Koresh-e beh - Vegan, DF and GF

Persian quince stew with cannelini beans and split peas for substance and creamy texture, turmeric and cardamom for warm spiciness, and dried plums and lemon for a sharp lift... this is a great warming meal or part of a wider Middle Eastern feast!

Fennel crumble - Vegan, DF

Sadly the crumble has oats and flour, but you could substitute cooked buckwheat groats and chickpea flour - that would work! (adds another cooking step to the process...)The fennel bakes slowly in vegetable stock under its crumble blanket so although the cook time is a bit longer than we usually go for, it is mostly unattended while you do something else...

Cong You Bing - Vegan, DF - can be GF with GF flour mix

Flaky spring onion pancakes are fun to make - good for family participation. There are three lots of "rest for 20 minutes", so arguably you could multi-task while playing a board game (was it Miss Scarlet in the library with a wrench?!). These are good made with onion weed leaves - loads of flavour and good foraging fun. The onionweed is just coming through in my garden now, so you could find some out there somewhere!

(photo to come)

Spiced Butternut mash with pancake/omlettes - Vegetarian, GF

The pumpkin roasts until tender, then is mashed with onion, garlic, ginger, tomato and warm spices that have cooked down together for a bit. Then you make the pancake/omlettes, and serve with the mash piled on the side... A good holiday brunch option? Arguably coconut yoghurt and mylk would work here with the rest of the flavours, to make this one dairy as well as gluten free.

(photo to come)

Crispy spaghetti and chicken - can be DF and GF

To make this GF, use GF pasta and GF bread.

This is a one-pot wonder - although a salad or some veg would be good - you know how i feel about eating the colours! The chicken is seared, flavoured up with onion, garlic, herbs and tomato paste, then the spaghetti is tucked underneath, more water is added and the whole lot goes into the oven for a bit. There's a soft breadcrumb and herb/parmesan mix to go on top and then it all gets crispy under the grill... Yum and Yum.

Goan fish curry - DF and GF

This is when i learned about having as many curries etc on the table as there are people seated around it - served a Goan fish curry to someone whose family came from Goa. (i had serendipitously served the right number of curries) This is a mild aromatic curry that doesn't overwhelm the delicate flavour of the fish. The process is one of those "one step after the other" straightforward things with time in between each step to have chats...