Spiced lentils, kohlrabi and wild garlic

Hurray for wild garlic season again. It's with us for just a few short weeks (during which time I am quite likely to smell of garlic). Then it's gone for another year, to be followed by the British asparagus season, and I'll know that summer really is on the way.

It took me less than five minutes to gather half a carrier bag full of wild garlic in the Surrey hills last week. Some of it made its way onto a mushroom, garlic and ricotta pizza - one of my perennial favourites. The rest went into this dish of spiced lentils. A curry or something similar really is one of the best ways to use wild garlic. This is not a subtle ingredient, so it can really stand up to strong spices, as well as taking the place of the garlic you would probably be putting in your curry anyway.

Root vegetable tagine

Root vegetables might not be the most exciting things to have in the fridge, but with a bit of encouragement they can be as delicious as the most exotic ingredients. I like to roast them to bring out the sweetness, then add layers of flavour with spices, herbs and harissa paste.

The word tagine has come to apply to a wide variety of dishes, as long as they're looked in one pot, with vaguely Moroccan flavours and generally some dried fruit in the mix. Traditionally, of course, the word applies to the cooking pot itself. But for this dish any roasting tin with a couple of inches of depth will do just fine.

Ode to aubergines

Aubergines seem to be my vegetable of the moment. Maybe it's the generous plumpness, the glossy purple-black skins. Or it could be the way that cooked well, they almost collapse into a velvety softness.

But I think it's the fact that they absorb other flavours so obligingly, whilst having just enough flavour of their own. I particularly like them with spices, and / or paired with a rich tomato sauce.

Green tomato and lentil curry

Here's a recipe for anyone who has unripe green tomatoes left on their tomato plants, and doesn't fancy making chutney.
And if you don't have green tomatoes, it's just as good with red ones. Or you could swap the tomatoes for spinach, or cauliflower, or whatever vegetable takes your fancy.

Spiced runner beans and lentils

Runner beans feel like the most English of vegetables, more often found in gardens or allotments than in the shops. I don't often buy them - they can be hard to find in the shops - but I was happy to get these from a friend's vegetable garden.

Then I went down a not-very-English route, with warm spices, red lentils for body and a tin of tomatoes for extra depth.

A bowl of brown rice

These days I rarely buy white rice. I can remember finding brown rice quite off-putting, as if it was some extreme of of health-foodism (I certaibly wouldn't have bought brown pasta then either.) Now I love the  nuttiness and flavour of brown rice, even if the extra cooking time can be a pain - and even my five-year-old nephew likes it. This recipe is for a sustaining, soothing bowl of brown rice, turned into a complete meal.

Green tomato burritos and a green tomato salsa

My enthusiasm for green tomatoes is undimmed. I've now discovered they make a great salsa - no need for lime juice, as the tomatoes have their own tartness built in.

The green tomatoes get a double billing here, adding depth to the smoky lentil filling as well as in the lively, fresh salsa to go on top.

There are almost endless variations on these burritos. If you don't have green tomatoes, they'll be delicious, if a little different, with red tomatoes too. You could make a quicker version using tinned black beans instead of the lentils. It's fun to play around with different toppings - guacamole or sliced avocado, grated cheese and chilli sauce are all options. Sour cream would be delicious too, but I rather like natural yogurt as a lighter alternative. 

Spiced lentils with green tomatoes

As you'll know if you read my last post, I had a bit of a glut of unripe tomatoes. After cooking them Italian-style turned out better than I expected, I decided to try an Indian-influenced approach. I thought about making a fairly dry curry with just green tomatoes, onions and spices. But I wanted something that I could scoop up with Indian breads - and this dish was perfect.

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.

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.

Pumpkin part 2 - pumpkin and bean curry

Perhaps not surprisingly, I hadn't managed to use a whole pumpkin in my previous pumpkin tagine. So I had some leftover cooked pumpkin to use up, and this Indian-inspired dish turned out to be the answer.

I was actually planning something quite different, but I discovered at the start of the cooking process that I'd left the tin opener at work (don't ask...) So I couldn't open most of the tins in the cupboard. Luckily the tins of kidney beans turned out to have ring pulls on them. (I usually save kidney beans for chilli rather than curry, but I couldn't see any reason not to put them in curry, and I didn't have too many other options.)

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).

Spicy aubergine with tomatoes and chick peas

Aubergines are a much underrated vegetable, I think. In the cuisines of the Middle East they often have a starring role, but the only aubergine dish that's ever really caught on in British cuisine is the stuffed aubergine, a dish which cannot even be described as unjustly maligned.

Yet aubergines are beautiful, with their glossy black skins, and quite unlike any other vegetable. They perhaps have some similarity to courgettes, with their mild flavour and soft texture when cooked, but the texture of a cooked aubergine has a velvety, melting quality all its own. And their ability to soak up flavours is unparalleled.

In this dish I've matched them with spices to make the most of this ability to soak up flavours, plus tomatoes and chick peas, both ingredients with which aubergines have a natural affinity (see also this recipe). The result is a healthy dish which is quick enough for a weekday supper. If you have leftovers, the flavours will develop so it's perhaps even better the next day.

Spicy eggs for a lazy weekend brunch

Here's a spicy, flavour-packed brunch for a lazy weekend morning. Or it could equally be a lunch or supper, if you're not keen on spices too early in the day.

This recipe is from Sunshine on a Plate by Masterchef winner Shelina Permalloo (£20; Ebury Press). It's a dish from Mauritius, whose global melting pot of flavours can be seen in the mixture of ginger and coriander with parsley and thyme, plus plenty of heat from the chilli.

A pearl barley paella

My current obsession with pearl barley hasn't worn off yet. And after last week's not-very-authentic risotto, I decided to make a not-very-authentic paella.

It was a vegetarian version, which I kicked off by sweating some chopped red peppers, onions and garlic. In went the pearl barley, along with some vegetable stock, bay leaves, turmeric, smoked paprika and cayenne pepper. About half an hour later, when the barley was tender, I added some frozen peas, black olives and halved cherry tomatoes. After a few minutes more cooking, and a scattering of chopped fresh rosemary, it was ready to eat.

Dukkah: an Egyptian way with nuts and spices

I'd never heard of dukkah, which I know know to be an Egyptian blend of ground nuts and spices. There are endless variations of ingredients, but the usual idea is that you dip some bread in olive oil, then in the dukkah.

You can also use it to jazz up all kinds of things: roasted vegetables, lamb, various beans and pulses, perhaps sprinkled over a hearty soup. It's a nutty, aromatic mixture, not a hot one.

Puy lentils with toasted tomatoes, poached egg and dukkah

A spice for kings, and a risotto with a difference

They say saffron is the most expensive spice in the world. Even if it weren’t, it wouldn’t be the one I use most often, but still there’s something special about it which I don’t think is just about perceptions of value.

There’s the golden colour, although you can get that from other spices like turmeric. For me it’s the aroma and flavour that’s special – sometimes described as hay-like, though I think it’s richer and more complex than that. (Not that I go round sniffing hay, you understand.) It's not the strongest-tasting spice, but there's a depth to it, like good wine. It deserves to take centre stage in a dish, and I think introducing other spices runs the risk of masking it too much. A saffron risotto is a wonderful thing, if not exactly the best way to get your five-a-day.