Exclusive Recipes for my instagram friends!

For Everyone: Green Goddess Dressing

This Californian standard can inspire a degree of dressing reverence. It is rich and creamy enough to tame kale leaves and raw spinach, robust enough to be an excellent dip and versatile for a summer roasted chicken. I find it heavenly with roasted sweet potato wedges.

½ cup mayonnaise (try the one above!)

2 finely sliced spring onions

1/3 cup fresh dill, roughly chopped

1/3 cup Italian (or curly) parsley, very finely chopped

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 anchovies (optional – but you will need to add ¼ tsp in its stead)

pinch of salt to taste

Add all the ingredients to a tall jug or a suitable container for your hand blender. Blend until smooth. This sauce will keep for a few days in the fridge. You can add more herbs if you wish, even basil and spinach to make the goddess really green!

For Everyone: Spinach Almond Cranberry Salad

400g baby spinach

¾ cup flaked almonds, toasted

1 cup dried cranberries

Dressing

2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

1 tbsp poppy seeds

½ c white sugar

1 tbsp minced onion

½ tsp paprika

¼ cup white wine vinegar

¼ cup cider vinegar

½ cup sunflower oil

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together all the dressing ingredients.

Tip the baby spinach onto a serving platter. Sprinkle generously with the toasted almonds and cranberries. Pulling up the leaves here and there so as not to have a flattened salad.

Just before serving, drizzle the dressing over the leaves. The salad will become tossed as people help themselves.

Serves 8

For everyone: Poppy seed Coin Salad

I sometimes put a big note in the parking machine just to harvest a big clanging tinkle of coins! People think I’m crazy when I pretend that I’ve won at a slot machine! And I get a great big handful of coins to pay parking guards around the city. In this salad, vegetable currency is great value! For the last little while, cutting vegetables on the diagonal has been de rigeur but now, coins! They certainly make a come-back in this salad!

200g radishes (if you are lucky enough to find a selection of these, bravo!)

200g carrots (jeweled carrots make for great coins!)

100g courgettes (or kohlabri or daikon)

Maldon Sea Salt

Dressing

5 T olive oil

3 tsp sugar

3 T fresh lemon juice + ½ lemon for a finishing squeeze

1 tsp English mustard

1 T poppy seeds

Sea salt and black pepper

Mix all the dressing ingredients thoroughly together.

Slice the radishes very thinly and spread them out on a plate. Reserve a few slices for garnish. Drizzle with a few teaspoons of the poppy seed dressing. Wash the courgettes thoroughly, drying them with a clean tea towel. Slice them into coins and arrange them on top of the radishes so that some radish shows through the layer. Drizzle with dressing. Scrub the carrots and slice them thinly into coins. Arrange these coins on top of the courgettes so that you see some of the other layers beneath. Drizzle with more poppy seed dressing. Finish with a few slices of radish and a last drizzle of dressing, a squeeze of lemon and a good sprinkle of flaked sea salt. You will, in effect, have a vegetable poppy seed carpaccio!

For everyone: Avgolemono (with fish and leeks, fennel & celery)

I first ate Avgolemono at a gathering of family friends, made by real Greek South Africans. Oh boy! It was a revelation! I have never forgotten the lemony eggy experience. I have tried many times to make it without a recipe, always succeeding, in my haste, to curdle the whole business. Cooks with patience are happily rewarded with a lemony flavour and creamy texture – both a superb match for beautiful asparagus!

3 - 4 T butter

1 onion, finely diced

3 leeks (optional), thoroughly rinsed and sliced into 2 cm lengths

1 fennel bulb, finely sliced (optional)

3 celery stalks (optional), sliced

2/3 c orzo pasta or rice, cooked

500ml vegetable stock (2 cups)

Salt and white pepper

3 egg yolks

Juice & grated rind of 2-3 lemons

Extra virgin olive oil to serve

Sumac to serve

In a deeper saucepan, sweat the onion and other vegetables (if using) over medium heat, very gently, until the mixture softens, about 4 – 5 minutes. The onions must simply become translucent in the butter but not brown. If you’re worried, turn down the heat completely and put a lid on but stay close and watch to see that the onions do not burn.

Add 2 cups of vegetable stock to the pan. Season with salt and white pepper. Bring to the boil and then lower the heat and let this stock simmer very gently for 5 minutes. Drain this stock into another pot or heat resistant jug. Set aside the strained vegetables in a warm place.

Meanwhile, in a large jug, blend the egg yolks with the lemon juice using a hand-held blender. Ladle a spoonful of the hot stock in to the egg mixture, blending constantly. Continue blending as you slowly pour the vegetable stock into the egg lemon mixture.

Pour this Avgolemono back into the pot. Stir constantly over very gentle heat until the soup starts to thicken. Do not let the soup boil or it will curdle. The Avgolemono should be a pale lemon in colour with a frothy, cream consistency. If it seems too thick (this never happens for me), thin it with the remaining stock. Taste and check the seasoning. You may need to add some salt and white pepper.

When you are ready to serve the Avgolemono, make a little pile of orzo or rice in each soup plate. Spoon the reserved vegetables onto the rice. At this point you may want to top the vegetables with a piece of fried fish or chicken. Pour the avgolemono around and over the pile of rice and vegetables. Garnish with a swirl of olive oil, some freshly ground black pepper and a little sprinkling of sumac for extra sourness. How very sophisticated!

For Everyone: Melting Caramelized CabbagE

Serves 4 – 6

4 T olive oil

2 medium onions, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 cm ginger root, minced

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp fennel seeds

½ tsp chili flakes

4 T best tomato paste

5 ripe fresh tomatoes (preferably plum), diced or 1 tin of diced tomato

1 T sugar or honey

2 T soya sauce

½ cup water

1 tsp salt and white pepper to taste

1 medium cabbage, sliced into 8 wedges with the core intact (it keeps the wedges together)

4 T vegetable oil for frying

To serve,

½ cup Greek yoghurt

A few sprigs of dill, picked

Fry the onion, garlic, and ginger in the olive oil over medium high heat until the onion is translucent, about 8 – 10 minutes. Add the coriander, cumin, fennel, and chilli and fry another 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the tomato paste, fresh or tinned tomatoes, soya sauce, sugar, salt, and pepper. Let the sauce bubble away for another 15 minutes over low heat until it thickens slightly. Pour the tomato sauce into a baking dish (that preferably has a lid) that you will use for the caramelized cabbage.

In a large pan, heat the vegetable oil and fry the cabbage wedges, cut side down, over high heat until they caramelize on the edges, about 3 – 5 minutes on each side. You will need good tongs to turn them. If the wedges disintegrate slightly, use your tongs to piece them together into the dish on top of the tomato sauce. When all are done, pour the ½ cup of water around the cabbage wedges and drizzle the dish with splash of olive oil. Season the whole dish with the salt and pepper.

Put the lid on the dish or cover tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 180°C. After this time, remove the lid or the foil and bake uncovered for a further 10 – 15 minutes. The cabbage will be incredibly soft and yielding. Serve, with yoghurt, dill, and a drizzle of your favourite chili sauce if you are so inclined.

For everyone: Chermoula & Anchovy mayonnaise

Chermoula

30g coriander

30g flat-leaf parsley

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp paprika

¼ tsp chili flakes

¼ tsp cinnamon

1/4tsp salt

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Put all the ingredients except the olive oil in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to chop and combine. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil to form a rich thick paste.

Mayonnaise

Dispel your fear and make your own! It is a wonderful thing to have on hand.

2 egg yolks

1 whole egg

1 tbsp English mustard

Pinch of salt

Pinch of white pepper

4 tbsp white vinegar or fresh lemon juice

2 cups vegetable oil

Combine the egg yolks, whole egg, mustard, salt , pepper and vinegar. With the motor running, drizzle in the oil through the funnel, in a slow, steady stream. You will see it getting thicker and thicker the more oil you add. Once it is all blended, taste to see if you want to add more salt or pepper or a drop more vinegar.

Use a spatula to scrape the mayonnaise into a container. Cover and refrigerate.

To make anchovy mayonnaise:

Pulse ¼ cup of anchovy fillets in your food processor. Add 1 ¼ c of the mayo and pulse again briefly to combine.

For Everyone: Baba Ganoush

5 larger aubergines

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

½ tsp cumin

1 ½ tsp salt

1 tsp Za’tar

1 cup creamed cheese

100g Danish feta

¼ c tahina

Juice of ½ lemon

20g Italian Parsley

5 T olive oil for serving

Pinch of sumac for garnish.

Arrange the whole eggplants directly over the gas burner of your hob. If you do 2 or three per burner they support each other. You will need some good tongs for this job to make you look like a seasoned pro. Leave the aubergines there on the direct heat, turning every 4 – 5 minutes. The aubergines steam inside their skins and the outside develops a great char-grilled flavour. You could of course do this on an outside grill but we like the urban ruggedness of this method! The aubergines should be very soft inside (you will be able to feel with a pinch of your fingers) after 16 – 24 minutes.

Place the cooked aubergines in a colander, tearing the skin here and there (if it is not torn and charred already) so that bitter juices can run out. Leave for 30 minutes – 1 hour. Squash the aubergines again in the colander to extract more bitter juices.

Then peel off the skin and place the soft flesh in the bowl of the food processor. It’s a messy business but try and avoid too many charred bits getting into your Baba Ghanoush.

Blitz the aubergine with the garlic, cumin, Za’tar, salt, pepper, creamed cheese, feta, lemon and parsley into a dreamy spread.

Plate the baba Ghanoush on a small platter, plate or in a dipping bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sumac.

For Everyone: Bulgar with Yoghurt Mint Roasted Tomatoes and Baby Spinach

I created this recipe around a suggestion in Claudia Roden’s marvellous book, Arabesque. That’s how it goes: the idea of cool yoghurt with bulgar wheat, and lots of mint… but then we adapt and add bits that would make it interesting for South Africans. This salad is such a refreshing one, particularly with lamb or any spicy dish. It is a great foil to the Harissa Chickpeas too.

300g bulgar wheat

750g Greek yoghurt

60g mint, finely chopped

3 tsp crushed garlic

1 ½ tsp Salt

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

3 T olive oil for garnish

100 g baby spinach

200g cherry or rosa tomatoes

2 T sugar, 2 T honey

Boil the bulgar in plenty of boiling water for 5 minutes. For this recipe, the bulgar should be slightly underdone so that it takes on the moisture of the yoghurt. When the bulgar has boiled, drain carefully and rinse with cold water to arrest the cooking process. Use a fine colander because the sneaky bulgar slips through larger-holed colanders.

Place the tomatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet and toss with the olive oil, sugar, honey and a little salt and roast in the oven until the tomatoes are blackened in places and well coloured, about 25 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Mix the yoghurt, mint, garlic, salt and black pepper together with the bulgar wheat. It is great if you can allow this mixture to sit for a few hours, chilling in your fridge.

To serve, spoon the bulgar yoghurt mixture onto a platter. Taste to see if you want to add more salt and pepper or a bit more yoghurt. Place the baby spinach on top of the bulgar salad and the roasted tomatoes on top of that. Sprinkle with the olive oil and serve.

For Everyone: Marinated Seared Leg of Lamb with Chermoula and Pine nuts

This is a delicious way of making a roast leg of lamb and frankly, it just works so well for catering purposes (and so for you too!). It does not require being served warm and at the last minute. (Phew!) It really does benefit, though, from being marinated. Being served at room temperature, the leg can be carved extra thin: a very more-ish and desirable way to eat lamb. See how the Chermoula and toasted Pine Nuts enhance the flavour of the meat.

Serves 7 – 9 people

A deboned, butterflied leg of Lamb (about 2.5kg)

Marinade:

4 cloves of garlic, crushed

¾ cup lemon juice

1 cup olive oil

To season:

1T your favourite rub or grill seasoning

To prepare the Lamb

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

To serve:

20g Chermoula thinned down with 2 tsp water and 2 T olive oil

40g pine nuts, dry toasted in a small pan

Lay the butterflied leg of Lamb in the marinade, making sure the joint gets maximum exposure to the marinade. Cover and refridgerate for 24 hours or more.

Before roasting, be sure to take the marinating lamb out of the marinade, allowing it to come to room temperature – a good hour or two.

Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC.

Heat your largest pan on high heat till it is super hot. While the pan is heating, season the joint all over and generously with the rub or grill seasoning. Pour 1 T vegetable oil into the pan (it should be smokey hot) and using good kitchen tongs, sear the whole leg, fat side down first. Use the tongs manfully and be sure to sear all of the leg so that you lose minimal juices during roasting.

Place the seared leg, fat side up, onto a baking pan and roast at 200ºC for 35 - 40 minutes. Allow the leg to rest for a good while (40 mins or more) before carving with a long thin carving knife into the thinnest slices you can manage. Arrange the slices on a platter and serve with the Chermoula and toasted pine nuts.

For everyone: Pork Belly with Apple Windows

I have a strange fascination for ecclesiastical objects – prayers stools, candlesticks, altar rails, certain arched windows, religious paintings, frescoes and cathedrals. I also have a little interest in hagiography (saints) and desert fathers even though I did not grow up even remotely catholic. So stained glass windows are right up there with favourite objects of colour and light. And this is how (I know it’s a push!) these translucent stewed apples have come to be named. They dress a truly heavenly pork belly.

2 fennel bulbs with stalks and fronds, roughly sliced

1 T fennel seed

3 garlic cloves, sliced

2 T vegetable oil

Salt and White Pepper

Flaked Sea Salt

2 kg pork belly, scored by your butcher (you could do this yourself with a ….knife or a sharp Opinel but you need to be pretty committed)

For the Apple Windows:

3 small granny smith apples

6 cloves

1 ½ cup sugar

1 cup water

For the best results, this recipe should begin the day before you plan to serve it. Our secret is allowing the pork belly to remain uncovered in the fridge overnight so that the skin becomes dry, consequently making better crackling!

On a baking sheet (or 2) toss the fennel with the vegetable oil and spread out on the baking sheet(s). Season the flesh side of the belly with salt and white pepper. Cut the belly into 12 x 7 cm slabs. Lay the slabs on top of the fennel, now scattered with fennel seed and garlic. Think of the fennel as props for the pork, offering it to the heat of the oven. Pack the slabs quite close together but do not overcrowd the baking sheet. Leave the pork in the fridge overnight, uncovered.

Preheat oven to160°C. Take the pork out of the fridge a good hour before you plan to roast it. Spread a generous amount of flaked salt into the cuts in the skin of the belly, especially toward the edges. You will use about 2 teaspoons on each slab.

Roast the belly for 2 ½ hours at 160°C. You could prepare the roast to this stage an hour or more before your guests arrive.

To make the apple windows, dissolve the sugar in the water together with the cloves in a small saucepan over medium high heat, stirring constantly. Cut slices of whole apple as thin as you can, 1 – 2mm thick. Plop the slices into the syrup, turn it down low and allow the apples to become translucent and glossy in the syrup, about 10 – 15 minutes. Set aside until ready to serve. Reheat while you are slicing the pork.

When you are ready to finish and serve the dish, crank the oven up to 220°C. Roast the pork in the hot oven for 20 – 30 mins until the skin is crackly, blistered and crisp.

To serve, slice each slab into 2cm slices (the scoring of the belly can be your guide), so that each person gets 2 or 3 slices of pork belly (to start!). Arrange on a warmed platter and drape the translucent spiced apple “windows” over the pork belly, being generous with the syrup.

For Tshepo: Tamarind Date Butter

Great with fish or in roasted sweet potatoes. Let your imagination run wild!

Where did I get this recipe from? Not really sure… but I think it went something like this:

250g butter, softened (not melted!)

1/4 tsp salt

2 T tamarind paste

8 good dates, pitted and finely chopped

1 tsp chili oil (optional)

2cm piece of fresh turmeric, grated or 1 ½ tsp ground turmeric

A few good grinds of black pepper

2 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Whip the butter to soften some more in your food processor. Then add all the remaining ingredients. Adjust seasonings according to your taste: more sour? More tamarind. Sweeter? More dates. Lay out the butter into a log on a piece of greaseproof/waxed/baking paper, shaping the log a little more and twisting the ends of the paper like a Christmas cracker.

To use, unwrap and add slices of butter to stuff in your sweet potato or on your fish.

For Everyone: Palm Sugar Chicken with Olive Parsley Relish

Sweet flavours (caramel palm sugar) with sour (sumac) and salty (olive) – they are all here! This is an exciting yet accessible chicken dish that could become one of your favourites! Try a dish out to see if you love it. Then serve it with confidence and without compromise. Your guests will love it! 8 chicken breasts, deboned, skin-on

Serves 8

1 cup palm sugar (the soft, sticky kind, often called jaggery), crumbled

Flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 T sumac

1 T dried oregano

½ c olive oil

1 c chicken stock

Olive Relish

½ c green olives, pitted, and roughly chopped

3 T roughly chopped Italian Parsley

Grated rind of 1 lemon

A pinch of salt

A pinch of sumac

2 T olive oil

Preheat the oven to 180°C

Season the breasts with salt and white pepper and lay out the chicken in a roasting dish.

Mix together the palm sugar, sumac, oregano, and olive oil. Spread this mixture liberally over the chicken. Pour the chicken stock between the breasts.

Bake at 180°C for 30 minutes.

For the olive relish, combine all the relish ingredients together in a small bowl.

When the chicken is done (you will be able to test it with your fingers), allow the chicken to rest for a good 15 minutes. Then slice the breasts into 2 – 3mm slices, holding your carving knife at a 30° angle to create large flat fanned slices. Using a large knife or fish slice move the breasts to a serving platter. Spoon over the sweet (palm sugar) sour (sumac) sauce over the sliced chicken. Spoon the relish over each slice and serve!

For Melissa: Baba Ghanoush

5 larger aubergines

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

½ tsp cumin

1 ½ tsp salt

1 tsp Za’tar

1 cup creamed cheese

100g Danish feta

¼ c tahina

Juice of ½ lemon

20g Italian Parsley

5 T olive oil for serving

Pinch of sumac for garnish.

Then peel off the skin and place the soft flesh in the bowl of the food processor. It’s a messy business but try and avoid too many charred bits getting into your Baba Ghanoush.

Blitz the aubergine with the garlic, cumin, Za’tar, salt, pepper, creamed cheese, feta, lemon and parsley into a dreamy spread.

Plate the baba Ghanoush on a small platter, plate or in a dipping bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sumac.

For Everybody: ASIAN CHICKPEA CAULIFLOWER SALAD

This is a Kylie Kwong inspired Salad that we have adopted to great effect at The Kitchen. The chickpeas take on the robust Chinese flavours and this dish has great depth. Don’t hold back on the coriander at the end.

Serves 8-10

2 cups of dried Chickpeas, soaked overnight and drained

1 ½ cauliflowers cut into florets

¼ c oil

1 ½ tsp table salt

4 cm ginger peeled and sliced julienne

3 garlic cloves, crushed

½ tsp cumin seed

½ tsp coriander seeds

½ tsp fennel seeds

½ tsp chili flakes

½ tsp Chinese 5 spice

1 ½ finely sliced chilies

2 T brown sugar or Moskonfyt

½ c tamari

½ c rice vinegar

¼ c extra virgin olive oil

30g roughly chopped coriander

¼ c lemon juice

1 tsp Maldon Sea Salt

In a large pot of boiling water, boil the chickpeas until tender (about 45 minutes). Allow chickpeas to cool in their cooking water, then drain.

Stir fry the cauliflower in three batches in a hot wok with 1/3 of the oil (each time) until dark golden brown and a bit caramelized on the edges. When all the cauliflower has been fried, add it all to the wok along with the chickpeas, sliced ginger, garlic and chilies. Add the salt and spices and stir fry together until the spices are swirled through the chickpea cauliflower mixture (2 minutes).

Now add the Moskonfyt, tamari, rice vinegar and lemon juice.

Lastly, add the olive oil and the roughly chopped coriander.

For Everybody: Mi So Nice Cabbage and Greens

When I first discovered that I could make food for people and that it could possibly be the way I make my living, my dear friend Eliza came to help me. It was the mid-Ninety’s and we didn’t know that we were skinny and gorgeous! We lived on a diet of Caesar Salad and Miso Soup. We bought the miso paste at Chinese supermarkets. Do you think it was all those probiotics in the fermented paste that accounted for our youthful radiance and our prolific output? Eliza, now mother to four boys (she still needs that miso!), is a priest living in Edinburgh.

1 Chinese cabbage or ½ regular cabbage

1 head of broccoli cut into florets

300g fine beans

1 sheet nori seaweed, cut into ½ cm strips

2 T sesame seeds

1 T vegetable oil

Salt and black pepper

Miso Dressing

2 rounded T miso paste

2 T vegetable oil

2 T rice wine vinegar

2 tsp grated ginger

½ clove of garlic

Toast the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan swirl-tossing the pan to prevent burning. Tip onto a plate and set aside.

Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Core the cabbage and slice it into 2 mm thick slices. Tail the beans.

Blanche the broccoli florets in plenty of boiling water for 3 minutes and remove with a slotted spoon to a colander. Rinse with cold water to arrest the cooking process.

Blanche the fine beans for 3 minutes, repeating the rinsing process.

In a hot wok with 1 T oil, stir fry the cabbage for 2- 4 minutes until you feel it to be just done.

Layer the cabbage, broccoli and fine beans on a serving platter. Drizzle a little of the miso dressing between each later, scattering the toasted sesame seeds and sliced nori as you go. Finish with a particularly generous scattering of sesame seeds.

For Francesca, gavin and bianca: Greens with tahini and crispy onions

½ cabbage, cored, sliced into ½ cm slices

600g spinach or swiss chard, thoroughly washed and roughly sliced

4 T vegetable oil, divided

2 cloves garlic, minced or grated

Salt & black pepper

4 T tahini dressing

3 onions, finely sliced

½ c flour, seasoned with a pinch of salt and white pepper

3 c oil for frying onion rings

Tahini Dressing

1 clove garlic, finely grated

6 T tahini

1 T warm water (or more if you want it less creamy)

Finely grated zest and juice of one lemon

1 tsp sugar

2 T olive oil

Whisk all together in a small bowl until combined.

In a small bowl, separate out the onions rings and toss them in the seasoned flour to coat. Heat the oil in a wok or a deeper saucepan and fry the onion rings until golden and crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen towel. Set aside.

In a large wok or deep saucepan, over high heat, stir fry the cabbage in a tablespoon of oil until just wilted, about 2 minutes. Fry the cabbage in two stages so as not to overcrowd the pan. Do the same with the spinach. Towards the end of each fry, add ½ tsp garlic and stir-toss with the cabbage and spinach. Place the fried cabbage and spinach on a warm serving platter. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle generously with the tahini dressing. Top with the crispy onions.

For Lisa: Sumac slaw

Powdered Sumac has a rich red spice from the Mediterranean that has a tart flavour, (a bit like the fleshy sour yellow flower stems you find in grass). Another of our favourite slaws, this one is cool, crisp and tart: a fantastic accompaniment to most Mediterranean dishes and great stuffed in a pita with our Falafel, Hummus and Tzatziki.

1 ½ white cabbage, very finely sliced

3 red onions, halved and very finely sliced

2 cups of roughly chopped Italian parsley

1 ½ c olive oil

2 T Sumac

Juice of 3 lemons

Salt and Black Pepper

Mix all the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl with two wooden spoons.

For Maggie - Green Harissa Cannellini with Spice Crusted Carrots and yoghurt

Both the elements in this dish – the green harissa cannelinis and the spiced carrots - are so versatile and delicious. Here we have combined them so that they can be served as a Main dish or an accompaniment. The spice rub would be great on all roasted root vegetables. The yoghurt offers creamy comfort to the spiciness of the carrots.

The Beans:

200g dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight and boiled in unsalted water for 45 mins to an hour

(or one tin of cannellini beans)

¼ cup green harissa paste

20g Italian parsley, roughly chopped

3 T olive oil

Salt and black pepper

Juice of 1 lemon

600g small carrots with tops trimmed to 2 cm, thoroughly washed and scrubbed

Or 600g large carrots cut into 7cm batons

Spice Rub:

1 tsp salt

1 T sugar

2 tsp English mustard powder

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 good pinch chili flakes

1 tsp cumin seed

1 tsp ground coriander

5 T vegetable oil

Freshly ground black pepper

For Assembling the dish

½ cup full cream yoghurt

1 T red harissa paste mixed with 1 ½ T olive oil (optional)

2 tsp freshly grated lemon or orange zest

If you are doing your own beans, put them on to boil while you make your spice mix. In a small bowl, mix together the salt, sugar, mustard, paprika, chili flakes, cumin and coriander.

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

On a large baking paper lined baking sheet, pour on the 5 tablespoons of vegetable oil.

Toss the carrots in the oil on the baking sheet and then toss with the spice mix. Spread the carrots out on the baking tray so that they are more-or-less in a single layer. If your tray looks too loaded, spread some carrots to another tray. Roast in the hot oven for 15 – 20 minutes until just tender and deeply coloured in places. (If you like, you could also fry the carrots in a cast iron pan in 2 batches until they are cooked and deep brown in places, about 6-8 minutes for each round).

In a medium mixing bowl, toss together the cannellini beans and 1 ½ T Green Harissa Paste. Season with salt and black pepper.

To assemble, spread the yoghurt over the middle of your serving platter. Scatter the green harissa beans over the yoghurt allowing some yoghurt to show. Sprinkle over half the chopped parsley. Spread the spice-crusted carrots over the top of the beans and season with some Maldon Sea Salt and a squeeze of lemon. Drizzle on the extra red harissa paste if using. Scatter the remaining parsley and the lemon or orange zest over the dish and it is ready to serve, warm (the carrots just out the oven) or at room temperature.

For Jade: Vegetable Paella Rice, adapted from Plenty

3 tbsp olive oil

½ Spanish onion, finely chopped

½ red, green and yellow pepper, deseeded and cut into strips

½ fennel bulb, cut into strips

2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

2 bay leaves

½ tsp smoked paprika

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp cayenne

150g rice

100ml sherry

1 tsp turmeric

500ml boiling vegetable stock

Sea salt

12 mini plum tomatoes

5 small grilled jarred artichokes, quartered

10 pitted Kalamata olives

2 tbsp roughly chopped parsley

4 lemon wedges, to serve

Heat the oil in a paella or large, shallow frying pan, then gently fry the onion for five minutes. Add the peppers and fennel, and fry over medium heat until soft and golden - about eight minutes. Add the garlic, cook for a minute, then add the bay leaves and spices, stir, add the rice and cook, stirring, for two minutes. Add the sherry and saffron, boil down for a minute, then add the stock and a third of a teaspoon of salt. Reduce the heat as low as it will go and leave to simmer for 20 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Do not stir: the low heat will prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Remove the pan from the heat. Taste and add salt if needed, but avoid stirring the rice and vegetables much. Scatter the tomatoes, artichokes and beans over the rice, cover the pan tightly with foil and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Take off the foil, scatter the olives on top, sprinkle with parsley and serve with lemon wedges.

for Becca: Celery Slaw with Dates and Seeds

In this salad, celery and its leaves play centre stage! It is such a good value salad, ticking the boxes of green, crunchy, and grounding. I would make double the pickled mustard seeds. They keep well in a jar in the fridge and are good on a host of salads, vegetables and even sandwiches. They also make a great hostess gift!

Pickled Mustard Seeds

3/4 cup brown mustard seeds

1 cup rice vinegar

6 T sugar

1 ½ tsp sea salt

Slaw

1 onion, thinly sliced

1/3 c olive oil

¼ cup rice vinegar

2 T light soy sauce

1 tsp sugar

Maldon Sea salt

2 long skinny cucumber or 8 Israeli cucumbers

1 bunch rocket (a 50g bag), tough stems trimmed

5 celery stalks, thinly sliced on the diagonal plus 1 cup of tender celery leaves

12 dates, pitted and sliced

3 T toasted sesame seeds

To make the Mustard Seeds (tremendously good with Brussel sprouts & other brassicas and all greens and on all salads):

Place the mustard seeds in a small bowl. Bring the vinegar, sugar and salt to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar and the salt. Divide the mustard seeds between 4 small sterilized jars. Pour the hot brine over the mustards seeds in the jars. Close immediately to seal. Allow to cool completely.

To make the salad dressing, fry the onion in a small saucepan over medium heat for about 4 – 5 minutes. Whisk in the vinegar, soy sauce and sugar and stir for 1 minute before removing from the heat.

Thinly slice the cucumbers lengthwise using a mandolin or vegetable peeler or your own super skill with a sharp knife.

Toss the cucumber ribbons, celery, some of the celery leaves and all dates in a large mixing bowl with the onion dressing. Toss in half the rocket, and arrange the slaw on a large serving platter. Drizzle about a ½ cup of the pickled mustard seeds over the salad and tuck in a few more rocket leaves and celery leaves.

For Pichulik: Spiced Butternut with Lentils and Feta

1 ½ kg butternut or pumpkin, peeled and cut into 4cm chunks

1 T ground coriander

1 T ground cumin

2 tsp sweet smoked paprika

1 tsp salt

3 tsp sugar

½ c vegetable oil for roasting

300g shallots or small onions, peeled

2 T oil for frying

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 ½ tsp finely chopped rosemary

300g lentils

¼ c olive oil

30g mint, finely shredded

200g Danish feta, broken into rough chunks

Pre-heat the oven to 190°C.

Boil the lentils in plenty of water until just tender, about 10 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, toss the butternut with the oil, spices, salt and sugar and lay out in a single layer on a baking paper-lined baking tray. Roast in the oven for 20 – 30 minutes until beautifully coloured and soft inside. You might need to stir the chunks halfway through to ensure even roasting.

Cut the small onions in half and sauté over medium heat in 2 T vegetable oil for 10 – 20 minutes until the onions become translucent and soft. Add the garlic, rosemary and fennel seeds and cook for a further 5 minutes. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, toss together the lentils, olive oil, onion mixture and season with salt and pepper. Gently toss in most of the roasted butternut together with every bit of sticky spice or juice from the baking tray. Reserve a few chunks for garnish. Arrange the lentil mixture on a serving platter and dot the spare butternut chunks over the top. Place the Danish feta chunks over the whole lot and garnish generously with the shredded mint.

For Florence & Christelle: Courgette Salad with Walnuts, Herbs and Parmesan

The lemon, herbs and olive oil really sing with these courgettes. The sliced marinated half of this salad can be made well ahead of time (these are always great things to know when you are entertaining) and the other half can be done later, even on a braai or griddle pan. The colours are marvellous and the flavours nutty. This is an opportunity to pull out your Le Creuset griddle pan.

½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Finely grated zest of 3 lemons

1 tsp sea salt

½ c extra virgin olive oil

24 small courgettes, thoroughly washed, rinsed and wiped dry

100 g walnuts, toasted

30g basil

30g mint

80g shaved Parmesan Cheese

Freshly ground black pepper

Start with the marinade. Whisk the lemon juice, zest, salt and black pepper together in a bowl and slowly whisk in the olive oil. Place in a shallower, non-reactive (pyrex, plastic, enamel) bowl.

Slice 2/3rds of the courgettes as thinly as possible. A good vegetable peeler could be helpful here. Drop the thinly sliced courgettes directly into the marinade. Cover and leave for at least an hour (if possible)

While the courgettes are marinating, line up all the other bits: shave the parmesan, toast the walnuts. Slice the remaining 1/3 of courgettes in long diagonal slices and toss in a tablespoon or two of vegetable oil and grill on a hot griddle pan for 2 – 3 minutes on each side. You should have nice impressive charred griddle lines on your courgettes.

Layer the marinated courgettes with the picked herbs, toasted walnuts and parmesan and the griddled courgettes. You want a pile of Salad with multi-textured courgettes rather than a flat lifeless one. Finish off with more parmesan, herbs and black pepper.