Beetroot and pinot noir risotto

Beets are everywhere at the moment but have you ever thought of using them in a risotto? And adding a dash of pinot noir?

This is one of my favourite recipes from my book Wine Lover's Kitchen which is perfect for this time of year. The sweetness of pinot chimes in beautifully with the earthy flavour of the beetroot/ beets. Use the freshest possible ones you can find for the deepest colour and flavour. (It’s worth wearing a pair of disposable plastic gloves when you cut them up so you don’t stain your hands!)

Vegetarian

Serves 4

3 tbsp olive oil

200g/7oz red onion, roughly chopped

3-4 fresh beetroot (about 450g) ideally with their leaves

I clove of garlic, crushed

225g arborio (1 1/8 cups) or other risotto rice

150ml (2/3 cup) inexpensive fruity pinot noir e.g. from Chile

1 litre (4 cups) hot miso stock made with miso bouillon powder

100g/3 1/2 oz mild, crumbly goat's cheese

a few sprigs of fresh dill or a handful of chives, chopped

Heat the oil in a large frying plan and fry the onion over a moderate heat for 5 minutes. Peel the beetroot/beets and cut into small cubes, add to the pan, season with salt and pepper and cook for another 10 minutes.

Add the crushed garlic, cook for a minute then tip in the rice and cook, stirring for 2-3 minutes. Pour in the pinot noir and let it evaporate. Add the hot stock, about 50ml/3 tbsp at a time, stirring occasionally and letting each addition absorb before adding the next.

Once the rice is cooked (about 20 minutes), add a little extra stock or water, check the seasoning and leave for 5 minutes. Warm your serving bowls. Wash the beet leaves if you have some, strip from the stalks and cook down in a saucepan without any extra water. Place a few leaves in each bowl, spoon in the risotto, top with crumbled goats cheese and sprinkle with chopped dill or chives

What to drink: The pinot noir you used in the recipe. For other risotto pairings see

White or red wine: what's the best pairing for risotto?

And for other beetroot dishes The best wines to pair with beetroot

Extracted from Wine Lover's Kitchen by Fiona Beckett published by Ryland, Peters & Small. Photograph ©Mowie Kay

Smacked Cucumber and Crispy Green Salad with Zingy Ginger Dressing

Although Jenny's Chandler's new book is called Green Kids Cook there are plenty of recipes that would appeal to adults too including this deliciously crunchy salad which provides an answer as to what to do with kohlrabi (I never know).

A perfect project for the summer holidays ahead - what better gift can you give your children than teaching them how to cook? (And look after the planet as they do so)

Jenny writes: "Bashing and splitting cucumber is traditional in Chinese salads – the cracks and rough edges soak up the dressing beautifully. This is a perfect salad for a hot, hot day.

Smacked Cucumber and Crispy Green Salad with Zingy Ginger Dressing

Makes 4 servings

1 medium cucumber

1⁄2 small kohlrabi, about 150g/5oz (optional)

150g/5oz beansprouts or home-sprouted lentils or mung beans, well washed

2 spring onions, sliced

Zingy Ginger Dipping Sauce (below)

1 baby gem lettuce

a small handful of coriander leaves

a few mint leaves

a handful of roasted peanuts

1. Place the cucumber on your chopping board and bash it firmly with a rolling pin, splitting the skin but not completely squashing the flesh. Hit it four or five times and then roll it over and do the same on the other side.

2 Now chop the cucumber into 2.5cm/1in chunks (it’s easiest to slice it lengthways and then chop up the slices) and place in large bowl.

3 Chop the long, leafy stems off the kohlrabi (these leaves can be sliced up and cooked in a stir-fry). Peel the round vegetable carefully, then cut it in half. Cut a few thin slices and then cut across these into matchsticks. Add to the bowl along with the beansprouts and the spring onions.

4 Pour over your zingy ginger dressing and place the bowl in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, slice the lettuce crossways into slivers, wash in a sieve or salad spinner and drain well.

6 When you are ready to serve, take the cucumber salad from the fridge, toss in the lettuce and herbs and top with the peanuts.

Do try kohlrabi if you can find it. It looks a bit like a space alien but it has a really mild flavour and the crunchiest texture imaginable.

And how about…

• adding a sliced red chilli for some pingy zing?

• serving this salad on top of cold, cooked rice noodles?

• wowing everyone by throwing in a few chunks of melon or watermelon?!

Zingy Ginger Dipping Sauce

Makes 4-6 servings

2 tbsp light brown Muscovado sugar

3 tbsp hot water

4 tbsp light soy sauce

4 tbsp rice wine vinegar (or lime juice)

3 spring onions, sliced

3-cm/1-in piece of fresh ginger

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1 Put the sugar into a small bowl, add the hot water and stir to dissolve.

2 Stir in the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and spring onion.

3 Now grate the fresh ginger, skin and all, using the finest grater possible. Stir the juicy paste into the sauce.

4 Put the sesame seeds into a small pan over a medium heat and toast, shaking the pan gently after 1 minute, until the seeds begin to jump about.

5 Carefully tip the toasted sesame seeds into the sauce.

What to drink: Anything appley or limey would be delicious with this dish or an alcohol-free ginger beer

Extract from Green Kids Cook by Jenny Chandler (Pavilion Books). Image credit Kirstie Young. Knowing Jenny as I do I know she would love you to buy this from your local indy bookshop but if you don't have one near you you could order it through bookshop.org which will channel the order through a bookshop of your choice.

Rosemary and basil aubergines in za'atar

One of the books I'm most enjoying at the moment is Mark Diacono's Herb which is perfectly suited to a man who is a great gardener as well as a cook (and the most engaging writer as well as taking all his own photographs. Sickening, really!)

This recipe is for one of my favourite ingredients, aubergines, and is wonderfully simple.

Mark writes: This is my favourite way with aubergines, and one that shows how they take beautifully to so many herbs. The oregano in the za’atar and the rosemary lend flavour to the cooking aubergines, while the fresh basil scattered to serve completes the picture. Adding the rosemary for the last few minutes aromatizes the aubergines;

I know ‘aromatize’ sounds like the sort of unwelcome thing a garage unexpectedly does to your car when you’ve taken it for an MOT, but I promise it is the best word for it. It is as if resinous smoke has been blown through every pore of the aubergine, without a trace of the bitterness that comes with roasting rosemary sprigs until they resemble the skeletons of sparrows’ legs.

Try this with roast lamb, griddled courgettes, couscous and pretty much any cold cuts.

Rosemary and basil aubergines in za'atar

Serves 4

4 aubergines (eggplant), quartered lengthways

4 tbsp olive oil

a few good sprigs of rosemary, broken into 3cm (1in) pieces

4 tbsp za’atar (see below)

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the dressing

50g (2oz) tahini

1 tbsp yoghurt

juice of 1 lemon

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

To serve

pomegranate molasses

hot sauce or chilli flakes

handful of Greek basil leaves, or other basil finely shredded

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.

Lay the aubergine quarters in a single layer on baking sheets, brush with oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in the oven, turn the heat down to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4, and cook for 20–25 minutes until tender and brown.

Make the dressing by whisking all the ingredients together with 2 tablespoons water; use a little more water if required, to reach a consistency of double (heavy) cream.

Mix the rosemary, za’atar and a heavy grinding of pepper in a bowl. Remove the aubergines from the oven, top with the za’atar mix, drizzle with more oil and return to the oven for 5 minutes.

Drizzle with the tahini dressing, pomegranate molasses, hot sauce or chilli flakes and scatter with basil.

*ZA’ATAR

Depending on your threshold for authenticity, you may be frustrated in searching for the one true herb at the heart of za’atar. Hyssop, wild oregano and savory are among the prime suspects; all create a wonderful version of this classic blend. I usually go with the lightly citrus zing of Mexican oregano in summer, and hyssop or winter savory in the colder months. As with chaat masala, once you start making and using this, you’ll find yourself sprinkling it on everything from oily flatbreads to eggs on toast.

Makes a small jarful

3 tbsp sesame seeds

1½ tbsp ground cumin

2 tbsp sumac

2 tbsp dried Mexican oregano, dried marjoram, oregano, savory or hyssop

1 tbsp salt

Lightly toast the sesame seeds in a pan over a medium heat, shuffling them around a bit to ensure they don’t turn too dark. Combine all the ingredients together with a mortar and pestle, as much as anything to encourage the flavours and scents to be released as they mix.

Store in a sealed jar, where it will keep for a few months, losing intensity over time.

What to drink: I'd be marginally inclined to go for a bright, fruity red like a young syrah or grenache with this but a herby Italian white like a verdicchio or a vernaccia or even an orange wine would work too. Or a strong dry rosé. Probably in the natural wine spectrum.

For other pairings with aubergines see here and wine matches for herbs here

Extracted from Herb by Mark Diacono (Quadrille, £26). You can read more about Mark - and indeed buy herbs from him - on his website Otter Farm.

Seasonal Veg Pakora

With the new season's spring veg springing up in the garden and coming into the shops it's the perfect moment to make these delicious Seasonal Veg Pakora from Grace Regan's appetising new book, Spicebox.

"On almost every city street in India, you’ll find a food vendor tending to giant karahi of floating pakoras in bubbling oil" says Grace, who runs the Spicebox curry house in Walthamstow. "The battered veg varies depending on what’s in season but soft, faster-cooking vegetables are preferable, such as onion, aubergine and spinach."

Below she's listed seasonal veg and combinations that work well. "The harder the vegetable, the smaller you have to cut it. For root vegetables, grating works best." (There are some useful tips on cooking veg in the book which includes 100 spicy curry house recipes.)

"Traditionally, just gram flour is used but Grace finds that adding rice flour and baking powder makes for a crisper batter at home."

Serves 4–6 as a starter/side

For the batter

Veg oil, for frying, around 1 litre

100g gram flour

50g rice flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

2 tsp ajwain seeds (also called lovage or carom seeds; swap for fennel or nigella (black onion) seeds if you can’t find them)

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp tsp ground turmeric

A thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated

1 green chilli, thinly sliced

A small bunch of coriander (stalks included), finely chopped

2 tsp garam masala

Salt

Put the gram and rice flours into a bowl, along with the baking powder and the rest of the batter ingredients. Slowly pour in 500ml water and whisk until a batter is formed – you’re looking for the consistency of a thin pancake batter.

Pour the oil into a large saucepan or wok – it needs to be 5–7cm deep – and place on a high heat.

Test the oil to make sure it is the right temperature by dropping a piece of batter into it. It should fizzle and turn golden in around 30 seconds. If you have a thermometer to hand, the oil should be 180°C.

Drop a small handful of your chosen veg (see below) into the batter and make sure it’s evenly coated. Allow any excess batter to drip off, then gently drop the veg into the oil. Fry until golden on one side and then turn over, using a slotted spoon (they will take around 1 minute 20 seconds on each side).

When the pakora is golden on both sides, lift it out of the oil and drain it on a piece of kitchen paper. Season with a generous pinch of salt on both sides. Repeat until all your veg are cooked. You can cook two or three pieces at the same time, depending on the size of your pan and the veg.

Grace recommends these with date and tamarind Chutney or green (mint and coriander) chutney, recipes for both of which are in the book.

Spring/summer veg

Cabbage, finely shredded

Brussels sprouts, finely shredded

Beetroot, grated raw, or cooked and sliced

Carrot, grated raw

Celeriac, grated raw

Butternut squash, roasted and sliced

Potatoes, boiled and sliced

Sweet potato, roasted and sliced

Cauliflower, cut into thin steaks

Kale, finely shredded

Leeks, thinly sliced

Onion, thinly sliced

Parsnips, grated raw, or roasted and sliced

Autumn/winter veg combos

Grated apple and beetroot

Grated pear and celeriac

Sweet potato and sliced spring onion

Kale and potato

Brussels sprout and beetroot

Cauliflower and leek

What to drink: Lots of possibilities here - a crisp dry Italian white like Falanghina, a fresh Provençal rosé, a dry riesling, a sylvanier, dry cider, a pilsner, a lemon or mango flavoured soda ...

Extracted from SpiceBox: 100 Fresh, Vegan Curry House Favourites by Grace Regan (Ebury Press £20). Photography by Joff Lee and James Lee