I absolutely love Yottam Ottolenghi’s weekly vegetarian column in the Guardian. It is the first thing I check on their website every week (despite thefact that I should probably be using it for things more relevant to the study ofinternational law) and this recipe was enough to coax the aforementioned vegetarian meal avoiding friend to try an entire vegetarian meal (of which the caponata was also a part).

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There are many different versions of caponata, but this in my opinion is the best. It is basically Antonio Carluccio’s recipe, with one subtraction and one addition. Caponata is a traditional Sicilian aubergine stew. It is simultaneously rich while still being quite healthy (especially if you follow the advice of soaking the aubergines first). I have tried and failed to make caponata on many occasions with other recipes, and this one was a complete success. It would be nice as part of a mix of dishes, rather than as a stand alone main dish, as like I said before, it is quite rich. This was made as part of a selection of dishes to introduce a more red blooded friend to the joys of vegetarian food following two days of eating about 70% of a cow, and it seemed to be a successful introduction. Serves 4 as a side dish, or 6 as an antipasta dish.

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This one was an epic fall off the healthy eating wagon I have been on recently, but it was worth it. I do not like drinking milk, despite being forced to do so daily as a child, and basically the only dairy product I have enthusiasm for consuming in a non-sauce based form is cheese. A genetic tendency towards osteoporosis has led me to wave off my cheese addiction with the belief that I will thank myself when I am 80 and can fall over without fracturing every bone in my body. Of course, by this stage my limbs will presumably long have given up supporting my weight, and the likelihood of my falling over will rest entirely on the ability of the crane operator who moves me around. Anyway, this is very easy to make, and given that both camembert and a net of red onions cost less than one euro each, and tortillas less than two, this is practically budget food. This is a light dinner for two if served with a green salad.

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I am fairly sure I first had this in Barcelona a few years ago, where the Catalans seem to use it like Irish people use gravy or ketchup. It is a traditional thick, spicy Spanish sauce. This is a cheat recipe because I did not use actual chilli’s, hand roasted (I live in The Netherlands, where the odds of finding a chilli, or an oven to roast it in are slim). Some recipes call for fresh tomatoes, some no tomatoes, some no peppers. This is a mix.

Why do you want to know how to make this?

1. It is very quick.
2. It keeps in the fridge for a long time.
3. It is relatively healthy.
4. It goes with a variety of grilled meat, vegetables and fish.
5. It goes well with roasted or fried potatoes.
6. It can be used as pasta sauce.
7. It can be mixed 50/50 with hot water and squeeze of lemon juice to make a nice dressing for grain or pulse salads.
8. You can taunt your nut allergic friends with its spicy Spanish goodness (unless they are secretly romancing Javier Bardem, in which case you will not win this one)


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This is a rough interpretation of a half remembered dip which my dad used to make for us when I was a child, as part of a mezze. As is a frequent occurrence at such meals, once my dad acknowledged that this dish was popular with the whole family, he inexplicably stopped making it. It is tastier than the photo might suggest.I remembered this while attempting to make Anthony Worrell Thompson’s carrot croquettes. I do not know which god he is praying to in order to keep pureed carrot in a distinguishable shape long enough to fry, but clearly it is a different one to me as this was a messy, and not entirely successful endeavour, resulting in me converting the remains of my pureed carrot into this dip. I tend to add feta to a lot of things, because it is an easy way to add a strong salty flavour to counter more sweet flavours. Also, it is available quite cheaply at my local middle eastern grocers, where every trip is a fascinating mess of confusion and frustration, as I do not speak Dutch or Turkish, and they do not speak English, and the elderly owner perpetually attempts to slip things I did not ask for into my bag and then charge me for them. Serve this dip with toasted pita bread.


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This is essentially a melanzane parmigiana, however, I decided to use ricotta in place of mozzarella for a change. I have lived an oven free life for a year now, due to some kind of Dutch hatred of ovens (perhaps fear of obvious jokes so when one of my few friends lucky enough to be blessed with an oven offered me the use of hers, I immediately wanted to make this. Its rich, creamy, and has just enough vegetable content to make you believe your heart might not explode on sight.

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While making this for the first time I suffered an unfortunate finger/hand held blender encounter. Discovering whether the red colour of the pesto in fact only originated from the peppers was difficult. That said, it is still a lovely recipe, as a dip or an easy and quick pasta sauce.

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A simple, tasty dip/spread that is a little unusual. A bit like a pesto, with the quantities a bit messed up to make it a bit thicker.

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As Summer seems to be rapidly bypassing Autumn into winter, soup is the order of the day. Chorizo features a lot in my recipes, as it is a very easy way to give a great boost of flavour to various recipes, and a little goes a long way. Serves 4 as a starter.

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This is a tasty side dish for meat (it goes particularly well with steak bearnaise). Its quite quick, easy and looks quite pretty too. Serves 4 as a side.

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This is roughly based on Nigella Lawson's bearnaise recipe with a few adjustments. Bearnaise can be pretty tricky to make, my first ever attempt more strongly resembled tarragon scrambled eggs. There are loads of different methods out there, but this one worked perfectly.

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Everyone has a recipe for hummus, this is my variation. Depending on the quality of the olive oil and tahina, or just personal preference, it can involve some tinkering around with, everyone has a slightly different idea of how hummus should be..

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This is not quite the classic penne al gorgonzola, but it is incredibly tasty. This is perfect comfort food, though not the healthiest. If you can't get gorgonzola, it can be substituted with other blue cheese such as roquefort or cashel, but use a slightly smaller quantity of cheese as other types tend to be much stronger than gorgonzola.

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This is a slight variation on a Yottam Ottolenghi recipe. These make a lovely colourful side dish or snack. They are quick and easy to make. They are best served warm, with some tahina sauce. This recipe makes approximately 25 medium sized fritters.

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This is a traditional Syrian dip. It is about the healthiest dip I have found, and ridiculously simple to make. I like to mix some feta in, because I like to put feta in most dishes if I can (its a problem), but for purists stick with this recipe.



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