TWO WAYS WITH BEETROOT

We had a bag of beetroots in the box on Friday and it has taken me too long to do something with them. I toyed with a Borscht soup (vibrant with vodka), a roast beetroot salad (too summery), or Beetroot Stroganoff (which I am convinced would work, but worried about the colour).

In the end I just threw them all in the oven at about 200 degrees, skin and all, to roast - maintaining all the colour and vitamins - then split the batch in half. With half of them (4 medium-small beetroots) I made a version of Sophie Grigson's Beetroot Dip, which follows below. It's only been a couple of years since I discovered that beetroot are marvellous, whichever way you eat them.

BEETROOT, PHILLY AND RED LETTUCE ON WALNUT BREAD
The other half I sliced and quickly sauteed in olive oil with a splash of good Balsamic, to eat in an open sandwich of walnut bread, full-fat cream cheese and crunchy, red lettuce (pre-dinner snack). So simple, but surprisingly wonderful.

RAVISHING MIDDLE-EASTERN DIP
4 medium-small beetroot, roasted for an hour, peeled and chopped
1tsp cumin seeds
1tsp coriander seeds
1.5tbsp creme fraiche
Juice of 0.25 lemon
0.5tsp salt
Several twists of pepper

Dry-fry the cumin and coriander seeds until aromatic (be brave - leave in the pan until slightly dark). Crush with a pestle and mortar. Throw the chunks of warm beetroot into a blender or processor with the creme fraiche, spices, lemon juice and seasoning - the result is startlingly puce. Tip into a serving bowl and garnish with chives. Serve at room temperature with breadsticks and crudites... This would also be nice served alongside hummous, falafel, baba ghanoush, and flatbreads.

BREADMAKER WALNUT LOAF

Mm, this is baking right now and I am dying to have a warm slice with cream cheese and maybe some caramelised onion pickle. Or beetroot? Well, anyway, I am looking forward to lifting it out of the tin, all warm and bready, like a proper domestic goddess. I've improvised this from the regular wholewheat recipe, which makes a light wholewheat bread with a very crusty crust. Walnut oil isn't as expensive as you might expect - mine was £1.50 from Sainsbury's.

If you don't have a breadmaker, the January sale is the time to buy one! Even if you don't eat bread on a daily basis, it's worth the cost for weekend toast alone. I use the timer to have bread ready, the smell wafting upstairs, on a Saturday morning. Slice, toast, and add egg or jam. I also use mine for pizza and focaccia, a crowd-friendly tear-and-share bread that already has fans in my family.

1.5tsp dried yeast
1.5 cups wholemeal flour
1.5 cups strong white flour
2tbsp walnut oil
1tsp caster sugar
1tsp rock salt
1 cup warm water
Large handful chopped walnuts

Add the ingredients to the bread pan in the order above. Put the walnuts in the fruit/nut compartment (or add when the machine orders you to). Set to BAKE RAISIN on the wholemeal setting.

Go on, give it a try... ARTICHOKE RECIPES

Jerusalem artichokes may not be in your vegbox - they're special order only with my scheme - but they're available about now. And it's ABOUT TIME! This unpopular, windy vegetable is entirely unattractive but, like the celeriac or the sweet potato, their beauty lies within. Although I only discovered it a couple of years ago, I thought I'd post some of the ideas I've tried, and encourage you to try it too. You might hate it, but you can always throw it in the bin and go to the chippy.

CARROT AND ARTICHOKE SOUP

This is Delia's favourite soup - she says she likes to keep people guessing regarding the 'secret' ingredient!

450g carrots, peeled and chopped
700g jerusalem artichokes, peeled, chopped, and dropped into a bowl of lemon-scented water
1tbsp butter
2 pints stock made from Marigold bouillon
Salt and pepper

It's easy as pie. Saute the carrots and artichokes gently in the butter for about 10 minutes on a low heat (avoid browning). Add the stock and simmer for about 20 minutes, then cool, puree, and season generously.

LEEK AND ARTICHOKE SOUP

This is a totally fabulous soup and possibly the best place to start with artichokes. You'll be instantly convinced, I know it. Replacing the potatoes of Vichysoisse with chopped artichoke was a stroke of genius - resulting in a velvety, rich, and glam-looking white soup. Garnish with croutons or snipped chives. Just please, please try it...

2 leeks (white part only - be strict!)
500g Jerusalem artichokes
1 scant tsp lemon juice
1dsstsp butter
2tsp Marigold Bouillon powder
0.5tsp salt
1tbsp single cream

Chop the leeks roughly, and put them with the butter in a large saucepan. Sprinkle the lemon juice into the pan and now prepare the artichokes as quickly as you can. Peel and chop one at a time, stirring it into the lemony, buttery pan straight away. This prevents the artichokes from discolouring, which they'll do very quickly if left on the chopping board. (It doesn't alter the taste but this soup is such a lovely white colour if you take care!)

Saute the leeks and artichokes very gently in butter, letting them soften and become buttery but not brown. Next, add the stock powder, cover with water, and simmer for about 20 minutes. Cool, add the single cream, then puree, add some salt, and serve with snipped chives.

ARTICHOKE AND POTATO GRATIN

I didn't weigh the quantities here: look at your gratin dish and judge accordingly.

Peeled and sliced artichokes and potatoes (half-and-half)
0.5 pint milk
0.5 pint vegetable stock
Butter

Boil the potatoes and artichokes very briefly - about 5 minutes max - and drain, running cold water over to stop them crumbling. Layer them carefully in your dish, seasoning between, and then pour over the milk/stock mixture. Dot the top with butter and bake on a medium heat for about 1 hour. (Cover with foil if you don't like the crunchy brown bits on the top.)


More ways with artichokes...
Abel and Cole suggest sauteeing with butter, then braising them in white wine with a sprig of rosemary, and adding a splash of double cream at the end. You can also add some chopped artichoke to your mashed potato pre-mashing, like celeriac.

RUSSIAN VEGETABLE SOUP

Doing lots of cooking at the moment, because work is winding down ready for Christmas hols (ours start on Friday!). On the weekend we had Good Food's scrumptious Pumpkin and Parsnip Cassoulet (great way to disguise horrid parsnips - why oh why did I order 2kg extra last week?!). Yesterday we had this wintery vegetable soup.

Because we're leaving on Friday, I am trying to use up the veg from the rack. This soup makes good use of plenty, and tastes much more interesting than the recipe suggests. It's adapted from Cranks Vegetarian Restaurants' recipe - I've added Russiany herbs to give it a distinctive flavour. Yum!

SERVES 3

1 onion, chopped finely
1tsp butter
2 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
1 medium parsnip, peeled and sliced (core and all)
2oz (a handful) white cabbage, shredded
3 small/medium carrots, sliced
2 cloves garlic
2 pints vegetable stock
Pinch nutmeg
1tsp dried dill
1tsp dried tarragon
Generous pinch salt
Generous grinding of pepper

Melt the butter and saute the onion for a few minutes until translucent. Add the rest of the vegetables and cover the pan; leave for about 15 minutes on a low heat until they start to soften and get a golden glow. Add the garlic, herbs, seasoning and stock. Simmer gently for a further 20 minutes. Cool, then puree in a blender. Reheat and serve with fresh bread.

LEEK AND POTATO PASTIES WITH SAGE
This is rather a prized recipe of mine, and I post it with some reluctance, having spent a lot of time perfecting it. Delicious hot with beans and equally good cold, with ketchup. It's a good use of the leeks that arrive all autumn, and I always keep a pot of sage in the garden.

Makes 6
1 leek, finely chopped
2 medium potatoes, peeled, chopped and boiled
1 handful spinach, shredded (optional)
0.5 tub of creme fraiche
2tbsp chopped sage
1tsp Marigold bouillon
2tsp wholegrain mustard

Pastry - either Delia's wholewheat shortcrust, or ready-made shortcrust or puff.

Put the leek and spinach in a saucepan with a drizzle of olive oil, and leave to saute for a few minutes. Put the potatoes in a bowl with the creme fraiche, sage, bouillon and mustard, and mash together. Season generously.

Add the spinach and leeks to the potato mixture and set aside.

Roll out the pastry quite thinly and cut into rounds (using a saucer). Place on a baking sheet. Next, brush the edges with beaten egg, and put a tbsp of filling on each circle. Bring the sides together to form a half-moon pasty, and pinch the edges together firmly.

When they're ready, brush with the egg, and put into a preheated oven at about 180 degrees C for 20 minutes, until golden.

COURGETTE, LEMON AND TARRAGON TART

Sunny herbs and lemon make courgettes ever-so-much-more interesting. Serve with potato salad and green things, plus a bottle of chilled rose - perfect!

2 courgettes, finely sliced
0.5tbsp olive oil
1tsp tarragon, chopped
Squeeze lemon juice (about 0.25 of a lemon)
Salt and pepper
Puff pastry - half a packet (won't catch me trying to make this)!

Slice the courgettes very thinly and leave in iced water, then drain, dry and soften gently in a large frying pan. Remove and toss with the olive oil, lemon and tarragon, then leave to infuse. Roll out the pastry and put onto a baking sheet. Score around the edge, leaving a 2cm gap. Now arrange the courgettes prettily over the pastry. Sprinkle the seasoning and remaining marinade over and add extra tarragon if you like it.

Bake for about 20 minutes until the pastry is golden and the courgettes are lightly tinged. Serve with new potatoes and rocket salad.

RIVER CAFE BEANS ON TOAST
(for one)

One good (or bad) thing about working from home is having the time and space to whip up something interesting for lunch.

The River cafe recipes are always more amazing than they sound on paper. Beans, spinach and white wine - what's great about that? Try it and see.

You will need some prepared tomato sauce: I sometimes have a batch in the freezer (handy for pizzas), made by stewing tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and olive oil for up to an hour until dark red and mushy. The River Cafe's tomato sauce is much the same - made with tinned tomatoes, plus chopped onion - but in the absence of either, a jar of Italian tomato sauce will do fine. Make sure it's a concentrated one, with lots of tomato.

RIVER CAFE BEANS
Cooked chickpeas or butter beans: about half a tin's worth (about 40g dry)
Swiss chard or spinach: 100g
Onion: a quarter
Carrot: a small one
Olive oil: 1tbsp
Tomato sauce: 0.5tbsp
White wine: 2floz
Pinch salt, pinch pepper, pinch dried chilli flakes (crushed together)

Warm the oil and soften the onion and carrot until both are tender (not brown). Add the seasonings and the white wine and reduce until almost all gone. Add the tomato sauce, the beans and the spinach or chard, cover, and simmer gently until the spinach/chard is cooked.

Cool slightly before serving (this is also scrumptious scooped cold from the fridge!) on toast, or with focaccia.

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.

ASPARAGUS QUICHE

When the asparagus is becoming woody (say, because someone you know bought it and didn't use it early enough!) and you can only use the tips, try this - a different way to combine the classic flavours of asparagus, lemon and cream.

Pastry:
4oz flour
1oz Trex
1oz butter
1oz parmesan
2tbsp cold water

Pastry: weigh out ingredients and combine with a knife, chopping the fat into small pieces. When relatively crumbly, start to add the water and pull together with a metal spoon. Finally, push the last remaining dry bits together, form into a rough ball and wrap in cellophane. Refrigerate for at least 30 mins.

Contents:
Asparagus tips (about 12)
Splash of stock
2 cloves garlic, crushed
6floz double cream
4 floz milk
Squeeze lemon juice
Salt and pepper
1 egg and 1 egg yolk

Steam/boil the asparagus tips lightly in a pan containing a splash of stock: bring to boil, cover and allow asparagus to absorb stock. Roll out the pastry in a quiche tin. Arrange the asparagus tips in a starburst pattern.

Blend the milk, cream, lemon juice, garlic and seasoning in a jug. Add the egg and egg yolk and beat well. Pour gently over the asparagus, and put into the oven for about 20 minutes. Remove and sprinkle with grated cheese, then return for another 10 minutes.

SPICY CAULIFLOWER SOUP

If you don't like cauliflower, try this lovely soup - it's creamy and spicy with a coconut finish. And even if you think this sounds peculiar, please try it - in all honesty it was a last resort, Ready-Steady-Cook style, but turned out beautifully.

The cooked soup needs plenty of extra blending, to make sure all the little grainy cauliflower bits are smoothed out. Serve with thick pieces of wholemeal bread... bliss.

1 cauliflower, leaves separated, florets chopped
1 onion, sliced
2tsp korma curry paste
Large pinch salt
Half a tin of coconut milk

First, simmer the cauliflower leaves in hot water for about half an hour (while getting the veg ready). Strain it through a sieve - this is a basic stock.

Rinse the pan and put the sliced onions in, along with the curry paste. Let soften gently for about 5 minutes, then add the cauliflower florets. Cover and leave to soften for another 5 minutes.

Pour in the coconut milk, and enough of the hot 'stock' to cover the vegetables. Bring to a simmer, cover, and leave to plip-plop for anything up to half an hour.

Once it's cooled slightly, blend for a loooooooong time. I want this super-silky-smooth. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Reheat gently (not to boiling point).