Many of the recipes this week come from Pippa Kendrick's book "The Intolerant Gourmet". I borrowed this book from the Dunedin library when we first started Locavore Boxes, and decided very quickly I needed to own a copy... this and the Middle Eastern Vegetarian by Salma Hage, borrowed from the library at the same time. 

The other recipes are here because I suddenly remembered how good water chestnuts are, and went looking for a recipe that used them...

Crunchy winter salad (photographed above with the Beef in Oyster sauce) features cauliflower, broccoflower, water chestnuts, fresh tomato and peas, in a mustardy dressing. YUM. You can use it as a veg accompaniment, or as a standalone plate of deliciousness.

This soup is made with pumpkin, fennel and carrot, and there's walnut and parsley pesto on top.  It is what it says on the tin, and it's really good. 

These are Chickpea fritters, with Tomato Jam. Now the only time I ever attempted to make falafel they exploded in the pan, and these are basically falafel. So I had my doubts, but they came out pretty well! Loads of fresh herbs, and the Tomato jam is a great companion. You could add a hit of fresh chilli to the tomato jam if that's appealing...

Beef with Oyster sauce - pictured at the top with the crunchy winter salad.  This is a classic, it's really easy to make and the reason it's a classic is that it tastes really good... 

Spicy sausage and bean stew ... I have a weakness for little pork breakfast sausages, but you could use whichever flavour is your own favourite. Venison would be tasty, these wee pork sausages worked really well... Sausages and cannellini beans in a spicy tomato sauce with as much or as little chilli as you like. Leave it to simmer for as long as you can to meld and deepen the flavours. Mmmm. Great winter food, with chunks of toast or a pile of mash.