As a vegetarian I think I’m a bit more sensitive to bad roast dinners as they often mean over-boiled vegetables and a bland ‘nut roast’ which basically just tastes like a dry spoonful of stuffing. No. Thanks. But when a roast is good, it is damn good – and my top request is for vegetables all cooked separately in ways that best bring out their flavours – so here are my favourite ways to cook my veg for a Sunday roast…

My ultimate vegetarian roast ideas:

• Vegetarian mains: for me, a veggie pie is the best centrepiece for a roast dinner if you don’t eat meat as I think the richness of the pastry and the different ways to cook the vegetable fillings mean you’ve got lots more tasty options than with nut roasts. My current favourites are this pie I made for Christmas, or a simple mushroom and chestnut pie. If you must go the nut roast route  these suggestions from the Guardian look like some of the best I’ve seen, or this nutmeat in brioche is something a bit different which I’m aiming to try soon.

• Roast potatoes: I’m not sure I ever had a roast potato while growing up in the USA, but I have learned a lot about them since living in England. They’re one of those dishes that any cook is judged on, with lots of debate and discussion about the right method, which fat to use etc. We follow the tried and tested par-boiling, roughing up, and hot (olive) oil method and it seems to work every time. But if I’m honest I’d always prefer a bowl of soft, comforting mash. Sorry England…

• Honey roast parsnips and carrots – Another essential, despite the difficulty I seem to have getting them to crisp in our fan oven – the best way seems to be to add the honey right at the end and crank the heat up way too hot to almost burn them and get the crispy bits everyone loves…

We ate at the wonderful Pelham House in Lewes on Christmas Eve and I had the best veggie roast of my life – a beautiful mushroom and chestnut pie in puff pastry accompanied by perfectly cooked vegetables with just the right amount of bite. Even the brussel sprouts were perfect – with a caramelised outside and no hint of that overboiled sourness. I was feeling inspired to try to do something similar with our Christmas day veggies alongside my ultimate vegetable pie. So of course I totally overcooked and ruined my brussels on the day! Gutted. I blame the breakfast cocktails… We also managed to ruin the butter tart we’d been planning for dessert oops – next year I’ve got my eye on this figgy pudding instead or maybe even a chocolate yule log – so cross fingers. Oh well Christmas is about so much more than the food and ours was beautiful regardless.

But I was determined to rectify my mistakes and see if I could cook some brussels to match the ones I’d had on Christmas eve. And since I never do anything by halves, I thought I’d try a few different methods of cooking them and see which one was best. So the brussels were roasted, braised, steamed and stir-fried…

Roasting: I expected to love this roasted brussels recipe from Simply Recipes but for me the dark, caramelised leaves on the outside of the sprouts overpowered the delicate flavour of the insides. I also felt the brussels needed close monitoring to make sure they didn’t overcook and turn to mush inside which could be tricky if you’re making a lot of other sides at the same time for a big roast dinner. That said, roasting definitely gives brussels a whole new dimension of flavour and one that is quite different from any other cooking method, so it could still be worth a try for the diehard sprout haters, and is particularly suited to larger sprouts which won’t overcook so easily.

Braising: I also expected great things from this braised brussels recipe from Deb at Smitten Kitchen as I have tried so many fabulous recipes from her site. I did adapt the recipe to what I had to hand so I’m sure her version is still delicious, but again, for me all that stock and cream risks overpowering the actual flavour of the sprouts or even turning them to mush. Speaking of which…

Steaming: Instead of just steaming the brussels, I cut them in half and seared them first as in the Smitten Kitchen recipe above to give them some caramelised flavour. I then steamed them briefly and the result was fairly tasty but just a bit too close to that boiled flavourlessness for me. I ended up feeling that any water-based cooking method is going to remove some of the flavour from the brussels and if you’re making other dishes at the same time for a big meal, there is a big risk of overcooking and ruining them.

Stir-frying: For me, this was the surprise winner of the big test. I wondered if the brussels would cook through sufficiently but they did and they held onto all the flavours I added (which I also added when using the other methods…)  A squeeze of lemon juice and a clove of garlic were enough to lift the delicate flavour of the sprout without overpowering it. The texture was by far my favourite – plenty of bite but still soft and caramelised. Deliciously simple and easy to make on the stove while you finish off any other roast veggies in the oven, this will be my go-to sprout cooking method from now on.

My recipe for simple stir-fried brussel sprouts:

Wash sprouts, remove the stems and cut in half. Heat a bit of butter in a frying pan over medium-high heat. When the pan is nice and hot, place the sprouts in one layer, cut side down. Season generously with salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes until the bottoms are nicely browned and caramelised. These can be done in batches if they don’t all fit. Once all the sprouts have been browned, put them all in the pan and stir fry for a further 2-5 minutes until cooked through (if your sprouts are large, you might want to cover with a lid or a piece of foil during this time to help ensure the sprouts cook all the way through). Add any further flavourings during this final cooking – a couple crushed cloves of garlic, a few squeezes of lemon juice, a dash of vinegar, a trickle of honey or a spoonful of mustard – whatever you takes your fancy. Then devour straight away.

(if you’re looking for even more ways to cook your sprouts – you can also treat them just like a cabbage and slice into a stir fry, slaw or use in any other cabbage recipe…)

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Growing up in the USA, I always loved a black bread we called ‘pumpernickel’ which was dark and slightly sweet and nutty – so much more flavourful than any white or even brown loaf could ever be. (And as an added bonus, ‘pumpernickel’ is one of the best food words out there, almost on par with ‘frangipane’!) It’s one of the few foods I haven’t found a substitute for here in the UK. I tried buying something called pumpernickel in the supermarket but it wasn’t quite right and after a bit of research I realised why. The official German version of pumpernickel is quite a different thing than what I grew up eating – it’s a much plainer, crumblier bread without all the lovely spices that make the American version so tasty. So if I wanted the kind of pumpernickel I was craving there was only one solution – make it myself.

Since I’m not much of a bread eater, I’ve never been much of a bread baker, other than the odd pizza dough or focaccia. I was a bit nervous to try making black bread as many of the recipes out there have long, scary ingredient lists so I’ve tried to simplify things. I was really pleased with how this turned out – so good that I devoured half the loaf within 20 minutes of it coming out of the oven! If you’re also a novice bread maker and want more top tips on how to bake the perfect loaf, have a read of this guide from Delicious magazine or check out the many great blogs that have more to say on the subject, like smittenkitchen.com.

Black pumpernickel bread with olives
Adapted from the Guardian and smittenkitchen

• about 300g jar of good-quality dark olives such as Kalamata in brine
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
• 1 package of dry yeast
• 250g white bread flour
• 100g rye flour
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

1. Drain the olives and keep the brine. Add the vinegar and top up with water to make 250ml.
2. Stir in the brown sugar and the yeast and leave for 10-15 minutes for the yeast to activate. The yeast mixture should bubble slightly.
3. Preheat your oven to 50C. Meanwhile, mix the flours with the cocoa powder and seeds, either by hand or in an electric mixer with a dough attachment.
4. Then mix the liquid into the dry ingredients. If using an electric mixer, the dough will come together quite quickly so that it becomes a solid mass and separates from the mixing blade. When this happens, remove from the processor and knead in the olives. If kneading by hand, work the dough until it has a smooth, springy consistency (5-10 minutes) and then add the olives. The original recipe from the Guardian leaves the olives whole, but next time I make this I might slice them thickly just to make the dough a bit easier to work with.
5. Turn the preheated oven off. Cover the dough and place on a tray in the oven to rise.
6. Remove once it has doubled in size, in about 1-2 hours. Gently knead and shape into a round loaf.
7. Cover and place in the warm oven again for 45 minutes to an hour.
8. Remove the loaf and heat the oven to 220C. Cut a cross shape into the top of the bread with a knife.
9. Put the loaf into the oven and reduce the heat to 190C. Bake the loaf for 35-50 minutes, until it makes a hollow sound when you tap it.
10. Cool slightly on a wire rack – but make sure to try a warm slice or two with some butter… yum.

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This pie was inspired by Thanksgiving classics from the South in America – corn pudding and sweet potato casserole (‘pie’). I’ve based my recipe on the ‘empanadas de humita’ I ate when I studied in Argentina – a sweet mix of red pepper and sweetcorn in a cheesey sauce. I’ve bulked it up into a full-size pie by adding sweet potato and roasted jalapenos. I might even try adding a bit of sage for the Christmas version, and you could certainly tweak the recipe with any of your favourite veggies. It’s lovely and moist even without gravy and it should ensure you don’t have any vegetarians feeling left out this holiday season…

Holiday vegetarian pie
Inspired by empanadas de humita, makes an 8-inch pie

• about 400g sweet potato or pumpkin, peeled and cubed (about 2 medium sweet potatoes)
• 1 large red pepper, diced
• 3-4 large green chillies (ideally jalapenos), cut in half lengthways and deseeded
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp fresh or dried thyme
• 1 tin of sweetcorn kernels, drained
• about 3 tbsp flour
• about 300ml milk
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• a medium ball (about 150g) mozzarella
• shortcrust pastry (store-bought or double the recipe and follow the tips here)

1. Make your pastry if you’re doing it yourself (it’s not that hard!) and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before using.
2. Heat your oven to 200C. First roast your vegetables – the pumpkin or sweet potato (I prefer sweet potato as it’s slightly firmer, but pumpkin is more seasonal so up to you), the red pepper and the chillies in a bit of oil and seasoning. Don’t worry too much about the heat of the chillies as the roasting and deseeding will make them milder.
3. Roast the veg for about 15-20 minutes, until just starting to soften but with a bit of bite as they will cook more in the pie. When cool enough to handle, chop the chillies into a small dice.
4. While the vegetables roast, cook the onion with the thyme in a saucepan in a bit of oil or butter until softened – about 10 minutes.
5. Add the flour (and a bit more butter or oil if the pan is too dry) and cook for 2-3 minutes to remove the flour taste.
6. Add the milk to the flour and onion mix, and heat over medium heat, stirring often until the flour mix dissolves and the mixture thickens.
7. Add the sweetcorn, paprika and grate in the mozzarella and season to taste.
8. Take the mixture off the heat, and stir in the roasted vegetables and set aside.
9. Roll out half your pastry and place in an 8-inch pie dish and ‘bake blind’ with some baking beads for about 10 minutes until just starting to colour.
10. While the pie base is cooking, roll out the other half of the pastry. Once the pie base is ready, pour in the filling and cover with the rest of the pastry. Brush with an egg yolk or a bit of milk for a more golden colour.
11. Bake at 200C for about 30 minutes until the filling is hot and bubbling and the pastry is crisp and darkened.

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I guess it makes sense – if you can put regular white cabbage in curry why not red? And it totally works – the red cabbage adds a bit more flavour and sweetness than the white variety. It works perfectly with the fragrant whole spices – just like if you added cloves and cinnamon to it when braising. Sorry for the lack of photos of the final produce – it was so tasty it disappeared before I got any shots. But here’s the very simple recipe if you want to give it a try…

Red cabbage and carrot curry

• 1/2 red cabbage, thinly sliced
• 1 large or 2 medium carrots, grated
• 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
• 1/2 inch piece of ginger, grated
• 1-2 small green chillies, finely sliced
• 1/2 tsp each caraway, fennel and mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp curry powder (or mix equal parts ground cumin, coriander and turmeric if you don’t have any mixed powder)
• 1-2 tsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp tomato paste

1. Saute the onion over medium heat in a little oil or melted butter with the whole spices. Don’t let the spices burn – turn down the heat or add a splash of water if they are getting too hot.
2. After 5-10 minutes, when the onion has softened slightly, add the garlic, ginger, chillies and curry powder and fry for another 2 minutes.
3. Then add the cabbage and carrot and stir to combine.
4. Add the brown sugar, tomato paste and a splash of water (about 50ml or 1/4 cup).
5. Stir well, reduce heat slightly and cover.
6. Cook for 10-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is softened and well-flavoured.
7. Serve over rice, ideally with some of my favourite red lentil dhal and some mango chutney or lime pickle.

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Thanksgiving might just be my favourite holiday. It’s so simple – just food and family or friends. No pressure about presents, no differences of opinion or religion, just a huge tasty meal to bring everyone together. I’ve celebrated every year since I’ve lived in the UK and my British friends all tell me how much they enjoy the excuse to get together and eat and drink on a dark night in November.

I’ve been refining my menu for eight years or so now, trying a few new things every time, particularly over the last four or five years. A few tasty things I’ve tried along the way which didn’t make the cut this year but might still suit your menus: cranberry nut bread, spicy pumpkin soup, hot spinach and artichoke dip, brussel sprouts with cranberries and pecans, chestnut and apple cornbread stuffing, and pumpkin swirl brownies.

But this year’s menu is just about set – maybe it will help you plan your own Thanksgiving dinner or any other excuses you’ve got for a big fat meal with friends and family…

Appetizers and snacks before the meal:

• Dip: I usually do that 70s dinner party classic of spinach dip in a bread bowl but this year they’ve been clamouring for the less traditional 7-layer dip with corn tortilla chips – we shall see if I cave…
• Roasted spiced nuts
• Cranberry cornbread: I’ll be using my favourite recipe but adding cranberries instead of the usual Mexican flavours

Veggie sides:

• Leek and mushroom stuffing: a new dish this year – will report back
• Green bean casserole with French fried onions: an American classic – you can buy something very similar to French fried onions in Indian shops in the UK too – hallelujah!
• Caramelised roast beets and onions
• Roasted sweet potato with sage
• Mashed potatoes with cream and roasted garlic
• My famous macaroni and cheese 
• My favourite ever veggie gravy

Desserts:

• Pumpkin pecan pie: I make something similar to this recipe but in the UK you can substitute golden syrup for the ‘corn syrup’ and I use a real pumpkin rather than the canned version. Just roast, puree and squeeze through a sieve for a really smooth pumpkin puree. It works equally well with butternut squash, but be aware that the flesh cooks down a lot so 500g (1 pound) of pumpkin turns into about 1/2 cup of puree!
• Apple pie
• Gluten-free apple crumble for the coeliac who’s coming this year
• All served with vanilla ice cream
• Plus cheese and homemade chutneys for any late night snacking

For drinks I usually buy lots of mulled wine spices to add to red wine, cider or apple juice (spiked with Tuaca or bourbon of course) – although this year we might even try some of my first ever homemade fruit wines.

Oh and then there’s the big turkey question – as I’m a veggie I’ve done a year or two without one, or had meals where the big bird was cooked by and for any meat-eaters who were attending. For me it’s all about all those yummy veggie sides anyway. If you’re looking for a veggie main for your big feast, I can recommend my holiday veggie pie recipe as a filling dish with enough flavour to rival the big bird…

Anyway – whatever you’re eating and whoever you’re with, I hope your day is as tasty and friendly as mine always is!

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If these ideas still aren’t enough to help you get through all those apples (and I would understand if that’s the case – every time I cook up a bag of them, it seems another friend appears to give me more…) – there’s even more recipes on my post about using up pears from last year, including pear bread, pear cake, poached pears, pear sauce, pear butter and pear chutney.

Almost all recipes for pears can be used equally well with apples (or even quince if you’re lucky enough to have access to some) – just be aware of adjusting the sweetness of the dish if your apples are tart or cooking a bit longer for apples (more for cookers and less for eaters) and quite a bit longer for quince as they’re sturdier fruit than pears. Happy autumn cooking!

My top five recipes for apples:

• Apple crumble cake: A simple way to make crumble portable – make it into cake and bring to a party or just devour square by square at home. (Or if you’re making traditional crumble try this lovely topping – adding oats and nuts to the flour and brown sugar adds extra texture and flavour).

• Tarte tatin: This is one of my favourite desserts, combining those classic flavours of fruit with caramel, and much easier to make than you might think. Whether you make the pastry or buy it, just cook the sugar and butter nice and slowly to make the caramel. There’s no need for a special pan either, you can just cook the fruit and caramel on the stove and then pour into any circular baking dish and top with the pastry. It’s lovely with apples (particularly with the firmer cooking varieties) or pears or added spices like cardamom or vanilla.

• Fruit leather: This is my favourite apple recipe find for this year and a great way to use up large quantities of fruit in one go. This starts with stewing the apples (or a mix of apples and pears) until they have broken down into a sort of apple sauce. The sauce is then baked in a thin layer, in a low oven until it turns into a chewy, natural fruit snack.

• Spiced squash and apple soup: I love any slightly savoury twist on apples, like eating applesauce with potato pancakes or ‘latkes’, or even grating them into a slaw.

• Preserves: chutney is the obvious choice, and this apple and pear chutney is a tasty one, but there’s also apple and chilli jam, or even apple or pear wine which is on my list for next year!

I’ve left the recipe below a bit vague on purpose as I think this is a great way to use up odds and ends in your kitchen – vary the greens, the herbs, the cheese, add grated courgette or peas or lemon zest or whatever else you’re feeling inspired to try.

Now I’ve got to get back to what seems like endless but tasty preserving sessions for all the autumn fruit I keep being given! Apples, pears and berries turning into chutneys, wines, and more – it almost makes me excited for winter.

Herb and greens pie
Inspired by Ottolenghi

• One package puff pastry (feel free to make your own, or even use sheets of filo pastry like Ottolenghi does for a lighter, more delicate pie)
• 50g (about 4 tbsp) butter
• 1 large bunch of spinach (or substitute other greens like Swiss chard, kale, etc)
• 1 handful of spicy greens (eg rocket, radish leaves, etc)
• 1 medium onion, finely sliced (or substitute 4 sliced green onions)
• 3 handfuls of mixed fresh herbs (whatever you have to hand, eg basil, coriander, parsley, dill, mint etc)
• 300g grated cheese (I used 200g halloumi and 100g feta – but cheddar or ricotta or whatever else you have to hand would also work)
• seasoning and 2 tsp dried herbs if desired (I added some dried mint and oregano since I didn’t have the fresh kind)

1. Preheat oven to 220C.
2. Saute the onion in a frying pan with the butter and some seasoning until softened.
3. While the onion is frying, blitz the herbs and spicy greens in a food processor or chop finely by hand.
4. Add the greens and fry briefly until wilted.
5. Pour into a sieve and squeeze out any excess water.
6. Return to the pan (but off the heat) and add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
7. Roll out the pastry sheet onto a baking pan and pour the ingredients into the middle. Fold the edges of the pastry up around the filling – it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t completely cover it – the cheese will brown more this way which is also yummy…
8. Brush the pastry with a bit of milk to help it brown if desired.
9. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until browned and crisp.
10. Serve with a side salad or some potatoes to make a more filling meal. Mmmm…

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Luckily there is a summer veggie which carries on into September and just keeps on giving. If, like me, you haven’t made it to your garden or allotment in weeks and you’re a bit scared to go because of the amount of courgettes (aka zucchini or summer squash in the USA) that might have sprouted up since you were last there, fear not – I have been building up the recipe list for these little beauties for a few years now so you don’t have to be afraid of them anymore.

My top recipes for courgettes, summer squash and zucchini:

• Fritters: The ever-dependable Delia comes up with a simple but effective recipe to win over any courgette-haters – just grate and fry and you’ll be amazed how tasty those watery looking veg can be. A must try.

• Pasta: When I get home late and need a quick meal, this is one of my favourite options. Boil whatever pasta shape you have to hand and reserve some of the water when draining. Stir in grated courgette, grated cheese (Parmesan is best but others will do fine too), a splash of pasta water and season well. Stir over a warm stove for a minute or two until the sauce comes together – adding more cheese, water or seasoning to taste. So easy and infinitely adaptable – add frozen peas, spinach, lemon zest, herbs or whatever other quick additions you’ve got in the cupboard. Or try adding grated courgette to other dishes, like this whole-grain salad. Another quick way to make courgette is to chop and roast for 15-20 minutes at 190C with plenty of oil and seasoning – they go all caramelised and melt in your mouth when stirred into pasta… or just about anything else.

• Salad: Particularly good for young, small courgettes, this recipe is simple and unexpectedly delicious – cut the courgettes into thin ribbons using a vegetable peeler or cheese slicer and add the dressing to create a fresh, summery salad.

• 2-3 courgettes, sliced into rounds
• 4-5 medium potatoes, thinly sliced
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 250ml double cream
• 100g grated Gruyere cheese (or substitute whatever you have to hand – Parmesan would also work well)
• garlic powder
• butter and seasoning

1. Preheat your oven to 200C.
2. Assemble the ingredients in a large, buttered ovenproof dish – layering potato, then onion, then courgette, then dotting with butter, seasoning and some garlic and repeating the process until the dish is full.
3. Pour the double cream over and sprinkle the top with grated cheese.
4. Cover and bake for about 50 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through. Remove the cover at the end to help the cheese brown if necessary.
5. Serve as a main with a salad on the side or as a side dish.

Thanks to my wonderful job, I attended a course on ‘garden shed brewing’ at Whitehawk Community Food project where we learned that home brews can be made with simply fruit, water and sugar – no need for scary chemicals like pectolase and campden tablets or sterilisers. Nor do you need to buy one of the dizzying variety of wine yeasts – most fruit picked outdoors has wild yeast on it which will activate in warm, sugary water. The yeast turns the sugar into alcohol through ‘fermentation’ and then you have wine! I couldn’t wait to get started.

Thanks to all the foraging and friendly people with fruit trees I haven’t had much trouble finding fruit to use. I picked some blackberries at Stanmer Park to make my first batch of wine and then I was given a large bag of plums (which are fermenting in a bucket right now).

While all that wine was brewing, I also picked a bunch of apples at a friend’s allotment. I needed another way to use the apples up – so I decided to try making ‘fruit leather’.

Fruit leather is a sort of natural ‘fruit roll-up’ – a sheet of dried fruit with a chewy texture and you can make it with almost any fruit. Blackberries or currants might need pushing through a sieve to remove the hard seeds or stems, and try combining different fruits – like blackberry and apple or apple and plum. Its a great way to preserve gluts of fruit and it makes a naturally sweet and healthy snack – check out the second recipe below and give it a try.

Blackberry wine
Adapted from Andy Hamilton’s recipe in the Guardian, makes 2.5 litres of wine

• 1 kg blackberries (this basic recipe works for most fruit wines, you just need to adjust the sugar to your taste but feel free to use plums, cherry plums, damsons, elderberries or even sloes)
• 50ml strong black tea (this adds an extra depth of flavour)
• 2 litres filtered water
• 750g sugar
• Juice of ½ a lemon

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