Joe Woodhouse’s vegetarian feast recipes

2. In a mixing bowl, toss the squash sections with the oil and a couple of good pinches of salt until they are well coated.

3. Put the squash pieces on a baking tray or two — they shouldn’t be too cramped. Roast in the oven for 25 min.

4. Remove the trays from the oven and flip the squash pieces over. Turn the trays and return to the oven. Roast for a further 10-15 min until golden at the edges and cooked through. Remove from the oven.

5. In a bowl, mix together the cheeses and spring onions with a good pinch of salt and five or so grinds of pepper.

6. Heat the grill. In a roasting dish, or combined on one of the baking trays, arrange the squash segments in a rough tumble, skin sides down where possible. Scatter over the cheese mixture and grill for 5-10 min until melted. Grate over the lemon zest and serve.

JOE WOODHOUSE

Sweet potato salad with loads of herbs and pink peppercorns

Really fresh and bursting with flavour, this salad is great served with flatbreads to scoop it all up. Or roll it up into wraps. An optional tablespoon of tahini in the sauce can add an interesting note, but the pink peppercorns really set everything alight. A rather underrated spice that is wonderfully fruity, pink peppercorns should be used much more.

Serves
4

Ingredients
6 sweet potatoes, about 1kg
1 clove of garlic
250g yoghurt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
½ cucumber, deseededand cut into 1cm cubes
1 heaped tsp sumac
1 tbsp pink peppercorns, lightly toasted in a dry pan, then roughly crushed using a pestle and mortar
15g each fresh coriander, mint and dill, leaves picked

1. Heat the oven to 180C (200C non-fan). Put the whole sweet potatoes on a tray and roast in the oven for 25-35 min until completely soft. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly until you are ready to serve.

2. Meanwhile, crush the garlic to a paste with a pinch of salt in a pestle and mortar, or grate on a fine grater. Transfer to a bowl and mix in the yoghurt and olive oil along with a pinch of salt.

3. When you are ready to serve, halve the sweet potatoes and then cut each half into thirds. Spoon the yoghurt sauce onto a platter or serving plate. Follow with the sweet potato, cucumber, sumac and pink peppercorns. Finally, mix together and scatter over the herbs. Drizzle with oil and serve.

JOE WOODHOUSE

Green beans with shallot, garlic cream and toasted breadcrumbs

This sultry little number is a great start to a meal or as a lunch option. The sauce and the breadcrumbs can be made ahead, so when it’s time to serve you can just blanch the beans and toss them in the sauce.

Serves
3 as a light lunch or 4 as a starter

Ingredients
125g old bread, blitzed to fine breadcrumbs
3 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion or 3 shallots, finely diced
2 small cloves of garlic,finely grated or crushed
100ml crème fraîche
2 tsp Dijon mustard
400g extra-fine greenbeans, trimmed
10g parsley, leaves picked and finely sliced
Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

1. Heat the oven to 160C (180C non-fan). Toss the breadcrumbs in half the olive oil and spread evenly on a baking tray. Bake for 10-18 min until golden. Remove from the oven and set aside.

2. Heat the remaining olive oil in a pan over a medium heat, add the onion or shallots and a pinch of salt, then cook for 10 min. Add the garlic and cook for a further 3 min. Add the crème fraîche, then bubble away for 1-2 min until slightly reduced. Take off the heat and stir in the mustard. Check the seasoning and set aside.

3. Boil the green beans in salted boiling water for 3-5 min until just tender.

4. Drain and toss the beans with the onion mixture and the parsley. Arrange the dressed beans on plates and top with the breadcrumbs. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

JOE WOODHOUSE

Carrot and red lentil soup

Warming and comforting, this dish is really versatile. It is rather speedy to prepare and can be used as a sauce for pasta or rice if you want to bulk it up further. I just love it with some crusty bread and yoghurt. You can skip the initial parsley step and add that chopped at the end if you prefer.

Serves
4

Ingredients
2 tbsp neutral oil such as groundnut or sunflower
25g parsley, leaves picked
2 onions, diced
5 carrots, sliced about 1cm thick
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
150g red lentils
1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1 litre vegetable stock

To serve
4 tbsp yoghurt
Good-quality oil, for drizzling

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the parsley and cook, stirring constantly, for 1-2 min until it stops bubbling. When crisp, remove the parsley with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

2. Add the onions and carrots to the oil. Cook over a medium heat for 7 min and then add the garlic. Continue to cook gently for a further 5 min. Add the lentils, cumin and stock. Simmer for 15 min until the lentils are tender. Top up with water if it gets too dry.

3. Serve the soup in bowls topped with a spoon of yoghurt followed by the parsley. A drizzle of good-quality oil never hurts.

Buy the book

Your Daily Veg: Modern, Fuss-Free Vegetarian Food by Joe Woodhouse, published by Kyle Books at £22

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Cook any recipe from Your Daily Veg: Modern, Fuss-Free Vegetarian Food by Joe Woodhouse for your chance to win a Gozney Roccbox in olive green, the must-have kit for creating restaurant quality pizzas at home in as little as 60 seconds.

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