My work colleague, Manuel gave me this recipe verbally after Lexi raved about it’s goodness. I got one instruction wrong. Manuel says he uses crushed chilli so I’ll give that a go next time, but I do think it tastes good with fresh.

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:
Spaghetti pasta
1 large red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves finely chopped
A few good lugs of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Rocket to serve (optional)

Directions:
1. Cook pasta al dente
2. In the meantime, get chopping until the chilli and garlic are finely chopped
3. Heat a pan and add the olive oil, then chilli and garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the flavours are infused in the olive oil. Do not burn the garlic.
4. Once the pasta is cooked, drain.
5. Combine pasta and the oil sauce while still warm.
6. Eat immediately, or serve cool with rocket for lunch.

I took the aioli spread for this dish out of a book called Veganomicon. A book I’d brought for Ann’s birthday. I like the idea that an element of the picnic food I had prepared for her celebration would reference her gift. But I truly fell in love with this vegan aioli because it is versatility and because it is totally not substitutive. I know the name suggests so, but at the end of the day, it is all food and not boxed or labelled not “not” stuffs.

So, I’d already decided to make falafel with a pumpkin cameo. The aioli made sense as an afterthought. It worked superbly well to provide extra moisture, garlic and that tad a tad of tang.

Serves: A picnic
Prep: 25 min
Cook time: 25 min
Construction: 25 min

Falafel:
1 can of chickpeas
1 garlic clove finely chopped
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of coriander
½ Spanish onion finely chopped
1 handful of parsley chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Plain flour for dusting

1. Crush or blitz the chickpeas so they become like a thick paste
2. In a bowl, add remaining ingredients and combine well.
3. While you are heating a pan with some olive oil begin to form the balls by rolling and flattening in the palm of your hand. Coat in flour and place in the pan.
4. Fry for approximately 3 minutes on each side.
5. Remove and place on a plate to cool.

Vegan Aioli:
1 can of white beans
2 garlic cloves finely chopped (or more to taste)
½ lemon juice
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Place all ingredients in a in a bowl and blitz until smooth

Constructing the sandwich:
Mountain bread
Roast pumpkin
Baby Spinach

1. On a single piece of mountain bread construct the sandwich by spreading the soft roast pumpkin first. Then drissle a little of the aioli on top, lay down baby spinach and then three of the falafel balls as shown.
2. Roll each into a pocket with the ends tucked in so that when you cut them in half through the middle a nice base to each sandwich stops the guts falling out of it.

I’m going for a sweet flavour by focusing on pumpkin and fresh peas. This one takes slightly longer because of the roast pumpkin, but that leaves you with plenty of time to prepare accompanying dishes.

Serves: 4 as a side
Prep: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min

Ingredients:
1 cup cous cous
Half a Japanese pumpkin
Half a cup of peas
¼ red capsicum diced
¼ yellow capsicum diced
1 shallot finely diced
1 small red chili, seeds removed and sliced
1 teaspoon of veggie stock
1 handful of lemon thyme
1 lug of olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Start out by roasting the pumpkin, you want nice pieces, a little smaller than bite sized. You will need to cook this in a moderate oven for about half an hour or so, turning once or twice during this time.
2. Prepare the red and yellow capsicum, the chili and the shallot and place it in a medium to large bowl. Add the lemon thyme leaves, cous cous, veggie stock, salt and pepper.
3. When the pumpkin only has about 10 minutes to go get 1¼ cups of water on the boil. Add the peas and cook for three minutes, then toss over the cous cous salad mixture. Cover allowing to steam for five minutes until the cous cous is soft then fluff and combine with a fork.

No recipe title shows your not sure what you’ve done than naming it after an entire region of the world. Eh.

Serves: 4 as a side
Prep: 10 min
Cook time: 0 min

Ingredients:
1 tin of lentils (organic ones are worth it)
¼ cup of kalamata olives with pips removed and halved
¼ red capsicum diced
¼ yellow capsicum diced
6 sundried tomatoes sliced
1 shallot finely diced
1 small red chili, seeds removed and sliced
Small handful of flat leaf parsley
½ lemon juiced
Lug of good quality extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to serve

1. Prep ingredients
2. Combine and allow to rest for at least 15 minutes so the flavours can combine

As a main, brown rice with sautéed onion steamed bok coy and tuna is lovely with sesame oil and soy sauce. Good dish for a week night.

So, thinking of this dish – I decided to make this vego version of a dish I enjoy as a salad to share. I pulled back on my usual flavours so that it could work as a dish to serve with a cous cous salad and lentil salad.

Serves: 4 as a side
Prep: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min

Ingredients:
1 cup of brown rice
1 Spanish onion
1 broccoli head
¼ cup of almond slithers
A lug of sesame oil
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Get the rice on first up, that is going to take the longest as brown rice takes longer to cook than your white variety. For a cup of brown rice your going to need about a one and a half cups of water. (Check the pack for the particular variety you have.) Bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer and cover leaving to cook for 25 or so minutes. Let rest for 5 – 10 minutes to avoid ending up with mushy rice.
2. In the mean time sauté your Spanish onion and steam the broccoli.
3. In medium bowl combine the onion and broccoli with some almonds slithers. To intensify the flavor of the almonds you may want to toss them around a dry pan for a few minutes or shove in the oven.
4. When the rice is ready and has rested combine with vegetable mix and throw in a lug of sesame oil and your salt and pepper to taste.
5. Stir and serve. This dish tastes good warm or at room temperature.

A wonderful meal with variety, lots of nutrition and it is easy to make vegan or add some meat too. I love this because it is so fulfilling and easy to accommodate to many different eating requirements because most of this food is cooked separately.

Serves: 2 or more
Prep: 30 min
Cook time: 40 min

Ingredients:
French green lentils
Roasted vegetables – potato, sweet potato (kumera), pumpkin, carrot, cherry tomatoes, beetroot, zuchinni, whole small onions
French beans and butter beans
Herbs
Lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Natural yogurt

Optional:
Grilled halloumi
Poached chicken breast.

1. You need to get your roast veggies on first. Obviously smaller pieces cook quicker, but generally beetroot will take the longest followed by potato, then carrot, pumpkin, onion and zucchini and cherry tomatoes at the end.
2. Cook up some French green lentils by cooking in boiling water for 30 minutes or so.
3. When you have ten minutes to go (just after throwing in the zucchini and cherry tom) Drain the green lentils rinse in hot water and add combine with freshly chopped herbs, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
4. Pop some water on the boil for steaming the beans
5. Grill off the halloumi or poach the chicken or both
6. Serve with a dollop of the yogurt on top of the lentils.

Mum gets really annoyed when she learns that there is yet another vegetable that I wouldn’t eat as a kid that I’ve started to love as an adult. It took me till 31 to get my head around the mushroom.
Tonight’s dinner guest is Annie who is finishing off her PHD and is suffering an affliction of mushie brain – its as though her brian is on hyperdrive and no longer capable of simplicity. It’s cute.

Serves: 2
Time: 20 min

Ingredients:
200g or ½ packet of Fettuccini egg noodles
200g of button mushrooms sliced
30g of butter
1 garlic clove chopped finely
1 lemon juiced
6 or so large sage leaves thinly sliced

1. Get a pot of boiling water on the stove first and cook the pasta to the packet instructions
2. Cook the mushrooms in a pan with the knob of butter on a med-low heat until they begin to soften, add the garlic and cook for a few more minutes until you can smell the fragrant garlic
3. Stir in the lemon juice and sage
4. Drain the pasta and combine with the mushrooms
5. Serve

Serves: many
Prep: 5 min
Cook: 5 min

Ingredients:
500g of feta
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon paprika
A few good lugs of olive oil
1 small handful of oregano leaves
4-5 peels of lemon (using a potato peeler)

1. Heat the turmeric and paprika in a warm pan until you can begin to smell the fragrant spices.
2. Add olive oil, oregano and lemon peel and cook until the oregano just starts to become crisp.
3. Allow to cool. Place the feta onto a serving plate and pour the fragrant oil on top. Serve with crackers and bread.

Ingredients:
3 medium beets
½ – 1 head of garlic
1 small tub of yogurt
2 tablespoons of dill

1. Preheat an oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Lob the top off the beet, and the head of garlic. (leaving the peel on)
3. Place beets and garlic on to a trey and cook for 45 or so minutes or until soft.
4. Allow to cool.
5. Wearing gloves (so the beets don’t stain) rub of the beetroot skin
6. Squeeze out the garlic from the skins into a bowl.
7. Roughly chop the beetroot and add to the bowl along with the yogurt
8. Blend until roughly smooth.
9. Add dill and stir

Serves: 4 (with lots of other food… )
Prep: 20min
Cook time: 20min

Ingredients:
2 large onions
1 tablespoon of raw sugar
1 lug of red wine vinegar
1 big scoop of kalamata olives
100g of Bulgarian Feta Cheese
Filo Pastry (1/3 pack??)

1. Slice and sauté the onions by frying them up in some olive oil for about 10 minutes. This will vary depending on the breadth of your pan. The more surface area on the base the faster they will soften up.
2. Once a little soft and a bit transparent add a tablespoon of sugar and a lug of red wine vinegar. Sweat for a few more minutes and stir through the flavours.
3. Turn the heat off and allow to cool a little.
4. On a baking tray lay down some filo pastry. I used about 1/3 thickness of a standard pack. I’m not sure that a little hear or there matters much. You should decide how much pastry you would like. Certainly a 1/3 was quite light. I could imagine some cooks doubling that.
5. Bush the bottom of the pan lightly with olive oil (I could also imagine a few cooks doubling that too!)
6. Poke the filo down into a pan with each edge rolling over by a few centermeters – it’s great for crisping it up around the edges.
7. Brush a little more oil over the top of the filo.
8. Layout the onions on top leaving the edges exposed to brown up. Crumble feta on top and halve the kalamata olives and lay ‘em out too.
9. Bake for 25 or so minutes on 180 degrees celcius. If it looks like its browning too quickly – just turn it down a tad.
10. Serve when its got golden bits emerging on top.
Delish.