Sweet potato, black bean and kale chilli‏

Ingredients 1 large sweet potato, 1 can black beans, 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/2 glass red wine, 100ml passata, 100g kale, 1 red onion, 1 stalk celery, 1/4 tsp smoked paprika, olive oil, 2 cloves garlic.

Serves: 4 Preparation: 30 minutes

In the past, I have shared recipes on this blog using Quorn as a meat substitute but since I made the lifestyle choice to no longer eat any kind of processed/pre-prepared foods I have been replacing this occasional protein source with more beans and pulses and grains. Much healthier, a nicer texture, simple to prepare and utterly delicious. This chilli is the most magnificent comfort food and is wonderful served with rice, tortilla chips or in a flour or lettuce leaf burrito.

1) Peel and dice the sweet potato and roast in the oven for 15 minutes.

2) Finely dice the onion and add it to a pan along with the olive oil. Sizzle until soft, then add the garlic (minced). Add the herbs, spices and wine and cook off the liquid.

3) Add the passata, beans and sweet potato and stir through. Remove the hard stalk of the kale, discard, then blitz the leaves in your food processor. Add to the pan and cook until softened.

4) I like my food spicy, so I like to add a couple of teaspoon of chipotle chilli paste, but there should be enough kick from the paprika for those who value the skin on their tongue...

Chestnut hummus

Ingredients 400g chickpeas (dried or canned), 1 bulb garlic, olive oil, 1/2 can chestnut puree plus lemon juice, sesame seeds/tahini and paprika to taste.

Preparation: 30 minutes (canned) 1hr 45 plus overnight soaking (dried)

I love Merchant Gourmet's chestnut puree. I use it to thicken my vegetarian gravy, soups and stews but it wasn't until recently that I ever had leftovers to decide what to do with. And lo, yet another variation on hummus! This also works beautifully as a vegetarian pate if you pack down into a container and allow to chill in the fridge.

1) Roast the entire bulb of garlic at 200 degrees for 20 minutes. Squeeze the garlic puree gently from the cloves and add to your food processor.

2) If you are using dried chickpeas leave them to soak in cold water for a minimum of 6 hours (ideally 10-12) and cook them for 1 1/2 hours, changing the water frequently to avoid a bitter aftertaste.

3) If using canned chickpeas drain them and rinse well. It's entirely your choice whether you shell the chickpeas first - personally I prefer the texture with them shelled and find the process (pinching gently then shucking) very soothing! To avoid shelling them you can add a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda to the water and boil them for 5 minutes - the shells will be so soft that you won't even notice them when pureed.

4) Place the chickpeas and the chestnut puree into your blender and pulse thoroughly, drizzling olive oil through until the desired texture has been reached.

5) Flavour to taste with lemon juice, tahini/sesame oil/sesame seeds and season with salt and a pinch of smoked paprika. Stir through and serve or store in the fridge.

Pumpkin Mac & Cheese

Ingredients 1/2 can pumpkin puree, 1 clove garlic, 1/4 leek, 250g macaroni, 1 pint vegetable stock, 1 tsp truffle oil, 100g cheese, 1/4 tsp allspice, 1/4 tsp sage, 1/4 tsp thyme, 1/4 tsp smoked paprika, 1/4 sweet potato.

Serves: 4 Preparation: 30 minutes

I absolutely adore mac and cheese. So much so that despite it's obvious perfection, I am constantly re-inventing it in order to have it more often, without being bored. This version is about as far as the traditional roux-based cheese sauce as you can get, but it's healthy, can be made lactose intolerant or vegan-friendly by using a wheat-free pasta or substituting the layer of cheese with a dairy-free alternative respectively. As Autumn rolls in, I go pumpkin crazy and this truly is an out-of-this world dish.
Check out some of my other favourite versions: avocado mac and cheese using my roast garlic and avocado puree, cauliflower mac and cheese, broccoli mac and cheese and of course mac and peas.

1) Use 3/4 of the vegetable stock to put the macaroni on to boil, reserving the remaining 1/4 for the sauce.

2) Slice and dice the leek finely (discarding the root and leafy ends) and add to a pan with the truffle oil. Sautee gently, adding the garlic (crushed) once it begins to soften.

3) By the time the garlic begins to sizzle the macaroni should be ready - drain and set aside, reserving a ladle of the vegetable stock to add to the leek and garlic. Reduce this by about 50% and add the pumpkin puree, herbs and spices.

4) If the sauce is too thick, add a little more vegetable stock to thin it out (or cream if you want to be REALLY decadent), then stir in the drained macaroni.

5) Transfer to an oven-proof dish and grate the sweet potato and cheese onto the top. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes (until the cheese is gooey and golden and the sweet potato is just beginning to crisp) and serve hot.    

I very rarely add salt as standard to a dish, advising only to season to taste, but in this case I found a tiny bit of salt and black pepper to be a nice touch once I'd removed a portion for my toddler.

Roast beetroot & tomato soup‏

Ingredients 1 lb tomatoes, 2 beetroots, 1 potato, 1/2 pint vegetable stock, 1/2 bulb garlic, paprika.

Serves: 4 Preparation: 1 hour

Tomato and beetroot are a lovely combination of sweet and tangy flavours and this soup has a wonderful silky texture. Great fired up with extra chillies!

1) To prepare the beetroot, wash it and slice off the stalks and leaves. Roast, along with the tomatoes and half a bulb of garlic in a covered dish in the oven for 30 minutes.

2) Peel and dice a potato and simmer in vegetable stock until soft then strain, retaining the stock.

3) Carefully peel the beetroot with the nick of a knife, then puree it, along with the potato, garlic and tomatoes in a blender - ensure all the roasting juices are used! Pass the mixture through a sieve and into a pan. Add a little water until the desired consistency is reached.

4) Season with salt and paprika to taste and serve hot.

Harissa rice with grapes

Ingredients Grapes, rice, bell pepper, Smoked chillis, garlic salt, paprika, mint, rose petals, cumin, caraway seeds, olive oil.

Preparation: 20 minutes

Harissa is one of those ingredients that I just can't live without. Stir it into yoghurt for an instant dip of GLORY, spread it on sandwiches, thin with a little oil for a fabulous marinade... it is just altogether yummy. The sweet refreshing pockets of juicy grape in this otherwise spicy dish are absolute perfection.

To Make Harissa:

1) Remove the core and seeds from the bell pepper, then grill until the skin is almost completely blackened. Allow it to cool, then peel off the charred skin carefully.

2) Blitz the dried, smoked chilli in a blender, then add to a mortar and pestle and grind into a relatively fine dry paste. The ratio of spices is relatively simple for my recipe, though of course you can adjust for taste. Add 1 tsp garlic salt, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp caraway seeds and grind into the chilli. Add a teaspoon of oil.

3) Add the bell pepper, 2 or 3 mint leaves and the rose petals (about half the petals from a single red rose) into a blender and pulse, then combine the rose, mint and pepper mixture into the spice and oil paste.

4) Stir into boiled rice, adding halved grapes and serve. Beautiful hot and cold!

Aubergine & bean croquettes

Ingredients 1 can cannellini beans, 1 aubergine, 1 tsp paprika, 1 garlic clove, breadcrumbs, 1 egg, cooking oil.

Makes: 10 Preparation: 30 minutes

When Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty brought the charred aubergine into my life, I was a happy little bunny. Personally I prefer not to remove the burned skin as I think it adds so much gorgeous smoky flavour to the delicacy of the bean mash. If you liked my Butterbean Croquettes, you're going to love these!  

1) Using tongs, hold the aubergine over the open flame of your hob or a barbecue, turning around until the skin is evenly charred and the aubergine is softened.

2) Simmer the beans for 10 minutes in hot salty water, then drain and add to a blender along with the aubergine, 1 crushed garlic clove and the paprika. Pulse thoroughly until combined and season with salt.

3) Set out three dishes, one with a beaten egg, one with breadcrumbs and one to rest the croquettes on. Scoop out a handful of the mixture and form it into a ball, packing tightly - then roll out into a sausage shape or small bites as above.

4) Dip the croquette into the egg, then roll in the breadcrumbs until covered evenly. Either shallow fry or bake in the oven until the crumbs are golden and crispy, then serve hot.

Halloumi & roast vegetable cous-cous

Ingredients 1 bell pepper, 1 courgette, 1/2 lemon, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 50ml passata, 100g halloumi, 1/2 cup giant cous-cous (I bought mine from Millie's Organic in Leeds).

Serves: 2 Preparation: 20 minutes

Cous-cous is made using semolina which has been sprinkled with water, hand rolled and then passed through a sieve, dusted with more semolina and rolled and passed through again to form the granules that you can buy in the shops. Cous-cous in Israel has a much larger granule and personally I prefer it, the texture is more like the bubbles in a tapioca pudding and it's absolutely delicious, absorbing flavour more intensely than the smaller grains do.
This recipe is a fabulous mixture of soft textures and strong flavours.

1) Pour the cous-cous into a pan of boiling salted water and stir through for 6-8 minutes before straining in a sieve and setting aside to cool.

2) Slice the tops from the bell peppers and remove the seeds. Remove the portions of flesh from between the membranes and slice into strips. Cut the courgette and halloumi into chunks and roast with the pepper on the top shelf of the oven for 15 minutes at 200 degrees.

3) Stir the vegetables and cheese into the cous-cous along with the paprika and passata and a squeeze of lemon juice, then serve.

Sweet potato chilli

Ingredients 3 sweet potatoes, 300g Quorn mince, 400g mixed beans: kidney beans, pinto beans, haricot beans, cannellini beans and black eyed beans, 1 cup rice,

2 tablespoons Rachel's Organic Greek yoghurt, olive oil, 1/2 tsp each of coriander, cumin, smoked paprika, ground ginger.

Serves: 4 Preparation: 1 hour

A good chilli brings tears to the eyes; tears of spice, tears of joy. This approach involves roasting the sweet potatoes in dry spices, infusing the soft flesh with raw flavour power, then adding beans and Quorn to give this a protein and texture kick. Creamy yoghurt rice to round it off makes this a perfect supper when you need a little warmth and comfort.

1) Peel the sweet potato and cut into chunks. Add to an ovenproof dish with a lid. Add the spices and shake the dish with the lid on. Add a good glug of olive oil and shake again to coat the sweet potato with spices and roast in the oven at 220 degrees for 45 minutes.

2) Add the rice to a pan of hot water and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain and set aside to cool.

3) Stir in the beans and Quorn and return to the oven for a further 15 minutes. Stir the yoghurt into the rice and serve with the hot chilli.

Bean and feta chachouka

Ingredients 1 white onion, 1 can cannellini beans, 2 red bell peppers, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 100g feta, 2 eggs, passata.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 25 minutes

Chachouka is a North-African casserole - I remember strings of melting soft onion, spices and the sharpness of the saffron and tomato under creamy egg yolk the first time I tried it in Paris, years ago. This version contains cannellini beans and feta and is flavoured with smoked paprika flavour.

1) Slice the tops from the bell peppers and remove the seeds. Remove the portions of flesh from between the membranes and slice into strips. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes at 200 degrees, drizzled with a little oil.

2) Peel and slice the onion, then break into rings. Sautee in a little butter along with the spices on a medium heat for 15 minutes, then stir in the beans and enough passata to just coat the beans in sauce. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes

3) Stir in the feta and pepper, then transfer to an ovenproof dish. Press wells into the surface with a tablespoon and crack the eggs into them. Bake in the oven until the egg white has just turned opaque, then serve.

Greek baked beans

Ingredients 1 can butterbeans or cannellini beans, 1 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes, 50g passata tomatoes, coriander

Serves: 2 Preparation: 30 minutes

Last year I worked on a number of Greek inspired recipes, and since creating this, I have eaten it four or five times in the last month - that's how much I LOVE this dish. Butterbeans have long been a favourite of mine for their delicate flavour and yielding texture and they are a fantastic base for this tangy, comforting tomato sauce. Served hot, dolloped with Rachel's Organic Greek Yoghurt,  they make a fabulous side dish.

1) Drain the can of beans and rinse away the brine. Bring to the boil in a pan of hot water, then strain in a colander and set aside.

2) Stir the paprika, chilli flakes and coriander into the passata and then stir in the beans.

3) Transfer to an ovenproof dish and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

To make more of a meal of this, try adding some finely diced, sauteed onions to the sauce and topping with slices of tomato before baking.

Paprika pesto

Ingredients 150g Basil leaves, 1/2 lemon, 75g pine nuts, 1 tsp paprika, parmigiano, olive oil

Serves: 2 Preparation: 15 minutes

There is nothing like a good pesto. With just a mortar and pestle and 10 minutes of elbow grease you can achieve any number of fabulous, vibrant flavour coatings for pasta, salad, bread or even to jazz up meat and vegetables. It's quick, cheap and there is absolutely no excuse for buying some sad, faded mush in a jar instead of making your own. Over the last (almost) 2 years I have brought you both the perfect classic pesto (Basil and Pine Nut) and also pestos made with: Mint and Walnut, Basil and Pistachio, Olive, Peashoot and Pine Nut, Sage and Pistachio and finally Pistou - which is a French variant made with Basil and Almond that is AMAZING in soup.
Most nuts and most herbs or even salad leaves such as rocket, will make a good pesto - experiment with using lemon, lime, orange and grapefruit, with different oils and you'll be amazed at the results. My latest triumph, this smoked paprika pesto in particular has a wonderful, earthy flavour.

1) Add a good handful of fresh basil leaves to a mortar bowl and grind to a fine pulp.

2) Add a pinch of coarse sea salt, the paprika and handful of pine nuts and grind thoroughly.

3) Add a squeeze of lemon juice, the olive oil and grated parmeggian to taste.

I served my pesto with fresh linguine

Spanish-style potatoes

Ingredients 5 small potatoes (I used Exquisa), 1 tbsp paprika, butter, 1 bell pepper, 2 tomatoes

Serves: 4 Preparation: 1 hour


Potatas bravas, with that base of paprika and tomato, is the ultimate taste of Spain for me. Since becoming pregnant I have had to reduce my obsession with spicy food in order to avoid the dreaded heartburn, but I was surprised that taking away the heat of the chilli really didn't detract from the warmth and comfort of this wonderful dish. I served my leftovers the next night stirred through with kale and a dollop of Rachel's organic Greek yoghurt, and it was absolutely marvellous.

1) Slice the potatoes to 1/2 centimetre thickness, skins and all, then sautee in a little butter for 5 minutes.

2) Slice the top and core from the bell pepper, then cut into slivers. Slice the tomato into quarters, remove the seeds and core, leaving just the flesh and cut into slivers.

3) Stir the paprika, peppers and tomatoes in with the potatoes, season with a little salt, then transfer to a casserole dish with a lid. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes at 180 degrees, then serve.

Pork & roast pepper risotto

Ingredients 400g sausage meat, bell peppers, ham stock, cayenne pepper, butter, 1 cup risotto rice, paprika, lime, oregano, 1 glass white wine, 1 white onion.

Serves: 2 Preparation: X

All risottos (no matter what the ingredients) can be made in 3 simple stages. The first is called tostatura - coating the rice in fat, the second involves cooking off some alcohol and the third involves releasing the starch from the rice one ladle of stock at a time. For this dish, I took my inspiration from Cajun flavours to create the perfect comfort food.

1) To make the meatballs, put a tsp paprika, a tsp oregano, a squeeze of lime and a pinch of salt and cayenne pepper in a blender along with the pork mince, and pulse until combined. Form small meatballs by rolling in your hands and seal them in a hot pan with a little butter. Set aside.

2) Remove the core and seeds from your bell peppers and slice between the membranes. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes at 200 degrees and set aside.

3) Dice the white onion and sautee in a little butter until soft. Add the risotto rice and stir until the rice becomes transparent, revealing a white dot in the centre and pour in the white wine.

4) Once the wine cooks off, add the first ladle of stock and stir through.

5) Continue adding the stock to the risotto, one ladle at a time, adding the meatballs and roast pepper with the second to last ladle of stock.

6) Serve, seasoned with paprika.

Stuffed Pumpkin: Saffron & orange cous-cous

Ingredients Pinch saffron, zest & juice of 1 orange, paprika, chilli powder, giant/Israeli cous-cous

Preparation: 45 minutes

Halloween is a comin' and I'm filled with festive ideas for serving food. These TEENY PUMPKINS are adorable but there's not a lot of good eating in them, so they're merely a receptacle for this exotic mixture of meltingly soft giant cous-cous and tangy spices.

1) Slice the top from your munchkin pumpkin and carve out the flesh and seeds.

2) Roast in the oven for 25 minutes and set aside.

3) To make the filling - Pour the cous-cous into a pan of boiling water with a pinch of saffron and stir through for 6-8 minutes before straining in a sieve. Stir in the orange zest, iuice paprika and chilli powder.

4) Spoon the filling into the munchkin pumpkin and bake for a further 15 minutes before serving.

Quinoa & aubergine salad

Ingredients 1 cup Quinoa, 1 aubergine, 1 bell pepper, 4 baby plum tomatoes, paprika, kamalata olives, salt, rapeseed oil

Serves: 2 Preparation: 30 minutes

I love aubergines, simply love them. They soak up flavour like majestic sponges and when cooked well, just melt in your mouth. This salad can be served hot or cold and is simply fabulous.

1) Remove the top and core from a bell pepper and shake out the seeds. Slice finely, drizzle with a little rapeseed oil and roast in the oven along with the baby plum tomatoes for 20 minutes.

2) Slice your aubergines and lay the slices in a colander. Sprinkle salt on the aubergines and set aside.

3) Soak the quinoa for 5 minutes and rinse well in a sieve. Depending on where you buy it, it naturally has an acrid coating called saponin which you don't want flavouring your food!

4) Cover the quinoa in salted water and bring to the boil for about 15 minutes, stir continually as it soaks up the water and fluffs up, then remove from the heat and set aside to cool

5) The salt will have drawn the bitter liquid from the aubergines, rinse the liquid, pat the aubergines dry and brush with rapeseed oil. Dry fry in a very hot pan for about 5 minutes per slice, turning frequently. When the aubergines are ready the skin will have turned violet and the flesh will have darkened in colour and become meltingly soft.

6) Stir the tomatoes and peppers into the quinoa, seasoning well with salt, black pepper and paprika. I also like to add some finely diced black kamalata olives but this is entirely to taste.

7) Layer the aubergine and quinoa mixture using a circle mould, pressing each layer firmly. Serve hot or cold.

Sweet potato & ginger soup with harissa croutons

Ingredients 2 sweet potatoes, 1/2 pint vegetable stock, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp coriander, 1 white onion, 2 cloves garlic, Croutons: bread, rapeseed oil smoked chillis, garlic salt, paprika, mint, rose petals, cumin, caraway seeds, basil oil, bell pepper, Rachel's Organic Greek Yoghurt.

Serves: 3 preparation: 1 hour

This soup is nothing short of magnificent. Rich, warming and comforting with a velvet thick texture - this goes perfectly with the spicy croutons and cool dollop of yoghurt

1) Roast the sweet potatoes in the oven for 30 minutes at 200 degrees.

2) Peel and finely dice the onion and sautee in a little rapeseed oil. Add the coriander and cumin.

3) Peel the skin from the potato and stir the flesh into the spiced onions.

4) Add the vegetable stock and mash the potato into it. Leave to simmer for 30 minutes, then parse through a sieve, to leave a smooth soup. Top with a dollop of yoghurt and the croutons.

To make the croutons:

1) Remove the core and seeds from the bell pepper, then roast until the skin is almost completely blackened. Allow it to cool, then peel off the charred skin carefully.

2) Blitz the dried, smoked chilli in a blender, then add to a mortar and pestle and grind into a relatively fine dry paste. The ratio of spices is relatively simple for my recipe, though of course you can adjust for taste. Add 1 tsp garlic salt, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp caraway seeds and grind into the chilli. Add a teaspoon of basil oil.

3) Add the bell pepper, 2 or 3 mint leaves and the rose petals (about half the petals from a single red rose) into a blender and pulse.

4) Stir the rose, mint and pepper mixture into the spice and oil paste - now you have harissa!

5) Spread a thin layer of harissa onto a slice of bread, then cut into squares. Fry off in a drizzle of rapeseed oil until crisp. 

Spelt-otto: Orange & saffron

Ingredients   1 pint vegetable stock, 1/2 white onion, butter, 1 orange, pinch saffron, salt, paprika, chilli powder, Pimms, 1 cup spelt

Serves: 2 preparation: 25 minutes

All risottos (no matter what the ingredients) can be made in 3 simple stages. The first is called tostatura - coating the rice in fat, the second involves cooking off some alcohol and the third involves releasing the starch from the rice one ladle of stock at a time. It's this process of releasing starch into a sauce which makes a risotto a risotto and I was delighted to learn that spelt (a kind of wheat) can also be used. It has a fabulous texture and flavour and really brings out the sweet hay-like scent of saffron. I read recently that monks used saffron as a treatment for melancholy and this struck me as good inspiration for the exotic Eastern combination of orange and chilli.


1) Soak the spelt in cold water for 5 minutes

2) Finely dice the onion and sautee in a little butter until soft. Drain the water from the spelt and stir into the onions. 

3) Add a glug of Pimms and the juice and zest of one orange. Once the alcohol cooks off, add the first ladle of stock along with a pinch of saffron and stir through.

4) Continue adding the stock to the risotto, one ladle at a time until the spelt has fluffed up and softened. Add paprika and chilli powder to taste and serve.

Chachouka

Ingredients 2 bell peppers, 10 baby plum tomatoes, 1 white onion, 2 cloves garlic, 200g spinach, 2 eggs, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp coriander, 1/2 tsp paprika, pinch saffron, 1 tsp chilli powder, olive oil, butter

Serves: 2 preparation: 30 minutes

Chachouka is a North-African casserole - I remember strings of melting soft onion, spices and the sharpness of the saffron and tomato under creamy egg yolk the first time I tried it in Paris, years ago. Because, as you know, I loathe onion - I've added spinach to the mix with fabulous results.

1) Slice the tops from the bell peppers and remove the seeds. Remove the portions of flesh from between the membranes and slice into strips. Roast in the oven along with the whole tomatoes for 15 minutes at 200 degrees, drizzled with a little oil.

2) Peel and slice the onion, then break into rings. Sautee in a little butter along with the spices on a medium heat for 15 minutes, adding the garlic at the last 2.

3) Stir in the spinach, pepper and tomatoes, then transfer to an ovenproof dish. Press wells into the surface with a tablespoon and crack the eggs into them. Bake in the oven until the egg white has just turned opaque, then serve.

Harissa yoghurt

Ingredients Smoked chillis, garlic salt, paprika, mint, rose petals, cumin, caraway seeds, basil oil, Rachel's Organic Greek yoghurt, bell pepper.

Preparation: 20 minutes

Harissa is a spice mix which hails from North African countries like Tunisia and Morocco and is used as a base for everything from dry meat rubs to a paste which can be spread on bread or added to sauces.
As you might expect there are thousands of recipes out there, from sharp and spicy to mellow smokey flavours, but my version - with a rose base - is universally gorgeous in my humble opinion. I like to mix it with yoghurt to make a dip (as pictured) or add to fajitas.

1) Remove the core and seeds from the bell pepper, then roast until the skin is almost completely blackened. Allow it to cool, then peel off the charred skin carefully.

2) Blitz the dried, smoked chilli in a blender, then add to a mortar and pestle and grind into a relatively fine dry paste. The ratio of spices is relatively simple for my recipe, though of course you can adjust for taste. Add 1 tsp garlic salt, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp caraway seeds and grind into the chilli. Add a teaspoon of basil oil.

3) Add the bell pepper, 2 or 3 mint leaves and the rose petals (about half the petals from a single red rose) into a blender and pulse.

4) Stir the rose, mint and pepper mixture into the spice and oil paste - now you have harissa!

5) Stir 1 teaspoon of Harissa per 200g of yoghurt.

Sweet potato & feta burrito

Ingredients 1 sweet potato, 100g feta, 1/4 cucumber, tortilla, cumin, paprika, chilli powder, onion powder, dried coriander, Hummus: Chickpeas, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, sesame seeds

Serves: 2 preparation: 30 minutes

Now that the summer months are approaching, I'm looking forward to sitting outdoors to eat a refreshing, light lunch instead of huddled in the warmth of the office eating leftovers from the night before. This combination of soft, spicy sweet potato, crunchy cucumber, tangy feta and smooth savoury hummus is the perfect filling for a soft tortilla.


1) To make your own hummus, see previous recipe.


2) Slice the sweet potato into chunks and drizzle with olive oil before tossing in a bowl with the dry spices so that the potato is coated evenly.


3) Roast in the oven, skin side down for 20 minutes then set aside to cool.


4) Slice the feta and cucumber into chunks of similar size and along with the  sweet potato spoon on the centre of the tortilla in a straight line. I think this works best by pressing it onto a layer of hummus, though you could dollop hummus over it instead of course.


5) To fold the burrito, take the left and right side and lift to ensure the contents are dead centre, then first fold the bottom over the contents, then the left and right sides and tuck in the top. This will keep it all intact in your lunchbox. Serve cold.