We don’t do puddings every day – for health reasons mostly, though I do know a lot of people incorporate desserts into their healthy eating (fruit crumbles and fruit and yoghurt can be very healthy and there are lots of other fairly simple fruit-based desserts that can be a real treat). But we do have puddings at the weekends (Friday and Saturday, and sometimes Sunday, as well). Sometimes we’ll pick up something fancy (or semi fancy) if we go to the shop (trifle is a big favourite, as are various tarts, especially chocolate ones for me and the girls), but often it’s just a bowlful of ice cream.

The other week I decided to try glitzing up the vanilla ice cream a little and thought I’d have a go at making a cheat’s chocolate sauce. It went down so well, we’re now having it every time and even won over a playdate who was not at all keen on the idea.

Recipe: Really easy chocolate sauce

If you have a microwavable small jug, this works best.

Ingredients

• 2 heaped teaspoonfuls of chocolate spread (we have used Tesco Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread and also one called Duo, which we got from Home Bargains for 80p – I think the inclusion of hazelnut is really noticeable in the flavour, but I imagine it would work with plain chocolate spread too)
• 2 teaspoonfuls of water

Method

1. Zap in the microwave for 20 seconds (on high power)
2. Stir vigorously until fully melted and mixed together
3. Pour over ice cream (or pancakes, or whatever requires some chocolate sauce)
4. Eat. Probably very quickly.

We now have fancy ice cream whenever we’re having an easy dessert – vanilla ice cream, really easy chocolate sauce and a dollop of squirty cream. Yum, yum, yum.

The refried beans have always been from a tin – usually the Old El Paso variety – sometimes the mild ones and sometimes the spicy ones. In our mission to save money where we can, we wondered if we could make them cheaper ourselves. (Actually, when I say ‘we’, it was actually Chris’s idea; I’m not sure if it would ever have occurred to me to try to make some myself.) As it turns out the price is fairly similar, if not more expensive, depending on how much peppers are and how cheap you can get the kidney beans (we got some for around 12p a can), but… they are approximately a thousand times more tasty (though quite a different experience entirely, so it may not be fair to compare as a like for like).

Homemade refried beans

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 jalapenos (or 1 small chilli)
• 1 red pepper
• ½ tbsp olive oil
• 1 (400g) tin of kidney beans
• ½ tbsp balsamic vinegar
• ½ tbsp tomato purée
• ½ tsp cumin
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Very finely dice the onion, garlic jalapenos (or chilli) and red pepper.
2. Sauté the diced vegetables in the olive oil for 10 minutes.
3. Add the (rinsed) kidney beans, stir and leave for 3 minutes.
4. Add the vinegar, tomato purée, cumin and a bit of salt and pepper. Stir and cover for 10 to 12 minutes – on a very low heat.
5. Stir half-way through and add a bit of water if it’s drying out too much.
6. Mash so that it’s of a rough consistency (or you can purée if you prefer).

Accompaniments

While these are ideal in tacos, they are lovely on their own, with some rice or in a tortilla wrap. They make a really nice, warming dish for an autumn meal or are lovely on toast for an autumn lunch. Have a look at Viva Veg, over at Plus 2 Point 4 for some other autumn vegetarian dishes.

I made this recipe up to join in with the Big Fair Bake, which is a baking competition to celebrate and promote Fair Trade. Products with the Fair Trade mark on them show that they give a better deal (socially, economically and environmentally) to the producers. It means they’ve been paid a fair price and that they have decent working conditions.

We are lucky enough to have a Co-op as our local shop and they are brilliant in terms of Fair Trade. All their own-brand coffee and chocolate is Fair Trade, as is most of their sugar, bananas and a fair amount of their wine. We always buy our coffee there and never buy coffee without the Fair Trade mark. The vast majority of our chocolate, sugar and bananas are also bought there and are Fair Trade. It’s not a hard thing to do, but I do think it’s an important thing to do, if you can.

When I saw this Big Fair Bake competition, I really wanted to have a go, both because I love baking and because I think Fair Trade is really important. I knew I’d probably include bananas, as they’re one of the foods I strongly associate with Fair Trade, but wanted to come up with something a bit different to my normal baking. So I ran my eye over the shelves in the kitchen, looking out for the Fair Trade mark and found it on a packet of Pukka Vanilla Chai which has some lovely flavours – vanilla, cinnamon and cardamom. And I thought I’d see if I could include that in the recipe, somehow. I’d also recently bought some coconut oil and had been meaning to try it out (it’s supposed to be really incredibly healthy and low GI and all sorts of funky stuff like that, though it’s also hideously expensive and I couldn’t see any indication that the jar I have is Fair Trade – ah well, perhaps you can get Fair Trade coconut oil somewhere!).

Banana and Vanilla Chai Muffins

Makes around 24 muffins.

These come out very fluffy and airy and really quite moist. Make sure you have people to share them with!

Ingredients

• 75g coconut oil
• 75g soft brown sugar
• 75g caster sugar
• 3 roasted bananas, peeled and mashed (roast them for about 10 minutes in their skins)
• 150ml vanilla chai
• 50g yoghurt
• 2 eggs
• 225g self-raising flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1tsp salt
• 150g pineapple, crushed
• 100g carrot, peeled and grated

Method

1. Cream the coconut oil and sugars together (warm up the coconut oil a bit first, so it combines easily).
2. Add the bananas and blend.
3. Add the chai and blend.
4. Add the yoghurt and blend.
5. Add the eggs and beat.
6. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in.
7. Mix gently until thoroughly combined.
8. Add the pineapple and carrots and stir thoroughly.
9. Place into muffin trays (greased, if necessary) and bake for about 20 minutes on 160°C.
10. Remove from oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes.
11. Remove from muffin trays, using a spatula.
12. Leave to cool on a cooling rack.

Adaptations

These are lovely on the own, but you can also add a cream-cheese frosting and sprinkle with crushed walnuts or pecan pieces for a more decadent muffin.

Who says cereal bars are unhealthy? In my continuing search for healthy, but delicious sweet snacks I came up with these oaty fruity cake bars. They’re low GI, very healthy and great for making with children, especially if you have two children, as one can do the wet mixture and one can do the dry mixture. They are really delicious – lovely and moist and are a little reminiscent of bread and butter pudding. They use mayonnaise, rather than eggs and oil, which I’ve been trying out a bit in muffin recipes and thought I’d give a go here. It makes them a bit lower fat, but doesn’t make them fat free. It can be gluten-free, if you use gluten-free oats and gluten-free baking powder.

Ingredients

You will need two mixing bowls – one for the dry ingredients and one for the wet ingredients. If you’re baking with two children, let them be in charge of one bowl each.

Wet ingredients

• 3 bananas (really, really overripe, if possible)
• 2 heaped tbsp mayonnaise (we used Tesco’s own-brand mayonnaise, but I’m sure most types would work)
• ¼ cup light agave syrup
• ¼ cup dark agave syrup
• 2 apples, peeled, cored and grated

Dry ingredients

• 3 cups oats
• 1 cup buckwheat muesli (or trail mix or just a mix of dried fruits, cereal and seeds)
• 1 cup sultanas or raisins
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder

Method

1. Mush up the bananas really well and then mix in the rest of the wet ingredients.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients together, using a big wooden spoon.
3. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients.
4. Pour in the wet ingredients.
5. Mix together really well.
6. Line a large roasting tin with baking parchment and grease if necessary (we use a silicone-based parchment which doesn’t require greasing).
7. Pour mixture in and spread out until flattened down.
8. Bake at 180°C for 18 minutes, or until going brown on top.
9. Cool for 5 minutes.
10. Cut into bars or squares (or whatever shapes you want) and cool for another 5 minutes.
11. Remove from tin and cool on a rack for 10 minutes.
12. Eat. And see how quickly they disappear!

Adaptations

I’d like to try the recipe with just eggs and no fat and see if that works, as then they would be super healthy, then. I’d also like to try them with vegan mayonnaise, to see if that works as well. You could swap one cup of oats for another cup of buckwheat muesli or trail mix. You could use mixed dried fruit, rather than just sultanas.

I hope you enjoying making these Oaty fruity cake bars – do come back and let me know how they came out, if you do.

Ten Vegetarian Main Meals by Tasha Goddard

In case you haven’t noticed the links in the sidebar, I’ve published a little recipe eBook. It’s available in multiple formats, though my preferred one is the PDF version, because it’s much prettier, and recipe books should be pretty, really!

Ten Vegetarian Main Meals on Kindle
Ten Vegetarian Main Meals on Smashwords (multiple formats)
Ten Vegetarian Main Meals on Gumroad (pretty PDF version)
Ten Vegetarian Main Meals on Kobo Books
It’s also available on iBooks, but I don’t have a direct link. Search for “Ten Vegetarian Main Meals”.

This Mediterranean Vegetable Tagliatelle is a fairly simple pasta dish, but the flavours are very rich and dense. This sauce really does go best with tagliatelle, though linguine will also do the job. I wouldn’t serve it other pasta, such as penne or fusilli as it’s the combination of the long strips of vegetables and long strips of pasta that works so well.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 red onion
• 2 cloves garlic, very finely diced, or crushed
• 3 sticks celery, washed
• 3 large peppers (reds and yellows, preferably), cored and washed
• 1 large courgette, topped and tailed and washed
• 100g tomato purée
• 400g can of chopped tomatoes
• herbs for flavouring – I use basil and tarragon, ½ tsp of each if dried or 1 handful if fresh (torn up)
• lots of water for boiling (pasta should always be cooked in loads and loads of water)
• 300g tagliatelle

Method

1. Gently heat up the oil in a wok (or sauté pan or, if you have neither of those, a medium-sized saucepan will be fine, too).
2. Meanwhile, peel and slice the red onion, into strips (top and tail; cut in half, peel, and then cut along the lines) and add to the oil, with the garlic.
3. Slice the celery into long thin strips – probably about four strips to each stick – and add to the pan. Stir.
4. Slice the peppers into long strips (top to bottom) and add to the pan. Stir.
5. Slice the courgette into long strips of a similar size to the other vegetables. Add to the pan. Stir.
6. Leave on a low heat for a couple of minutes, while you set the water boiling for the pasta.
7. Add the tomato purée and stir.
8. Add the chopped tomatoes and stir.
9. Add half the herbs and stir.
10. Leave to simmer (and reduce) on a low heat while you boil the pasta.
11. When the pasta is ready, add the rest of the herbs and stir, before you drain the pasta.
12. Add the drained pasta to the sauce and mix thoroughly.
13. Serve topped with ground up black pepper (and Parmesan, or a vegetarian alternative, if you can – e.g. you’re not vegan or dairy free).

Accompaniments

These days, I try to always serve salad with pasta and, if I’m eating it, I eat a good-sized bowl of salad before the pasta, as this reduces the GI and the effect of the wheat (wheat tends to bloat me). But a nice mixed salad will go really well, even if you’re not worrying about GI and wheat!

Adaptations

Add some pitted black olives and some aubergine to deepen the flavours even more. Some fennel will give it a bit of a different boost, too. You could also use a non-wheat tagliatelle, if you need to completely avoid wheat.

I’ve only recently started trying out the slow cooker because, for some reason, I really associated slow cookers with cooking meat. Aly and Dawn have helped dispel this association and I have been experimenting with some vegetarian slow cooker recipes and hope to try out a few more. I feel that curries and chillis would work particularly well in a slow cooker.

This Slow Cooker Beany Casserole Recipe is very similar to my ‘normal’ beany casserole recipe. The big difference (in terms of ingredients) is that I didn’t use any oil, which I suppose makes it low fat, too. (That said, I excellent quality olive oil is really good for you, so don’t have a big problem using it in my cooking.) In terms of taste, I was surprised how different it turned out. I would say that it came out a lot fresher and lighter (perhaps to do with the lack of oil) and I could really taste the flavours from all the individual vegetables, where normally they have melded together. I think, therefore, doing it in the slow cooker makes it much more of a summery dish, and cooking it on the stove makes it more autumnal.

Slow Cooker Beany Casserole Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 large onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 medium carrots
• 125g fine green beans (or similar quantity – I use half a packet and save the other half for some risotto later in the week)
• 1 large courgette
• 3 sticks celery
• 5 new potatoes
• 1 can of beans (I used cannelini, but you could also use haricot or kidney, for example, or chick peas would also work well)
• 300ml stock (2 tbsp tomato puree, 2 vegetable stock cubes)
• Herbs to flavour (I used 2 tsp of an Italian herb mix, that we could from our local healthfood store)

Method

1. Chop all the vegetables up into small pieces (maybe about 1.5cm square).
2. Place them in the slow cooker.
3. Add the stock.
4. Mix.
5. Cook on high for two hours.
6. Cook on low for three hours.
7. Serve.

Adaptations

You might prefer to sauté the onions briefly and then follow the rest of the instructions, as I did find they weren’t quite the texture I prefer (though they had improved considerably by the next day, so it might just be a case of adding an extra hour on low).

If you are all happy with spiciness, I’d add some cayenne pepper and paprika and perhaps the juice of half a lemon.

Vary the vegetables according to season. The ones I’ve included are best in summer. For autumn and winter, you could bump up the root vegetables (e.g. turnip, parsnip, beetroot…) and cut out the courgette.

If you have a bigger slow cooker than we do (I think ours is only 1.5 litres), add another can of beans and maybe some lentils, too. An aubergine would go well, too, though I’d salt it and rinse it first.

Accompaniments

This is a perfectly balanced one pot meal, but you might also like to serve it with some crusty granary bread. The girls also like it with a bit of pasta and topped with some grated cheese. If you fancy a drink with it, red wine would probably be best, though white wine might work too, because it’s such a light dish.

I hope you enjoy the slow cooker beany casserole recipe if you make it. Please do come back and let me know how it turned out, if you do.

Ten Vegetarian Main Meals by Tasha Goddard

In case you haven’t noticed the links in the sidebar, I’ve published a little recipe eBook. It’s available in multiple formats, though my preferred one is the PDF version, because it’s much prettier, and recipe books should be pretty, really!

Ten Vegetarian Main Meals on Kindle
Ten Vegetarian Main Meals on Smashwords (multiple formats)
Ten Vegetarian Main Meals on Gumroad (pretty PDF version)
Ten Vegetarian Main Meals on Kobo Books
It’s also available on iBooks, but I don’t have a direct link. Search for “Ten Vegetarian Main Meals”.

Quinoa is amazing stuff. It’s technically a seed, but it’s used as (and therefore often called) a grain. It’s really high in protein and carbohydrate, but it’s really low GI, which means it will fill you with good energy. The trouble is, I don’t like it very much. I’ve tried using it instead of rice or couscous and I really don’t like the taste, and am not overly keen on the texture. I use quinoa flour quite a lot, and that’s great, but I really wanted to try getting it into my diet a bit more. So I thought of trying quinoa burgers. I had a look at various recipes for quinoa burgers and then came up with my own. And they were delicious! (The girls weren’t hugely impressed, though. They may well have gone with them if they’d been in burger buns, though, with cheese and ketchup!)

It looks a lot more complicated than it is. They’re actually quite easy to make, especially if you don’t mind getting out the food processor (something I’m much happier to do, since we sorted out our cupboard)! There is a lot of cooling and letting the burgers sit for a while, which can be annoying, but if you make up a big batch, you can freeze them and then they’re really, really easy!

Quinoa burgers: Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup of quinoa
• 1½ cups water
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 large onion
• 2 large carrots
• 1 medium courgette
• 2 sticks celery
• 1 pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp bouillon powder
• 2 tsp cajun spices
• 1 tsp paprika
• 3 slices bread (I used seeded batch)
• 1 can beans, drained (I used haricot)

Method

Cook the quinoa

• Rinse the quinoa.
• Soak the quinoa in cold water for 5 minutes.
• Drain and rinse the quinoa.
• Place the quinoa and water in a pan.
• Bring to the boil.
• Simmer for about 15 minutes. Keep an eye on it, as it can stick very quickly.
• Drain, rinse and set aside.

Cook the vegetables

You can do this while the quinoa is cooking.

• Finely dice the vegetables.
• Place the olive oil in a sauté pan (a frying pan or saucepan will also be fine) and put on a medium heat.
• Sauté the vegetables for about 10 minutes in the olive oil.
• Add the seasoning and keep on a low heat for about 5 minutes.
• Add the quinoa and beans, stir and keep on a low heat for another 5 minutes.

Make the breadcrumbs

You could do this while the vegetables are cooking.

• Place the bread (broken up into chunks) in a food processor.
• Whizz up ntil you have breadcrumbs.
• Set aside.

Mix up the burger mix

• Take about two thirds of the quinoa and vegetable mixture.
• Place in the food processor.
• Whizz up until it’s a thick paste.
• Add about a third of the breadcrumbs.
• Whizz up some more.
• In a large mixing bowl, mix the paste, remaining breadcrumbs and remaining quinoa and vegetable mixture together.
• Leave to cool for an hour.

Make the burgers

• Shape the burgers into patties or balls (I did some large ones for us and some small ones for the girls).
• Put them in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
• (If you’re going to freeze any, this is the point to do so. Wrap them in some baking parchment and pop them in a bag or box in the freezer. They should keep fine for a month.)
• Cook the burgers
• Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
• Put the burgers in the oven (we have a silicone lining to place on our oven trays; if you don’t have something like this, then you will need to oil the tray).
• Cook for 20 minutes (or 25 minutes if cooking from frozen).

Accompaniments

We served ours with a salad and roast potatoes, which worked very well. (We had a glass of red wine with it, too.) Next time, though, we plan to try them with haloumi and perhaps a Moroccan-style spicy chick pea casserole. We think they’d also be delicious served in a ciabatta bun with haloumi and a spicy relish.

Adaptations

You can change this loads to suit your own tastes, really, or to suit what vegetables you have available. For example, you could use root vegetables in the winter (carrots, parsnips and sweet potato, perhaps). Or you could use more beans. Or you could make it spicier. Or you could remove all the spices and make it more Italian with some extra garlic and oregano, and maybe some chopped tomatoes. As long as you have the quinoa and breadcrumbs, you can just add whatever you want and experiment as much as you like.

My little recipe book

In case you haven’t noticed the links in the sidebar, I’ve published a little recipe eBook. It’s available in multiple formats, though my preferred one is the PDF version, because it’s much prettier, and recipe books should be pretty, really!

Ten Vegetarian Main Meals on Kindle
Ten Vegetarian Main Meals on Smashwords (multiple formats)
Ten Vegetarian Main Meals on Gumroad (pretty PDF version)
Ten Vegetarian Main Meals on Kobo Books
It’s also available on iBooks, but I don’t have a direct link. Search for “Ten Vegetarian Main Meals”.

Well, it seems that we’re still not having a summer. It’s the school’s ‘Summer Sizzle’ today, which looks like it’s very likely to be moved in doors, due to the weather, though it’s early yet, perhaps we’ll be lucky and it will turn into a scorcher.

It seems that, instead of salads and light, summery meals, it’s still all about the warming comfort food (or are you pretending and going with the summer food, anyway?). We’ve been having lots of beany casseroles (I’ve started experimenting with the slow cooker, actually, so will be posting a slow cooker beany casserole recipe soon), but probably the best bad-weather comfort food ever is cauliflower cheese. For us, cauliflower cheese is a meal in itself (though usually served with potatoes of some kind). I often see it as a side dish, as one of the veg to a ‘meat and two veg’ meal and I wonder at how anyone could eat it as a side dish and still be able to move about afterwards. It’s very heavy and very filling. Perfect for a rainy day, indeed.

Cauliflower cheese

Ingredients

• 1 large cauliflower, or 2 small ones, washed and cut into florets
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into thick slices (about 2cm)
• 100g butter
• 4 tablespoons plain white flour
• 1 teaspoon mustard powder
• 1 teaspoon vegetable bouillon powder
• 250g extra mature cheddar, grated (set aside two handfuls for topping)
• milk (probably around .75 litre)
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 slices of stale wholemeal bread
• a couple of handfuls of the grated cheese from the cheese sauce

Method

• Boil the cauliflower and carrots for about 10 minutes (or you can steam them for 15 minutes).

Meanwhile, make the cheese sauce.

• Melt the butter in a largish saucepan (non-stick, ideally) on a high heat.
• Mix together the flour, mustard powder and bouillon powder.
• When the butter is completely melted, add the flour mixture and stir until you have a roue (thick paste).
• Gradually pour in some milk, stirring continuously. The sauce will thicken considerably. Keep adding milk and stirring, until the sauce starts thinning out to the consistency you want (thicker than pancake batter, thinner than cake batter).
• Take the pan of the heat. Add the grated cheese and stir until it’s melted in.
• Note: It’s essential to take the pan off the heat when you add the cheese, otherwise you lose a lot of the flavour.
• Preheat the oven to 200°C.
• Mix the cauliflower, carrots, cheese sauce and frozen peas together and place in a dish (we like to use a large oval dish these days, but we used to do it in a deep pyrex dish).
• Grate the bread and mix with the set aside grated cheese, then sprinkle over the top of the dish to cover the cauliflower cheese.
• Cover with tin foil and cook for 20 minutes.
• Remove the tin foil and cook for a further 15 minutes (or place under the grill for 5 minutes).

Accompaniments

We tend to have this with mashed potatoes. Place potatoes to boil at the same as you put the dish in the oven, mash, then mix with butter and salt. This is very heavy on the butter, though. You can also serve it with crispy roast potatoes. Or you could leave out the potatoes and have a fresh green salad to start with in order to lighten it a bit.

Adaptations

You can add different vegetables in – boil/steam with the cauliflower or add in just before mixing depending on how long they usually need to cook. You can also add some chopped up veggie hot dogs for a different flavour. You can also combine the cauliflower with broccoli (sometimes I’ve had to do this because the cauliflower I’ve bought has turned out to be tiny).

Drinking suggestions

This really is perfect with a pint of ale, or even porter. Red wine goes quite well, too. And, if you want to lighten the meal, you could have some sparkling water mixed with the juice of one lime.

My little recipe book

In case you haven’t noticed the links in the sidebar, I’ve published a little recipe eBook. It’s available in multiple formats, though my preferred one is the PDF version, because it’s much prettier, and recipe books should be pretty, really!

Ten Vegetarian Main Meals on Kindle
Ten Vegetarian Main Meals on Smashwords (multiple formats)
Ten Vegetarian Main Meals on Gumroad (pretty PDF version)
Ten Vegetarian Main Meals on Kobo Books
It’s also available on iBooks, but I don’t have a direct link. Search for “Ten Vegetarian Main Meals”.

I made a couple of versions of Priya’s lasagne – one with buckwheat pasta and one with a barley and quinoa flour pasta. I preferred the latter one, though that may have been because I pre-cooked the pasta (my pasta comes out quite thick and can be a little too chewy, otherwise). But then it crossed my mind that it could be done as a pancake cake instead, which would give thinner layers and mean I wouldn’t have to do lots of patchwork fixing of pasta – plus, I’m a whizz at pancakes and not very good at pasta! It turned out even more delicious than the originals (my versions, at least). I also added aubergine to the tomato sauce because courgette and aubergine go really well together and because the aubergine gives the sauce a lovely thick texture.

It does take a while to make – probably a couple of hours in total – but it really, really is worth it.

Ingredients

For the pancakes

Note: this should make a few extra pancakes, to make up for potential mistakes or, if there are none, to fill with chopped strawberries and chocolate spread for dessert. In theory, you should be able to halve the quantities, but I find that doesn’t seem to work and this is the optimum amounts for everything.

250g buckwheat flour

50g quinoa flour

salt

2 eggs

1–2 pints milk

For the aubergine and tomato filling

1 large aubergine

table salt

1 onion

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tube tomato puree

2 tbsp water

400g tin chopped tomatoes

For the creamy courgette filling

2 onions

½ tbsp olive oil

2 large courgettes

250g mascarpone

50g Parmesan (or vegetarian alternative – Bookhams sell one online)

To top

50g grated cheddar

Method

Pancakes

Note: If you have your own method for making pancakes, do use it – this is my way, but it doesn’t necessary mean it will work for you!

In a large bowl, place the flours and salt.

Mix well.

Make a hole in the middle.

Crack the eggs into the hole.

Using a wooden spoon, mix (quite hard) the egg and flour mixture together, gradually (i.e. you’re taking bits of flour from around the hole and gradually mixing it into the egg).

As the mixture gets thicker, gradually add milk, while continuing to mix hard.

Keep adding milk until you’ve combined all the flour and you have a fairly thin batter – probably about twice as thick as milk, and a lot thinner than cake batter.

Using kitchen towel, wipe a small amount of rapeseed oil around a medium non-stick frying pan (I find they work better than large or small ones) and place on a medium to high heat for about 2 minutes.

Take about a ladle-full of batter and pour it into the centre of the pan, then tilt the frying pan round until the whole of the frying pan base (not the sides) is coated – if there’s still liquid batter, keep tilting round to make a consistent coating.

Cook until the edges look like they’re curling slightly.

Using a (non-stick) fish slice, gently lift the edges to check they come away easily.

Shake the pan gently to loosen the pancake from the pan and then toss. (You can also just flip the pancake using the fish slice, I you’re not confident at tossing pancakes.)

Cook briefly on the other side, then toss or flip again to check it’s browned.

When it’s browned on both sides, place it on a plate.

Re-oil the pan, and repeat, until you’ve made all your pancakes.

Aubergine and tomato filling

Finely dice the aubergine.

Place it in a colander over a bowl.

Cover in table salt and leave for half an hour (or while you make the rest of the sauce).

Peel and finely dice the onion, then soften in olive oil on a low heat.

Add the tomato puree and water and stir on a low heat for 5 minutes.

Add the tin of tomatoes and simmer for 15 minutes.

Rinse and pat dry the aubergine.

Add to the tomato sauce and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Creamy courgette filling

Peel and finely dice the onions then soften them in the olive oil on a low heat.

Meanwhile, grate the courgette.

Add the courgette to the onion and cook on a low heat for 10–15 minutes.

Turn the heat off and stir in the mascarpone and the cheese.

Put them together

Choose a round casserole dish that has a lid – we have a Pyrex one, which means you can see the finished dish through it, but a cast iron one would work fine, too – and find a bowl with a rim of about the same size. Cut down your pancakes so they will fit nicely in the dish.

Place one layer of tomato, a pancake, a layer of courgette, a pancake… etc. until you run out of either mixture or space (probably the latter).

Top with grated cheese.

Cover with the lid and cook in the oven at about 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4 for about 20 minutes.

Remove the lid and turn the oven up and cook for a further 10 minutes. (Or you could grill it instead for maybe 5 minutes.)

Serving

Serve with roasted new potatoes (cut new potatoes in half or quarters, depending on size; place in a roasting tin with 2 tbsp olive oil and liberal sprinklings of sea salt) and a plain fresh salad (leaves, cucumber and tomato). (And a glass of red wine will go down nicely.)

Adaptations

You can use ordinary wheat pancakes, though the buckwheat ones are particularly light.

You could use different fillings – whatever fillings you use for your normal lasagne, for example – though I think this combination works especially well. In autumn, perhaps you could try roasted butternut squash for one layer and spinach and feta for another.

This is seriously delicious stuff. Just writing the recipe and seeing the pictures has my mouth watering and I think I may just have to cook it again, tomorrow.

Again, I’ve combined some elements to make it easier to make a full meal for both vegans and vegetarians. Of course, you can also choose to do one or the other.

Ginger, rhubarb and lemon mini cheesecakes with strawberries

Ginger, rhubarb and lemon mini cheesecake with strawberries

Ingredients

Ginger biscuit base

Rhubarb purée

Zest of two lemons

250g mascarpone

100ml whipped cream

30g icing sugar

Strawberries to decorate

Method

Push the biscuit base into silicone muffin trays (probably about 5mm depth).

Add a layer or rhubarb purée on top.

Mix together the lemon zest, mascarpone, whipped cream and icing sugar, until smooth.

Add on top of the biscuit and rhubarb purée.

Chill for at least an hour, then gently press out from the muffin cases.

Top with slices of strawberries and put some on the side of the plate, too, to decorate.

Adaptations

You can use a plain digestive base, rather than ginger. You could use a strawberry purée instead of rhubarb, or no purée at all. You could also use small dices of rhubarb instead of a purée. And it would probably taste nice and look good with a chocolate sauce drizzled around the cheesecake. As an alternative to mini cheesecakes, you could make a single one and cut into slices, instead.

Ginger and chocolate tartlets with strawberries

Ginger and chocolate tartlet with strawberries

Ingredients

Ginger biscuit base

Rhubarb purée

2 avocados

30g cocoa

30g icing sugar

Strawberries for decorating

Method

Push the biscuit base into silicone muffin trays (probably about 5mm depth).

Add a layer or rhubarb purée on top.

Peel and stone the avocado then whizz it up in a food processor until it’s as smooth as you can get it. Gradually add in the cocoa and icing sugar until you’ve got a reasonably thick paste (mine was a little too soggy, so I’ve increased the quantities here, but you might need to increase them more).

Fill the muffin cases up with the chocolate and avocado mixture.

Chill for at least an hour, then gently press out from the muffin cases.

Top with slices of strawberries and put some on the side of the plate, too, to decorate.

Adaptations

You can use a plain digestive base, rather than ginger. You could use a strawberry purée instead of rhubarb, or no purée at all. You could also use small dices of rhubarb instead of a purée. And it would probably taste nice and look good with a strawberry sauce drizzled around the tartlets. As an alternative to tartlets, you could make a single one and cut into slices, instead.

Components for the desserts:

Ginger biscuit base

I had quite a lot of pastry left over from my main courses, so I used that and made my own ginger biscuit base. You could also just use some crunched up ginger biscuits – make sure they’re vegan if you’re doing the vegan dessert, of course.

Ingredients

About 150g pastry

Large piece of ginger, peeled

4 tbsp sugar (I used normal white caster sugar, but Demerara would work well, too – a crunchy sugar works best, though)

50g vegan margarine (or butter, if you’re not making the vegan dessert)

Method

Roll the pastry out and place on a greased baking tray (or in a silicon baking dish) (it doesn’t matter if it’s all in one piece or lots of pieces, as you’re going to break it up into bits later)

Grate over the ginger

Sprinkle over 3 tablespoons of the sugar

Bake for about 10 minutes at about 180°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.

Allow to cool.

Bash with a rolling pin to break it up into little pieces (roughly breadcrumb size). (Note, if you’re using shop-bought biscuits, this is where you start.)

Melt the margarine or butter in a saucepan.

Add the biscuit crumbs and the sugar.

Stir for a few minutes, until well combined.

Rhubarb purée

Ingredients

4 large sticks of rhubarb, washed and chopped into large chunks

Juice of 1 lemon (use one of the ones you’re zesting for the vegetarian dessert, if you’re making it)

1 tbsp sugar

Method

Cook on a low heat for about 15 minutes.

Push through a sieve, or whizz up with a hand processor.

Other vegetarian and vegan Easter dessert suggestions

Vegetarian

Pancakes filled with strawberries and chocolate and served with whipped cream

Strawberry sponge topped with rhubarb and drizzled with chocolate sauce

Strawberry and rhubarb custard tartlets

Vegan

Rhubarb crumble

Strawberry and rhubarb towers filled with chocolate ganache (thin slices of lightly steamed rhubarb and raw strawberry layered with the chocolate and avocado mixture like in the tartlets)

Blinis with strawberries and chocolate sauce

Don’t forget to look at the starters and main courses, too.