I rarely have a plan when I set out for the shops, tending to think on my feet as something takes my fancy. Vegetable shopping invariably comes first, then I fill in the gaps with fish or meat, though, often as not, with neither. This week’s haul brought sweet potatoes and a huge bunch of carrots, a thin-skinned butternut squash and a beautiful cauliflower the colour of clotted cream. These were the building blocks around two of the week’s dinners.
There was roast chicken to use up in the fridge, the bird’s skin honey-coloured and still scented with thyme and lemon. I picked up a fat bunch of slim carrots, some small potatoes, their skin dusted with soil, and then roasted them with whole cloves of garlic and sprigs of thyme. To bring the chicken and vegetables together I made a dressing of basil and mustard, which put a spring in its step.
A more complex dish came later in the week, a curry sauce for glowing autumn vegetables – the sweet potatoes and deep tangerine-fleshed squash. The sauce had Thai notes from lime leaves, ginger and coconut but was very much put together according to whim. I added mustard seeds and a late sprinkling of nigella. A hands-on supper, the vegetables being picked up with warm flatbread, which we then used to wipe our plates, but it would have been good with rice, too.
Sweet potato, squash and cauliflower with tomato and coconut
A deeply aromatic, chilli-spiked vegetable dish that can be served with rice or, better I think, with soft, warm flatbread. This is one of those recipes that is even better the following day, so if you have time to make it a day in advance then I suggest you do. The addition of lime is, I think, an essential one – it adds a shot of vibrancy to the rust-red sauce.
Serves 4, generously
onions 2, medium to large
groundnut or vegetable oil 4 tbsp
garlic 3 cloves
ginger 60g lump
curry powder 2 tbsp, mild or hot
cardamom pods 6
yellow mustard seeds 2 tsp
lime leaves 6
red chillies 1-2, small and hot
tomatoes 2 x 400g tins
sweet potatoes 500g
butternut squash 750g
cauliflower ½
coconut milk 1 x 400ml tin
nigella seed 1 tsp
limes 2
Peel the onions and roughly chop them. In a large, deep pan, warm the oil over a moderate heat, add the onion and let it fry for 10 minutes or so until it starts to soften. Peel and very thinly slice the garlic. Peel the ginger, then grate it to a paste on a fine-toothed grater (use a ginger grater if you have one).
Stir the garlic, ginger and curry powder into the onions. Crack open the cardamom pods and grind the seeds to a powder using a pestle and mortar or spice grinder, then stir in, together with the mustard seeds and lime leaves. Halve, seed and finely chop the chillies, then add them to the pan.
Stir the tomatoes into the onions, then partially cover with a lid, season with salt and leave to simmer for 20 minutes.
Bring a deep pan of water to the boil and place a steamer basket or colander over the top. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into large chunks. Do the same with the butternut, removing and discarding the seeds and stringy fibres as you go. Put them both in the steamer basket, cover with a lid and leave them to steam for about 15 minutes until just tender.
While they are steaming, break the cauliflower into large florets. When the squash and sweet potatoes are tender, stir into the sauce, then steam the cauliflower in the basket for about 10 minutes until almost tender, then also add it to the sauce.
Leave everything to cook until the cauliflower and squash is quite soft. Stir in the coconut milk and leave over the heat until completely hot. Add the nigella seeds, halve the limes and squeeze into the sauce, tasting as you go. Correct the seasoning with salt and a light grinding of black pepper.
Roast vegetables with basil dressing
The green basil dressing really sings here and would work with other roast vegetables too such as courgettes, squash and peppers. I find an empty jam jar with a tight lid invaluable for making the dressing, which often achieves a more hom*ogenous texture than when I painstakingly whisk in the oil by hand. A sumptuous accompaniment to cold meat, but also a dish I would serve as a light supper on its own.
Serves 2-3
carrots 400g
small potatoes 400g
olive oil 4 tbsp
thyme 8 sprigs
garlic 6 cloves
For the dressing:
white wine vinegar 2 tbsp
Dijon mustard 2 tsp
olive oil 6 tbsp
basil 25g, leaves and stems
Preheat the oven to 220C/gas mark 7. Scrub the carrots, remove the stems and leaves and cut the root in half from top to bottom.
Scrub the potatoes – there is no need to peel them – then slice them in half. Put the carrots and potatoes in a roasting tin and pour over the oil. Add the sprigs of thyme to the tin together with salt, pepper and the whole, unpeeled cloves of garlic. Toss the vegetables in the oil, then roast for about 45 minutes, turning them over after 25 minutes and continue cooking until everything is tender and golden brown
For the dressing, put the white wine vinegar into a blender jug or food processor. Add the mustard, then the olive oil and basil leaves and stems. Season lightly with salt, then process to a bright green dressing.
Transfer the potatoes and carrots to a serving dish or plates, pop the garlic from its skins and tuck among the vegetables, then pour the dressing over.
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