according to what takes your fancy and what you have around.

Nutty stuffed onions

It's not often that I can be bothered to stuff vegetables, but this simple stuffing turns onions (not, let's face it, the most glamorous vegetable) into the star of a meal.

This dish is based mainly on store-cupboard ingredients and is quite handy for using up odds and ends - like the half-used packet of nuts that's been hanging around for a little while and risks turning rancid if it's not used up soon. I've suggested hazelnuts but you could definitely use walnuts or pecans, or some other kind of nut if you fancy it. Similarly, if you've got a little bit of leftover rice, bulghur wheat or couscous, or some stale bread that can be turned into breadcrumbs - here's a dish that can use it up.

A healthy feast for January: lentils and winter veg with baked mushroom and poached egg

Lentils are a very under-rated food, I think. Healthy, filling, full of protein - they are just the thing for January when you are trying to undo the effects of Christmas excess. They soak up other flavours and there's something comforting about them. A lentil-based meal doesn't feel like self-denial in the way that a salad might.

Puy lentils are definitely the most chic and the ones you tend to see in salads and other recipes where you want the lentils to keep their shape. But actually, brown lentils do a very similar job and are much cheaper (especially if you buy them in large bags from an ethnic grocer).

This is a dish full of earthy, wintry flavours. There are a few different elements to this, but none of it is difficult and it really doesn't take too long. It's well worth spending a couple of minutes on making the marinade for the mushrooms, as the rewards in terms of flavour are enormous.

Festive veggie lunch

Here's my Christmas dinner - a fantastic squash and blue cheese Wellington. I hasten to add that I didn't make it (my talented mother-in-law did that).

You can make it ahead and freeze it, so it's ideal for entertaining when you've got lots of other things to sort out. Served with roast potatoes, parsnips, carrots and the obligatory Brussels sprouts, it was extremely good.

The filling is quite firm when cold...

Simple, smoky broccoli and tomatoes

Here's an easy, healthy dish which is just the sort of thing I fancy in the run-up to Christmas, when there are too many other demands on your time to allow for elaborate cooking. And even if you haven't already been overindulging in mince pies, it's good to have something healthy and packed with veg now before the excesses that lie ahead.

If broccoli is the sort of thing you tend to have in the freezer, then you can throw the rest of it together from store-cupboard ingredients - so no need for extra shopping.

Pumpkin part 1 - preparing a pumpkin the easy way, and pumpkin and chick pea tagine

My love for a bargain is alive and well, and in the days or weeks after Halloween you can usually pick up pumpkins for not much money. It's lucky that they keep quite well (especially if you store them somewhere cool) because it's taken me until now to cook something with it.

Peeling a pumpkin and removing the seeds and fibres from the middle can seem like a bit of a faff. My labour-saving tip for cooking a pumpkin is to cut it in half, take out all the seeds, and cut the whole thing into large wedges. Put the wedges on an oven tray (or two), skin side down, and bake in a medium-hot oven until the flesh feels soft when pierced with a fork (possibly 30-45 minutes, depending on the thickness of the wedges and the temperature of your oven).

Split pea bolognaise

My meals seem to have taken a frugal turn recently (see also this chilli). Not for any particular reason (I've always taken the view that if you can make something delicious and it's inexpensive too, so much the better). Perhaps it's the cold weather that makes hearty dishes based on pulses seem particularly appropriate. And more often than not pulse-based dishes tend to work out pretty cheap. (Even if you buy beluga lentils, which are the caviar of the lentil world, the price still compares well to a lamb chop.)

This is a cheap and super-healthy pasta sauce. I made it with split peas, which keep more of their shape and texture, but you could make a quicker, slightly smoother version with red lentils.

This quantity should easily serve six. You could halve it if you like, but I like to make more than I need on the basis that it freezes well, or will keep in the fridge for a couple of days. And while it's not really any effort to soak split peas, the cooking time involved means I feel I may as well make a big pot of it.