A Modern Way to Eat: Over 200 satisfying, everyday vegetarian recipes

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 × 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

750ml hot vegetable stock

1 × 400g tin of black beans, drained

6 corn tortillas (see here (#ulink_29f0da0a-7515-5fd9-9dd8-2929d2e30aa3))

optional: a few organic or free-range eggs, for poaching

optional: 1 avocado, peeled and cut into chunks

a small bunch of fresh coriander, leaves picked

Preheat your oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas 6.

Place the sweet potatoes on one side of a baking tray and the halved cherry tomatoes on the other, then sprinkle the whole lot with a good amount of salt and pepper, drizzle with a little oil and roast for 20–25 minutes.

Heat a little oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the spring onions and garlic and sizzle for a few minutes, until the garlic has just started to brown, then add all the spices and stir round a couple of times. Add the tinned tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes, until all the flavours have come together.

Add the stock and bring to the boil, then simmer for another 5 minutes. I like to blitz the broth now, but feel free to skip this if you like it with more texture. After simmering, add the beans.

By now the tomatoes and sweet potatoes should be roasted. Take the tray out of the oven and add the sweet potatoes to the broth, then keep it ticking over on a low heat. Set the roasted tomatoes aside – they will go in later.

Cut the tortillas into 0.5cm wide strips and put them on another baking tray. Season with a little salt, drizzle over some oil, toss to coat and bake in the oven for 4–5 minutes until crisp and lightly golden.

I like to serve poached eggs on top of my soup, so if you like the idea poach 1 egg per person (see here (#ulink_b38f8e36-2dde-5c65-9e46-e381ca6690f6) for my method).

Once the tortilla strips are golden, take them out of the oven. Ladle the soup into bowls, top with the roasted tomatoes and crunchy tortilla strips, a poached egg, some chopped avocado, if you like, and a scattering of coriander.

Charred pepper and halloumi stew

There seems to be a blanket fascination with halloumi, especially among vegetarians. Every barbecue in the summer seems to include a couple of blocks. While I like the squeaky cheese, I think it needs a bit of help in the flavour department. Here it sits in a warm blanket of blackened peppers and a flash-cooked tomato stew that coats the just-crisped halloumi in its balmy juices. Somewhere between a warm salad and a fresh herby stew.

SERVES 4

3 red peppers

500g mixed cherry and vine tomatoes, halved

2 handfuls of Kalamata olives (about 20), pitted

2 tablespoons little capers

grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon

3 tablespoons good olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 × 250g pack of halloumi cheese, cut into 12 slices

½ a bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked and chopped

½ a bunch of fresh parsley, leaves picked and chopped

½ a bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked and chopped

If you have a gas stove, turn on the hob and use tongs to balance all 3 peppers around the naked flame, turning them every few minutes until they are charred all over. This will take 10 minutes or so. They are done when they are almost completely black and they have softened and lost their rawness. If you don’t have a gas hob, use a really hot griddle pan to char them in the same way instead, or put them under a very hot grill. Once black and charred all over, put the peppers into a bowl and cover with clingfilm. Leave to sit for 5 minutes.

Put the tomatoes into a bowl with the pitted olives, capers, lemon zest and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Season well with salt and pepper and leave to mingle while you get on with peeling the peppers. Take the peppers out of the bowl and use your fingers to peel the blackened skin into the bowl, cleaning off as much of the skin as you can. Don’t be tempted to rinse them under the tap, as this will wash away all the flavour. Deseed the peppers, cut them into 1cm strips and add them to the bowl of tomatoes.

Now heat a frying pan on a medium heat. Add the rest of the olive oil and allow to heat up, then add the slices of halloumi and fry for 30 seconds or so on each side, until they have just turned golden. Place the halloumi on a plate, then tip the tomato mixture into the hot pan and pop back on the heat for a couple of minutes to warm through and release some juices.

Finally, add the chopped herbs and halloumi to the pan and serve straight away, warm, with some good bread and spritely greens.

Celeriac soup with hazelnuts and crispy sage

Celeriac is an under-used star. I love it and champion it in my kitchen. Sometimes it’s simply roasted with salt and pepper, other times it’s smashed with lemon and thyme or just eaten raw, finely sliced in a remoulade.

Here it’s the centrepiece of a comforting soup. Apples are the perfect foil for adding sweetness, while the butter beans bring creaminess, so no need for cream or crème fraîche here. The soup can be eaten simply as it is, but have a go at the brown butter – it amps it up and makes this soup a real winner. If you haven’t made brown butter before, it’s got a deep nutty flavour which melds with the crispy sage and toasted hazelnuts to send this soup to a different dimension.

Celeriac is a bit of a beast to look at. But looks are not everything – beneath the gnarly, knobbly exterior lies a creamy white flesh with a sweet, nutty, super-savoury flavour. It packs some serious health benefits. It’s high in fibre, potassium, magnesium and vitamin B6. Peel your celeriac thickly to get rid of any green tinges around the edge and any muddy leftovers.

SERVES 6

olive oil

1 leek, washed, trimmed and finely sliced

1 celeriac, washed, peeled and roughly chopped

4 apples (Cox’s are my choice), cored and roughly chopped

a few sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked

1.5 litres vegetable stock

1 × 400g tin of butter beans, drained

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

TO SERVE