SPICY RED PEPPER HUMMUS

The super-sweet red pepper brings something special to hummus, with a throaty kick at the very end. Serve it with raw carrot and toasted pitta, cut into strips. Or you could serve a big dollop with a plate of roasted vegetables - squash, aubergine, tomato - as a simple dinner.

1 can chickpeas, drained (equivalent to 200g cooked chickpeas)
2 heaped dessertspoons Tahini (sesame seed paste, from supermarket)

Juice of 1 small lemon

3 cloves garlic, peeled

3 "Peppadew" peppers (from a jar)

2tbsp olive oil

1tsp salt

1tsp pepper

Using a food processor, blend the lemon juice, tahini and garlic with a few of the chickpeas, ensuring the garlic is finely pureed before continuing. Add the olive oil and most of the chickpeas, and blend to a smooth puree. Now add the seasoning, and the rest of the chickpeas, and the peppers, and pulse-chop until you get a textured hummus. Taste to see if it needs more lemon juice or seasoning. If it's too thick, add extra olive oil or a bit of warm water, and pulse to combine.

Hitipitiiiiiii
Greek red pepper and feta dip

This isn't a recipe of mine - it's from the brilliant 'Vegetables' by Sophie Grigson - but we ate it for lunch yesterday - with fresh focaccia and pumpkin hummous (recipe and piccy to follow) - and it was just sublime. We were actually fighting for the last scoop of the dish.

In fact, this is the first time I have cooked with feta cheese, and I plan to find a lot of new ways with it! If you get a red pepper in your veg box, if you like cheese (even a little bit), if you have a penchant for salt, if you love bread - do try this dip. If no bread in the house, cut up carrots or cucumber - whatever you need to do...

1 large red pepper
100g feta cheese, crumbled
2tbsp olive oil
0.5tsp paprika
Juice of 0.3 lemon

First, you need to roast the pepper - take off the top and the seeds, and roast in a moderate oven for about 30 minutes or until starting to blacken. Sophie says to remove the skins, but I didn't as I like the added smokiness. Tip into a blender and add the cheese, oil, lemon juice and paprika. Whiz to a grainy puree and spoon into a serving dish, scatter with extra paprika, and serve. Heaven in a bowl!

MIXED BEAN CHILLI

Having been on a life-long quest to perfect my vegetarian chilli, I admit I am a bit obsessive about this. For perfection, I will usually soak and cook the beans before turning them into this rich, thick and spicy chilli. When it comes to spiciness, hotter is always better - cooling down is what the lime-scented creme fraiche is for!

Madhur Jaffrey offers a (hopefully authentic) Texan Chilli recipe in World Vegetarian. It's good, but lentilly. I like lots of different shaped beans in this, dotted with bright green and red pepper chunks. Linda McCartney's recipe is good, but I think the addition of Tabasco and paprika makes mine shout louder. Oh, but the great thing Linda McCartney taught me is how to serve bean chilli. Ladle it onto hot, deep plates, surrounded by rice or nachos (preferably both), sprinkle with good grated cheese, and zap under a hot grill. Another great idea from Linda is to sprinkle roasted chunks of sweet potato (or even squash) over the chilli, before the cheese. You can adapt this and serve bowls of chilli with platters of squash wedges, nachos, wild rice and creme fraiche on the table. A feast fit for a carnivore.

BEAN CHILLI

2 onions, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1.5tsp paprika

1tsp dried or fresh thyme

1 red pepper, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1 tin tomatoes

2tsp tomato ketchup or puree

A good splash of Tabasco sauce

Sprinkle (0.5tsp) chilli flakes

200g cooked kidney beans (or 1 tin)

200g cooked chick peas (or 1 tin)

1tsp cornflour dissolved in cold water (optional)

Saute the onion, garlic, paprika and thyme very gently; add the peppers and allow to soften without browning. Add the remaining ingredients, and let the whole lot simmer for a good, long time. Taste for seasoning. It may need a pinch of sugar, a squeeze of lime juice, or extra Tabasco.

Serve with LIME & CORIANDER CREME FRAICHE: Tip a tub of creme fraiche into a pretty serving bowl. Beat it with the juice of half a lime, a pinch of salt, and a good tablespoon of finely-chopped coriander.

Dish up the chilli into bowls, sprinkle more coriander over the top, and serve with nachos, wild rice, guacamole, and creme fraiche. Or just bread. Who cares when the chilli's this good?!

OVEN-DRIED TOMATOES AND PEPPERS

Perfect for summer! Serve these gorgeous little things outside, with focaccia, hummous and a bottle of wine. Or eat in pitta with hummous, like I am right now. Toss through salad. Or just serve on a plate as part of antipasto.

Organic tomatoes and peppers, in season, produce the most astounding flavour. Better than shop-bought any day!

1 small punnet cherry tomatoes (from organic box)
1 large Romiro pepper (the pointy sweet one - from box)
2tbsp olive oil
1tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to about 100deg C (200deg F). Halve the tomatoes and the pepper (and de-seed the pepper). Drizzle generously with olive oil and sprinkle with the salt, pepper and vinegar. Put in the bottom of the oven (poss when something else is cooking) for about an hour, then leave to dry out in the oven.

The tomatoes should only be semi-dry and the pepper should be soft. Chop the pepper into chunks, put the whole lot (scraping the tin's juices) into a small pot, and cover with olive oil. Refrigerate until needed.

THE GENIUS OF KEN HOM

Peppers are obligatory for a stir-fry, if you ask me. Carrots and cabbage are very well, but a stir-fry should appeal to the eye as well as the palate, which doesn't really make them suitable for winter. (I wonder why our winter vegetables are all similar colours?) Anyway, we managed to get some peppers from Sainsburys last week and have been making the most of them: sweet and sour vegetables on Friday, a couple of Indian dishes on Sunday.

The page in my Ken Hom book with this recipe is covered in splashes. We eat it a lot. It's great with tofu (fry before adding the veg, as it takes longer).

KEN HOM'S SWEET 'N' SOUR VEGETABLES
(serve with egg-fried rice for protein!)

Mixed vegetables, enough for two from the following: carrot strips, broccoli florets, shredded cabbage, sliced peppers, bamboo shoots.
Cashew Nuts, toasted
Tsp Sesame Oil
Groundnut Oil for frying

Sauce:
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2tbsp tomato puree
1tbsp white wine or cider vinegar
2tbsp dry sherry (or martini!)
1tbsp soy sauce
1tbsp sugar
100ml vegetable stock

NB: I use a dessertspoon instead of tbsp, to reduce the quantities.

Combine the sauce ingredients in a cup. Heat the oil and stir-fry the veg, keeping it crunchy. Pour on sauce. Sizzle for a minute until the sauce is desired consistency. Serve, garnished with toasted cashews.

Sunday's Chana Massala (chickpeas) and Spicy Potatoes were more of an improvised event.

CHANA MASSALA starts with a few cloves, bay leaves, cardamom pods and cumin seeds being toasted in a pan; next add a paste of onion, garlic, chilli, 1 tomato, 2tsp tomato puree, 2tsp dried pomegranate seeds, and fry for a few minutes. Stir in chickpeas with 1tbsp cooking water, lemon juice, garam masala and fresh coriander to taste. This is best eaten at a temperature closer to body temp than boiling.

SPICY POTATOES was even more spontaneous, consisting of 1tsp mustard seeds, green chilli, half a green pepper, two cloves of garlic - finely chopped and gently fried - then some cubed, steamed potatoes, 0.5tsp turmeric, 1tsp coriander, 0.25tsp asaefotida, and salt and lemon juice to taste.