Roast Pumpkin with Savoury Sage & Pumpkin Seed Granola

Those of you who are sceptical about vegan food should try this delicious recipe from Mildreds Vegan Cookbook by Daniel Acevedo and Sarah Wasserman. Yes, it's vegan but omnivores would enjoy it too and the pumpkin seed granola is wonderfully versatile.

Daniel and Sarah write: Since cooking with pumpkin and squash looms large in the USA’s national cuisine, Americans are well acquainted with the strange hinterland in which the pumpkin and squash reside, somewhere between sweet and savoury. Europeans, meanwhile, used to baulk at pumpkin pie one minute and pumpkin risotto the next, but we are adjusting. Although we draw the line at serving squash or sweet potato with marshmallows, we think you’ll enjoy the combination of sweet and savoury in this winter side dish, perfect for serving with a vegan roast or for a holiday meal. Alternatively, this could easily be bumped up into a salad dish in its own right by adding some peppery leaves. Use gluten-free oats for a gluten-free option.

Serves 6–8, depending on the size of the pumpkin/squash

FOR THE GRANOLA

50g (1¾oz) jumbo oats

25g (1oz) pumpkin seeds

½ tablespoon sea salt flakes

4 sage leaves, roughly chopped

½ teaspoon roughly chopped thyme leaves

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 teaspoons maple syrup

1 tablespoon Smoked Chilli Jam (see below) or 1 tablespoon redcurrant jelly and a large pinch of smoked paprika and chilli flakes

FOR THE PUMPKIN

I small pumpkin or butternut squash, de-seeded and cut into wedges 2cm (¾ inch) wide

50ml (2fl oz) light olive oil

½ teaspoon sea salt flakes

6 sage leaves

1 To make the granola, preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F),Gas Mark 3½. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment.

2 Mix the oats, pumpkin seeds, sea salt and herbs together in a bowl. Measure out the oil, maple syrup and chilli jam into a jug and whisk with a fork to combine. Add to the oat mixture and mix together well.

3 Turn the granola mixture out on to the lined baking sheet and bake for 15–20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it begins to brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

4 To roast the pumpkin, preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F),Gas Mark 6. Line a roasting tray with baking parchment.

5 Toss the pumpkin or squash wedges with the oil, sea salt and sage in a bowl. Turn out on to the lined roasting tray and roast for 45 minutes–1 hour until cooked through but still holding their shape.

6 Crumble the granola over the warm pumpkin or squash and serve.

Smoked chilli jam

We use this sweet smoky condiment both as an ingredient and as a dressing. It adds a real depth of flavour to our Savoury Sage and Pumpkin Seed Granola and glazes, and can be thinned with a little water or orange juice and used to marinate tofu or tempeh before cooking. It pairs wonderfully with any chargrilled vegetables but especially peppers and leeks). If you cook up a big batch and jar it up nicely, it makes a great gift too.

GF

MAKES 10–15 SERVINGS

1 red pepper

light oil (such as sunflower,groundnut or light olive oil)

1 chipotle chilli in adobo sauce

500ml (18fl oz) water

350g (12oz) demerara sugar

grated zest and juice of ½ lemon

2½ tablespoons agar agar flakes

½ teaspoon chilli flakes

¼ teaspoon liquid smoke (see below)

½ teaspoon salt

1 Start by roasting or charring your red pepper, either in a hot oven, on the hob over a gas flame or on the barbecue.

2 If using the oven method, preheat to 240°C (475°F), Gas Mark 9. Rub the red pepper lightly with oil, sit on a baking tray and roast for about 15–20 minutes, turning frequently, until the skin is blistered on all sides.

3 Alternatively, place the pepper directly on a gas burner of the hob turned to high, turning frequently with tongs, until the skin blisters, or do the same over a hot barbecue.

4 Transfer the red pepper to a bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to cool, then peel off the skin and remove the stem, core and seeds.

5 Blend the red pepper and chipotle chilli with the measured water in small blender, or in a measuring jug with a stick blender, to a purée. Add the purée to a saucepan with all the remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer, giving the mixture a whisk with a balloon whisk every so often to make sure the agar agar dissolves into the liquid.

6 Simmer the jam for 15–20 minutes, then remove from the heat and leave to cool. It should thicken up while cooling until it resembles a firm jelly. Once cool, spoon into clean airtight jars or bottles and store in the refrigerator for 2–3 weeks.

*Liquid Smoke Is simply water that has been filtered through wood charcoal. Try the Living Nutritionals brand (not the kind with additives), which is available from some supermarkets and online.

What to drink: A rich chardonnay or oak-aged chenin blanc would work well with this.

Extracted from Mildreds Vegan Cookbook by Daniel Acevedo and Sarah Wasserman, published by Mitchell Beazley at £25. Photograph © Matt Russell. Mildreds has 4 vegetarian and vegan restaurants in London. For locations see their website

Ghughra (sweet coconut pastries for Diwali)

An authentic Diwali treat from food writer Sejal Sukhadwala. This recipe is Gujarati, she says, but regional variations include Maharashtrian ‘karanji’ and Punjabi ‘gujiya’.

"Scented with cardamom and speckled with nuts and sultanas, these pretty coconut pastries are the quintessential Diwali sweetmeat.

Fresh coconut may be used instead of dried, but then the ghughras won’t keep for long. And if you can’t get white poppy seeds, leave them out – do not substitute the black variety.

Ghughras are traditionally fried in ghee, which gives them a rich buttery taste that’s ideal for special occasions. However, many people nowadays fry them in sunflower oil as it’s healthier."

Makes approximately 20 ghughras.

Preparation time: around 15 minutes

Cooking time: around 45 minutes

For the pastry:

250g/ 10 oz plain white flour

2 tablespoons ghee or melted unsalted butter

Approx. 250 ml/ 8 fl oz warm whole milk

For the stuffing:

1 tablespoon ghee or melted unsalted butter

100g/ 4 oz semolina

75g/ 3 oz desiccated coconut

1 tablespoon white poppy seeds

250g/ 10 oz caster sugar

75g/ 3 oz coarsely crushed almonds, cashews and pistachios

2 tablespoons sultanas

1 teaspoon finely ground cardamom seeds

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon saffron, lightly crushed

20 cloves (optional)

Ghee or oil for deep-frying

To make the pastry, mix the flour and ghee, adding milk a little at a time to make a semi-stiff dough. Cover and set aside.

To make the stuffing, heat the ghee in a frying pan and toast the semolina until light brown and aromatic. Remove and set aside.

In the same pan, repeat the process separately with coconut and poppy seeds, toasting them until very pale pink. Remove and set aside. Be careful not to burn the semolina, coconut or poppy seeds; and cool them thoroughly at room temperature.

Mix the semolina with coconut, poppy seeds, caster sugar, crushed nuts, sultanas, cardamom, nutmeg and saffron.

Divide the pastry into 20 balls about the size of a walnut. Roll out the balls into thin discs.

Place approximately 1-2 tablespoons of stuffing on one half of the pastry disc, and fold over the other half to make a crescent shape. Crimp the edges, twisting them slightly as you go. Alternatively, use a pastry cutter or a pastry mould. Make sure the ghughras are completely sealed so that no stuffing falls out.

Stick a clove in the centre of each ghughra, if using. Cover with a damp cloth.

Heat the ghee or oil until just below smoking point. Deep-fry the ghughras in batches on low to medium heat until light brown.

Drain on kitchen paper, and let them cool. Store in an airtight container where they will keep for around 2-3 weeks – if there are any left!

What to drink: I would drink chai with this. For other Diwali drinks see here.

Cauliflower curry, boiled eggs & coconut crumble

Cauliflower and eggs are two of my favourite things, here ingeniously combined by Dan Doherty of the Duck & Waffle in his brilliant book Toast, Hash, Roast, Mash.

Dan writes: "I fell in love with vegetable curries while spending time in India and Bangladesh – cauliflower curry being one of my favourites. The coconut works really well, adding flavour and a rich creaminess, with a crunch in the topping."

Serves 4–6

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

olive oil

1 cauliflower, broken into florets

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon onion seeds

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 onion, finely chopped

2.5cm (1 inch) piece of ginger, grated

4 garlic cloves, crushed

1 red chilli, finely chopped

150g (5 ½ oz) cooked yellow lentils

2 x 400ml (14fl oz) cans of coconut milk

sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons desiccated coconut

8 eggs, hard-boiled and shelled

a large sprig of coriander

Heat some olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and brown the cauliflower florets on all sides.

Meanwhile put the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, ground turmeric, onion seeds and curry powder in a dry frying pan over a medium heat and toast for a few minutes, shaking the pan, until you can smell the aromas and the spices look toasted.

Add the onion to the cauliflower pan and cook over a medium heat without letting it colour for 5–6 minutes, or until soft . Add the ginger, garlic and red chilli and cook for a further 3 minutes, again without letting them colour. Stir in the toasted spices and cook for 3 minutes, then add the cooked lentils and pour over the coconut milk. Season with salt and pepper, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a dry pan, toast the desiccated coconut over a medium heat, shaking the pan, until golden brown.

After the final 10 minutes cooking time, the cauliflower should be cooked but retain a little bite. Add the eggs and cook for 3–5 minutes more. Roughly chop the coriander, stalks included, and stir through.

Transfer to a serving dish and scatter the toasted coconut all over, like a crumble, then serve.

What to drink:

Assuming you manage to resist the temptation of having this for breakfast (I would be sorely tempted, personally) a glass of dry white wine such as a chenin blanc, (not too oaky) chardonnay or viognier would be delicious with it. And if you're having it for brunch, why not a glass of champagne or cava?

See also The Best Wine Pairings for Cauliflower

Extracted from Toast Hash Roast Mash by Dan Doherty, published by Mitchell Beazley, £20 www.octopusbooks.co.uk. Photograph ©Anders Schonnemann

Lamb Boulangère with spruce beer

I've been looking forward to beer writer Melissa Cole's new book The Beer Kitchen since I heard about it a few months ago. As I expected it's packed not only with delicious recipes but some great suggestions for the type of beers to use in and pair with each dish (see the Cook and Pair suggestions below)

Serves 6–8

Melissa writes: This is one of my go-to lazy Sunday roast recipes. I'm not renowned for my patience and normally for a dish like this you’d be exhorted to poke little holes in the lamb skin and stick anchovies, herbs and slivers of garlic in them – but it’s such a lot of fuss, so I’ve devised a simpler and, pleasingly, more efficient way to infuse these flavours into your meat.

Two quick notes on this: firstly, buy a cheap mandolin – it’s an invaluable kitchen tool, but always use the guard. Don’t argue with me! Cutting yourself on a mandolin blade is a sickening feeling that you'll never forget – trust me. Second, you will need a BIG roasting dish and some turkey foil or a large roasting tray (pan) with a lid.

Ingredients

2.25–2.5 kg (5 lb 8 oz–5 lb 10 oz) bone-in lamb shoulder

4 tablespoons anchovy paste (if you can’t find the paste, pound 20-30 preserved anchovies to a paste in a pestle and mortar)

10 large sprigs of lemon or ordinary thyme, leaves picked and finely chopped

1.5 kg (3 lb 5 oz) waxy potatoes

2 red onions

1 large garlic bulb, cloves lightly crushed

2 teaspoons fine sea salt

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

330 ml (11 1/4 fl oz/1 1/3 cups) spruce or pine beer (see below*)

500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cups) chicken or lamb stock (or however much will fit, reserve the rest)

For the gravy:

1 tablespoon cornflour (cornstarch)

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon red miso paste

Method

Preheat the oven to 140°C (275°F/Gas 1).

Turn the lamb shoulder skinside down and make 3 cm- (1 1/4 in-) deep incisions to create a large diamond grid pattern in the flesh. Take the anchovy paste and a tablespoon of the thyme leaves, mix them together and rub them into the incisions. Set aside.

Into the base of the roasting tray (pan), slice two-thirds of the potatoes and all the onions, evenly scatter over the garlic cloves and the remaining thyme leaves, season with half the salt and the pepper. Mix together with your hands, breaking the onions up into rings as you go.

Roughly smooth out the top of the potato mixture, add the beer and the chicken or lamb stock, then, with the remaining potatoes, make two neat overlapping rings, one inside the other on the top around the outside.

Put the lamb shoulder, flesh side down, in the middle of the potatoes and very lightly score the top in a smaller diamond grid pattern, literally just scratching the surface with the knife. Season with the remaining salt and pepper.

Put the lid/foil on and pop in the oven for 30 minutes.

Turn the heat down to 120°C (250°F/Gas 1/2) and cook for 5–6 hours. When the lamb is ready, you will be able to pull the shoulder bone out with little or no resistance.

At that point, lift the lamb out very carefully and place on a large plate, cover with kitchen foil and pop back in the oven.

Carefully pour off any excess roasting juices from the potatoes (it’s helpful to have an extra pair of hands for this if you can) into a large saucepan.

Turn the oven up to 200°C (400°F/Gas 6), take the lamb out and put the potatoes back in. Leave the lamb somewhere warm-ish to rest.

To make the gravy, mix the cornflour, soy and miso in a small bowl, add a ladle of the cooking juices and whisk together with a fork.

Add this mixture to any juices in the saucepan and allow to bubble gently over a low heat and reduce to your desired gravy consistency.

When the potatoes are browned, turn the oven off, crack open the door slightly, and return the lamb to the middle of the dish. Put your serving plates in to warm.

Cook whatever vegetables you require and bring everything to the table to serve.

* Spruce, juniper and pine beers can often be seasonal, so feel free to substitute a tripel, gently heated for a few minutes with some rosemary or pine/spruce tips and left to stand for 10 minutes

COOK

Williams Bros. Alba – UK

Finlandia Sahti – Finland

Pihtla Beer – Estonia

Pinta Koniec Šwiata – Poland

Rogue Yellow Snow Pilsner – USA

PAIR

Tripel Karmeliet – Belgium

Unibroue La Fin du Monde – Canada

Westmalle Tripel – Belgium

Wäls Trippel – Brazil

St Austell Bad Habit – UK

Extracted from The Beer Kitchen by Melissa Cole (Hardie Grant, £20) Photography © Patricia Niven