Category: Sides

On a Monday morning fridge raid I realised I had all the ingredients for a simple ratatouille, a French vegetable and tomato stew that is brimming with flavour. My recipe is not traditionally French but it is inspired by the classic and is still very hearty and filling. It can be served as a side dish or over pasta to turn it into delicious meat free main.

Let’s get cooking…

Toss the diced aubergine with salt, pepper and olive oil and scatter onto a baking sheet. Do the same with the zucchini and peppers on a separate baking sheet. Bake both sheets of vegetables at 180 for 40-45 minutes until caramelised and golden brown.

While the veggies roast, sauté the onion in a little olive oil until translucent, add in the garlic and stir around for 30 seconds then add in the finely pulsed tomatoes. Season generously with salt and pepper and allow to bubble away on medium to low heat until the sauce has reduced by half. Once the sauce has reduced, add in some crushed red pepper flakes according to your heat preference.

Stir through the vegetables once those are ready and simmer for 10 minutes so that the flavours really mix together. Turn of the heat and tear in a handful of basil leaves. Serve over your favourite pasta.

Garlic bread is a household favourite that can be paired with so many dishes and it rounds of the meal perfectly.

I love serving it with crumbed mushrooms as for a perfectly light meat free lunch or dunked into the creamy sauce from a big bowl of prawns or mussels. And it goes without saying that any and all Italian dishes are instantly elevated with a slice of garlic bread to mop up all the tomatoey juices.

Let’s get cooking…

Combine the butter, garlic and parsley in a bowl and mash together. Slice the baguette diagonally but not all the way through.

Using a teaspoon, spoon the butter mixture between each slice. Try to spread it out so that there are no dry spots of bread after baking. Sprinkle a little cheese between each slice and some over the top of the baguette.

Bake at 180 for 10-15 until the butter and cheese have melted and the bread is crisp

Use dairy free butter and cheese to make this vegan.

Inspired by my trip to Turkey, I decided to create some of my favourite dishes from my time travelling around the beautiful city of Istanbul.

Turkish food for me in synonymous with vegetable based dips, my favourite being baba ghanoush. A rich and deeply flavoured roasted aubergine dip that is so moreish and versatile. I personally love it for mid afternoon snacking, it’s so delicious that it’s easy to forget that this dip is also very healthy.

Let’s get cooking…

Slice an aubergine in half, lengthwise and score the flesh in a diamond pattern. Brush with olive oil and season. Bake at 180 for 45 minutes until the aubergine is very tender. You can also throw 3 garlic cloves into the roasting dish. Allow it to cool just enough so that you can handle it. scoop out the flesh and pop into a blender with tahini, lemon juice, salt, roasted garlic, salt and pepper. Blend it all together until smooth and creamy.

Serve with crackers or crudites and enjoy.

Hummus is an easy dip to whip together with very little fuss and can be made mostly from pantry ingredients. It is great to use in sandwiches, on cheese boards or as a pre-dinner snack to prevent yourself from eating all the ingredients before dinner is cooked.

Packed with protein and being vegetable based means that this is very diet friendly but the is no compromise on flavour. I love serving it up with vegetable crisps or just carrot, bell pepper and cucumber crudité.

Let’s get cooking…

Soak and cook dried chickpeas or crack open a can of chickpeas, blend with the tahini, lemon juice and spices until smooth and creamy. You may need to add a little water to loosen the mixture. Lastly add olive and serve. This stores really well for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Kitchiri is quintessential Indian comfort food and it is a well know dish all across all of India and beyond. Most families have their own recipes but the basis of the meal is lentils and rice cooked together. The bright yellow buttery dish looks and tastes like sunshine in a bowl. Both my mom and my mom-in –law always serve it with a little bit of spicy tomato chutney to cut through the richness of the rice.

With just a handful of simple ingredients this is an extremely cost effective dish and relatively fuss free but there is no compromise on flavour. As an added bonus this dish is loaded with turmeric which is great for its anti-inflammatory properties.

Let’s get cooking…

The first is the longest step but it’s not really active cooking. Wash and rinse split peas and set it to boil. This will take about an hour but you’re looking for the right consistency rather than an exact time frame which could result in varying cooking times depending on a number of factors. You want the lentils to cook down until extremely soft and reduced to a paste like consistency. There is no way to overcook this so don’t be afraid.

A much faster way to get to the end result is to use a pressure cooker, I have an Instant Pot so this is what I used and all it took was 10 minutes.

Once the lentils are fully cooked you can start to boil the rice. I use a brown basmati which takes slightly longer to cook and does not disintegrate the way white basmati rice does. Cover the rice with a small amount of water and cook until it is half cooked. Most of the water should have evaporated by now also.

Add in the split pea mixture and add a little water to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pot. This now needs to be watched carefully. Turn your heat down to the lowest and cook while stirring frequently and adding in a tablespoon of water at a time so that nothing burns. Continue until your rice is cooked. The consistency should be quite thick but not dry. In a small pan, fry the onion with the spices and chilli until fragrant then add it to the rice and stir thoroughly. Place blobs of butter in and stir to combine. Serve with a tomato chutney.