The Modern Cook’s Year

The seasoning, nutritional yeast, adds depth and umami and tastes much more complex and gentle than its ungenerous name suggests (though it is a great source of elusive B vitamins for vegetarians and vegans). If you don’t have it the soup will still be delicious without. Be sure to save the fronds from your fennel and leaves from your celery for finishing it prettily.

SERVES 4

olive oil

1 onion, finely sliced

1 leek, finely sliced

3 bulbs of fennel, trimmed and finely sliced, fronds reserved

3 sticks of celery, chopped into 1cm pieces, leaves reserved

1 carrot, peeled and chopped into rough 1cm pieces

8 cloves of garlic, very thinly sliced

a small thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and grated

1 lemon

1 teaspoon whole white peppercorns, plus more to taste

50g small pasta or broken up spaghetti pieces

extra virgin olive oil, to serve

FOR THE TOFU

200g firm tofu, sliced roughly into 1cm sticks

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 heaped teaspoon nutritional yeast

Pour a little olive oil into a large soup pot and place over a medium heat. Add the onion, leek, fennel, celery and carrot, turn the heat down low and cook gently for 20–30 minutes, until everything is very soft and sweet, without browning too much. Add a splash of water if it looks like anything is going to stick.

Add the garlic and ginger, cook for another couple of minutes, then squeeze in the lemon and add the peppercorns. Add 2 litres of cold water (or you can use vegetable stock) and a good pinch of sea salt. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20–30 minutes.

Once the soup is nearly ready, toss the tofu in 2 tablespoons of the soy sauce. Heat a pan with a little olive oil, fry the tofu over a medium to high heat until crisp then add the final tablespoon of soy sauce and toss quickly – the soy should stick to the tofu and give it a rich stickiness. Remove from the heat, add the nutritional yeast and toss again.

Roughly break or bash your pasta into bite-sized pieces or lengths, add to the soup and cook for another 8 minutes (or as long as your pasta takes). Taste and add more salt or water or even a squeeze more lemon. Ladle into shallow bowls, top with the tofu, some fennel fronds and celery leaves and a good drizzle of olive oil.

Pomelo and peanut winter noodles with carrot and coconut dressing

Cheerful and layered with flavour, this is a bright bowl that makes the most of January citrus. I use pomelo, but you can use another citrus if pomelo is hard to come by; clementines and blood oranges are both great. The carrot and coconut milk dressing makes more than you will need, which is intentional, as it’s easier to make in a big batch and I love having it in the fridge to use through the week. I have made suggestions on how else to use it opposite but if you’d prefer not to have extra, halve the ingredients.

I use 100 per cent buckwheat soba noodles, as I love their super savoury note, but any noodles you like would work here. If you are using soba, be careful not to overcook them and be quick to refresh them in cold water so that they don’t stick together.

SERVES 2 AS A MAIN MEAL, 4 AS PART OF A MEAL

200g soba noodles

200g shelled edamame (fresh or frozen)

½ a medium pomelo

2 big handfuls of watercress or other peppery leaves

100g unsalted peanuts, toasted

a small bunch of coriander, leaves picked

FOR THE DRESSING

50ml full-fat coconut milk

a generous pinch of ground turmeric

a large thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and grated

1 carrot, peeled

1 green chilli

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon maple syrup

2 tablespoons brown rice vinegar

1 shallot, peeled and roughly chopped

Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil and cook the noodles according to the packet instructions. When the noodles are nearly cooked, add the edamame to the pot for a quick swim. Remove from the heat, drain, rinse with cold water to stop the cooking and shake off as much water as possible.

Meanwhile, make your dressing. Put the coconut milk, turmeric, ginger, carrot, chilli, olive oil, sesame oil, maple syrup, brown rice vinegar, shallot and some salt into a blender and blend until very smooth. Taste and adjust, if needed, with more salt or vinegar, or any other ingredient you think might need a little boost.

Cut the peel from the pomelo and use your knife to slice between the membrane to cut it into segments, removing as much of the pith as you can.

Transfer the noodles and edamame to a large serving bowl, add a few tablespoons of the dressing and toss well. The noodles really absorb the sauce, so start by adding a couple of tablespoons at a time, then mix and add more if needed as you don’t want to drown them. Finish with the watercress, peanuts, pomelo and coriander and toss everything together gently.

How to use your dressing

• Add to grated winter roots with rounds of citrus and some toasted seeds

• Use it to finish a bowl of simple steamed rice and green veg and top with a few toasted nuts

• Use it to finish some flash-fried tofu and serve with rice noodles and some greens

• Toss a packet of feta cheese in a little of the dressing, then roast for 25 minutes until golden and toss through a salad of leaves or grains

Winter tomatoes with whipped feta

In the last few years I have been buying my favourite tomatoes of the year in the winter. January, February and March see a few winter tomato varieties make their way to UK shores from Spain and Italy: the salty Ibérico tomato; the pert and pleasingly green-flavoured Marinda and the deeply red, sometimes almost black Camone. They are an entirely different affair from the ripe summer fruits we think of when we talk about tomatoes. For me these have more interesting and individual flavours; you can taste the saltiness of the sea where some of them grow and the green scent of their vines comes through.

SERVES 2

50g stale sourdough bread

800g winter tomatoes (I like the Camone, Marinda and Ibérico varieties)

1 tablespoon of the best quality extra virgin olive oil you can find, plus a little extra

½ tablespoon sherry vinegar

the zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon

200g feta cheese

2 tablespoons thick Greek yoghurt

1 teaspoon nigella seeds

4 sprigs of marjoram or oregano, leaves picked

Preheat your oven to 220ºC/200ºC fan/gas 7. Roughly tear the sourdough into pieces and pulse in a food processor until you have rough breadcrumbs. A bit of texture is good here, so try not to go too far, otherwise your crumb will be too fine and sandy.

Toss the breadcrumbs in a roasting tray with a drizzle of olive oil, a pinch of salt and some black pepper. Place in the centre of the warmed oven for 4–5 minutes, or until the breadcrumbs have turned toasty and golden.

Meanwhile, cut the tomatoes into slices and wedges, keeping them quite irregular and making the most of the shape of each tomato. Place the lot in a bowl with the tablespoon of olive oil, sherry vinegar, lemon zest and a couple of generous pinches of salt and some black pepper. Leave to one side while you get on with the feta.

In a food processor, whip the feta and yoghurt together until the cheese is completely smooth and creamy. Taste and add salt if necessary, pepper and some of the lemon juice. Scoop into a bowl and top with the nigella seeds.

Spoon the tomatoes with their olive oil and vinegar on to plates and dot the whipped feta around the tomatoes to fill in any empty spaces. Sprinkle over the breadcrumbs, scatter over the marjoram and drizzle with a little more oil.

Cauliflower rice with eggs and green chutney

I make this because I love it. It’s quick and can be eaten from the bowl. Our weeknight dinners, and even dishes on restaurant menus, have more and more become a collection of elements eaten from a bowl. Often though, when I eat them outside of my kitchen I find they lack a cohesiveness – they need something to bring them together as a whole. That’s where a chutney or pesto comes in.

Here I use a quick, zippy chutney of green chilli, coriander and mint, with coconut backing them all up. This is my guess at a chutney made by a friend’s mum, a great Gujarati cook, that we enthusiastically pile on everything we eat when we are at their house. I haven’t had the nerve to ask for the recipe, as it seems a proud inherited family one; I hope this does it justice.

SERVES 4

FOR THE CHUTNEY

a large bunch of coriander

2 green chillies

a few sprigs of mint

juice of 1 lime

50g coconut cream

½ teaspoon runny honey

1 tablespoon groundnut or mild olive oil

800g–1kg cauliflower

coconut oil

6 spring onions, peeled and finely sliced

a thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 head of chard or other winter greens, stalks finely sliced, leaves roughly shredded

1 lemon

50g coconut cream

4 organic eggs

1 tablespoon nigella seeds

100g roasted unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped

First, make your chutney. Put half the coriander (reserving the rest for later) into a food processor with all the other ingredients and blitz until grassy green and smooth, adding a little water as you go if it looks too dry. You are looking for a spoonable consistency, a little thinner than a pesto.

Take the leaves and gnarly root off your cauliflower and chop it into big pieces, using the stalks too. Put them into the food processor and pulse until you have a rice-like texture. You could also use the coarse side of a box grater.

Put your largest frying pan on a high heat (if you don’t have a nice big one, two smaller ones will work). Add a large knob of coconut oil along with the spring onions. Cook for 5 minutes, until soft, stirring from time to time.

Meanwhile, grate the ginger and finely chop the stalks of the remaining coriander, keeping the leaves for later. Once the spring onion is soft, add the ginger and turmeric and cook for a couple of minutes, then season well with salt.

Turn the heat right up. Add the cauliflower rice and cook, stirring every couple of minutes to make sure all the rice gets a little browned on the bottom of the pan; this will take about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat another pan on a medium heat and add a teaspoon of coconut oil. Add the shredded greens, a little splash of water, a tiny squeeze of lemon juice and a good pinch of salt. Once the water has evaporated and the greens are wilted, take the pan off the heat and cover to keep warm.

Once the edges of the cauliflower rice have nicely browned, squeeze over the rest of the lemon juice and grate in the coconut cream. Cook until it has all been absorbed by the rice and there is a slightly caramelly smell. Push the rice to one side of the pan and spoon the greens into the other.

Put the pan that had the greens in back on the heat and add another teaspoon of coconut oil, then crack in the eggs and cook on a medium to high heat until the edges are crispy and the yolks are just cooked. Sprinkle the eggs with the nigella seeds and take off the heat.

Serve the cauliflower rice in bowls, topped with the greens, chutney, peanuts, crispy eggs and with the rest of the coriander leaves for sprinkling over the top.

Ways to use this chutney

• Next to any curry or dhal.

• To marinate paneer or tofu before frying or baking.

• Diluted with a little oil and used to dress a simple salad of grated carrot and shredded cabbage, topped with toasted cashews.

• On top of scrambled eggs.

• Mashed into some avocado for an Indian riff on guacamole.

• To add some punch to some roasted beetroots.

• Mixed with oil and a little lemon or lime juice as a dressing for any grain or rice salad.

Golden miso potato salad

Potatoes are pretty magical in all their forms: the crispy-edged golden brown crunch of a roastie; cloud-like mash; a little new potato, boiled and tossed with grassy green herbs, good oil and flaky salt… This warm potato salad has become a household staple, a dinner for cold nights and wet homecomings: bolstering, full of flavour and comfort. I bake the potatoes in miso until deeply golden brown, then slather them in a tomato and ginger dressing before mixing them with lentils and toasted almonds. A complete meal.

Although new potatoes aren’t around yet, I find this recipe works well with smaller potatoes, so I buy them from the loose bin and pick out the smallest ones I can find. If yours are bigger you might want to cut them in half or quarters.

SERVES 4

1kg small floury potatoes

2 teaspoons white miso paste

2 tablespoons olive oil

the cloves from 1 head of garlic, skin on

1 x 400g tin of Puy lentils or 250g home-cooked, (see here), drained

100g almonds, skin on, toasted and sliced

a handful of basil, leaves picked

FOR THE DRESSING

2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil, chopped, plus 2 tablespoons of their oil

the zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lime

a thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 220ºC/200ºC fan/gas 7.

Rinse the potatoes, scrubbing off any gnarly bits, and dry well. Mix the miso and olive oil with 1 tablespoon of water. Put the potatoes into a large baking tray or two smaller ones, add the miso mixture and toss well to coat.

Put the garlic cloves into the tray as well. Roast the potatoes until they are fluffy inside and golden outside: this should take 25–35 minutes depending on the size of your potatoes.

Meanwhile, make your dressing. Mix the sun-dried tomatoes and their oil with the lime zest and juice and the ginger, and mix well.

Remove the potatoes from the oven and spoon out the garlic cloves. Squeeze the softened cloves from their papery outsides, mash them and add them to the dressing.

Tumble the potatoes into a large bowl, add the lentils and the dressing and toss together. Top with the almonds and tear over the basil.

Roasted Savoy and squash with Cheddar and rye

In the colder months of the year I find it all too easy to lean on Asian, Indian or Mexican flavours to perk me up and create a bit of excitement when the offerings of the season have become a bit monotonous. But truthfully it’s at this time of year I want simple British flavours most, and this salad sings with them. The sometimes forgotten Savoy cabbage is roasted into crisp-edged wedges, more pleasing to me than the now ever-present roasted broccoli or kale, and paired with plump roasted squash, caraway seeds, a rye crumb and a mustard-spiked dressing, all finished with a crumble of sharp Cheddar (though vegans can happily leave this out). This dish is so rooted in time and place, and that’s when eating and cooking feels best to me.

SERVES 4

a small Delicata or butternut squash (about 500g)

1 Savoy cabbage (about 400g), tough outer leaves removed

olive oil

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

50g rye bread (about 2 thin slices)

2 tablespoons baby capers, drained

100g good sharp Cheddar, crumbled

FOR THE DRESSING

1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard

1 teaspoon honey

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

3 tablespoons good extra virgin olive or rapeseed oil

Preheat the oven 220ºC/200ºC fan/gas 7.

Halve and deseed the squash and cut into wedges 2cm thick. Cut your cabbage into eight chunky wedges. Place them both on a large roasting tray and sprinkle with a good amount of salt and pepper. Add a good drizzle of oil and the caraway seeds and roast in the hot oven for 35 minutes until the squash is soft and cooked through and the cabbage is golden and crisp and charred at the edges.

Meanwhile put the rye bread into a food processor and blitz until you have rough breadcrumbs – you still want a good bit of texture here. Put the crumbs on a baking tray with a drizzle of olive oil, a good pinch of salt, a generous grind of black pepper and the capers, and toast in the hot oven for 5 minutes until they smell toasty and have a pleasing crunch, being careful not to burn them – with the dark colour of the rye bread it can be easy to overcook them.

Mix the dressing ingredients, season well and put to one side.

When the cabbage and squash are cooked, take them out of the oven and tumble on to a platter with the Cheddar. Drizzle generously with the dressing, mix well, then scatter over the rye crumbs and take to the table.

Toasted quinoa, roast brassicas and spiced green herb smash

There is something about the burnished edges of a vegetable, especially brassicas, which suit the darker nights and more complex flavours I love. These roasted florets sit next to some lemon-scented toasted quinoa and are topped with a Yemeni herb and spice smash called skhug. It’s good stirred into hummus, to finish a soup or mixed with oil to dress a salad.

SERVES 4–6

1 small head of broccoli (about 400g)

1 small cauliflower (about 400g)

a pinch of dried chilli flakes

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

a good drizzle of olive oil

250g quinoa (see note above)

1 unwaxed lemon

½ a vegetable stock cube or 1 teaspoon of vegetable stock powder

100g almonds, skin on, toasted and roughly chopped

FOR THE HERB SMASH

a large bunch of coriander

the juice of 2 lemons

1 clove of garlic, roughly chopped

1–2 green chillies (depending on how hot you like things), roughly chopped

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

½ teaspoon ground cardamom (or the crushed seeds from 5 pods)

a pinch of ground cloves

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Preheat your oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan/gas 6.

Roughly chop your broccoli and cauliflower into small florets, about 2–3cm, and the stalks and root into thin slices. You want to cut your cauliflower a little smaller than the broccoli as it cooks a little slower. Place the lot on a baking tray with the chilli, cumin seeds and a good pinch of salt. Drizzle with the olive oil and roast in the hot oven for 20–25 minutes.

Next, cook the quinoa for a couple of minutes in a large dry saucepan over a medium heat, letting it crackle and toast. This will give it a deep nutty flavour. Once it is beginning to smell fragrant, cut the lemon in half, place both halves in the pan and quickly pour over 600ml of water. Crumble in the stock cube and bring the liquid to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, until most of the water has been absorbed. Top up with more boiling water, if needed, as you go.

To make the herb smash, put all the coriander, including the stalks, the juice of one of the lemons and the other ingredients into a food processor along with 2 tablespoons of cold water and blend on a high speed to make a smooth grassy-green sauce. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary, adding more lemon, garlic or oil as you see fit. (Any leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to one week.)

Once the brassicas are roasted and the quinoa is cooked, tumble them all into a bowl and pour over one third of the dressing. Scatter over half the almonds, mix well and finish with the rest of the almonds and a good squeeze more lemon.

Little pea and white bean polpette

This recipe is made out of stuff I always have on hand in the store cupboard, freezer and fridge. It’s at this time of year that I rely on these staples: frozen peas and preserved lemons add a flash of green and some freshness, an interruption from the roots and grains while we wait for the fresh green march of spring. I make a batch of these and turn them into a few meals: served with a grain and greens for dinner, in a wrap with some pickles or with spaghetti and a spiced tomato sauce (see here). I add a little Parmesan to balance the flavour here, but vegans can use nutritional yeast.

SERVES 4

FOR THE STORECUPBOARD SALSA VERDE

a small bunch of flat-leaf parsley

2 tablespoons capers, drained

1 tablespoon cornichons, drained

2 sun-dried tomatoes, drained

the zest of 1 unwaxed lemon

10 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

FOR THE POLPETTE

1 red onion, peeled and roughly chopped

2 cloves of garlic, peeled

2 teaspoons coriander seeds

a generous pinch of dried chilli flakes

olive oil

300g frozen peas

1 x 400g tin of white beans (or 250g home-cooked, see here), drained

50g breadcrumbs or roughly blitzed oats

½ a preserved lemon, flesh removed and discarded, peel finely chopped

1 teaspoon flaky sea salt

the zest of 1 unwaxed lemon

4 sun-dried tomatoes

50g freshly grated Parmesan (I use a vegetarian one) or 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180ºC fan/gas 6 (if you are baking your polpette).

To make the salsa, roughly chop together all the ingredients except the oil. Put in to a bowl and add the oil little by little, stirring well. Taste as you go – you may not need all the oil.

Put the onion into your food processor with the garlic, coriander seeds and chilli and pulse until the onion is finely chopped. Heat a frying pan, add 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and fry the onion mixture gently until it’s soft and fragrant. Next, add the rest of the polpette ingredients to the food processor with a good grind of black pepper and mix until the beans have been mashed and everything has come together.

Shape the polpette. Wet your hands and roll into balls using roughly a tablespoon of mixture for each one (you should get about 18), then place on a baking sheet. If you are baking them, drizzle the balls with a little olive oil and bake in the oven for 20–25 minutes, or until golden. To cook them in a frying pan, chill them for at least 20 minutes, then simply fry them in a little olive oil on a medium heat for about 10–15 minutes, turning every few minutes. Serve with the salsa verde.

If you are freezing the polpette, cook them for a few minutes less, then let them cool completely (they firm up as they cool down). Transfer to containers or bags and freeze.

Spelt with pickled pears and pink leaves

This warm winter salad has everything going for it. It’s the prettiest of salads, with gentle off-white celeriac and caramel-coloured spelt offset by the dusky rose of pink radicchio and the Expressionist pink and cream splatter of Castelfranco lettuce. If you haven’t guessed already, I love these bitter lettuces; they cheer up my January table and happily, they are now much more widely available, though a few heads of chicory would do fine in their place. Be careful not to use overripe pears; you need them to be a little on the firm side so they hold their shape as they cook.