Ginger beer battered avocado

Ingredients  Avocado, plain flour, ginger beer, oil for frying (I used ginger flavoured Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil).

Preparation: 10 minutes

The secret to good tempura batter is to use ice-cold water to make it extra crispy. Another trick is to use carbonated liquid - my beer batter or gin and tonic batter for example is fabulous. Ginger beer gives this the double threat of crispiness and flavour, and oh what flavour - ginger and avocado are wonderful partners and frying this in ginger oil only increased the taste combination.

1) Bring your oil to the boil, yo.

2) Whisk plain flour together with cold ginger beer - the batter should be a thick, stiff consistency in order to stick to the avocado.

3) Slice the avocado in half and use a tablespoon to scoop it from the shell. If the avocado is ripe enough the stone will pop out with a spoon but another good method is to prick it with a knife and pull it out. Slice the avocado into chunks and dunk into the batter - using a skewer to dip will ensure maximum coverage. Deep fry until the batter is golden, then serve immediately.

I served this with yoghurt dip - Rachel's Organic Greek yoghurt, salt and pepper and chopped fresh mint.

Ginger beer battered halloumi

Ingredients Halloumi, plain flour, ginger beer, oil for frying (I used ginger flavoured Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil).

Preparation: 10 minutes

The secret to good tempura batter is to use ice-cold water to make it extra crispy. Another trick is to use carbonated liquid - my beer batter or gin and tonic batter for example is fabulous. Ginger beer gives this the double threat of crispiness and flavour which works wonderfully with the mild, squidgey melting halloumi.

1) Bring your oil to the boil, yo.

2) Whisk plain flour together with cold ginger beer - the batter should be a thick, stiff consistency in order to stick to the halloumi.

3) Cut the halloumi into chunks and dunk in the batter - using a skewer to dip will ensure maximum coverage but be careful not to break the cheese in half! Deep fry until the batter is golden, then serve immediately.

I served this with yoghurt dip - Rachel's Organic Greek yoghurt, salt and pepper and chopped fresh mint.

Roast carrot & ginger soup with Wensleydale

Ingredients 5 Carrots, 100ml orange juice, 1/4 medium ginger root, rapeseed oil.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 2 hours

Winter is drawing in and we need to carb up! This soup is fresh and zingy with a gorgeous sticky crumble of Wensleydale to finish. When you boil carrots to soften them for soup, the colour always leaches away and they loose that lustrous orange hue. By roasting the carrots they maintain their natural sweetness and don't lose any of the flavour.

1) Peel the carrots and top and tail them, then peel and dice the ginger. Drizzle with a generous glug of rapeseed oil and roast in the oven at 200 degrees for an hour and a half, until the surface begins to colour and they become "bendy"

2) Pulse the carrots in a blender, adding the orange juice about half way through. Thin out with a little water, though personally I like this soup to be quite thick. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3) Transfer to a pan to warm through, and serve crumbled with a little fruit Wensleydale.

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.

Quinoa & cucumber salad with watermelon vinaigrette

Ingredients Quinoa, watermelon, mint, red wine vinegar, rapeseed oil, cucumber

Preparation: 15 minutes

This salad is magnificent in its simplicity, but utterly delicious. Watermelon vinaigrette represents everything that is wonderful about summer to me - fresh, sweet and tangy. It's quick to prepare and really brings quinoa to life.

1) 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!

2) 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

3) Juice the watermelon if you have a press juicer, or crush it in a jug with a pestle and pass through a sieve to release a smooth juice. Mix about 100ml watermelon juice to a tablespoon of red wine vinegar and a tablespoon of rapeseed oil. Add chopped mine and stir through the quinoa. 
Add chunks of cucumber and serve!

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. 

Roast carrot & goji berry soup

Ingredients 5 carrots, 100ml orange juice, goji berries, rapeseed oil.

Serves: 2 preparation: 2 hours

This soup is LOADED with vitamin C and A and I just love the vibrancy of it. When you boil carrots to soften them for soup, the colour always leaches away and they loose that lustrous orange hue. By roasting the carrots they maintain their natural sweetness and don't lose any of the flavour.

1) Peel the carrots and top and tail them. Drizzle with a generous glug of rapeseed oil and roast in the oven at 200 degrees for an hour and a half, until the surface begins to colour and they become "bendy"

2) Pulse the carrots in a blender, adding the orange juice about half way through. Thin out with a little water, though personally I like this soup to be quite thick. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3) Either transfer to a pan to warm through, or zap for a minute in the microwave, adding the goji berries before serving. Stir them through, allowing them to soften in the soup as they're really quite unpleasant (tough and chewy!) otherwise.

Roast cauliflower gratin

Ingredients Cauliflower, rapeseed oil, gruyere, double cream

Serves: 4 Preparation: 30 minutes

I love cauliflower cheese, it is a magnificently comforting dish when cooked well - cauliflower has a musky, sweet flavour (though overcooked it becomes sulphuric and bitter) which really contrasts with the nutty, caramel tones of gruyere. By roasting slices of cauliflower however, the texture is firm and the flavour even nuttier. Simply gorgeous.

1) Prepare the cauliflower by removing the leaves and slicing the stem to the base. Slice the cauliflower into centimetre thick sections and roast in the oven for 20 minutes, drizzled with rapeseed oil.

2) Transfer the cauliflower slices to a separate dish, sprinkling each layer with grated gruyere and a drizzle of cream. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, until the cheese bubbles and just begins to colour.

Beer can chicken

Ingredients     3 maris piper potatoes per chicken, 1 can beer per chicken, lemon rapeseed oil, butter,

Preparation: 2 hours


When I roast a chicken, I stuff the cavity with pierced lemons, filling the inside with fragrant steam to make the meat moist and succulent. Beer can chicken works on the same principle - flavouring the chicken with barley and hops. The French method of slicing potatoes to cook in the chicken juices makes a wonderful roast meal.


1) Massage a little butter into the skin of the chicken.


2) Pour 1/3 of the beer out of the can, then spread the legs of the chicken and sit it on top of the can. Press down until the chicken is balanced.


3) Cut the potatoes into cm thick slices and toss in a bowl with a little rapeseed oil, then arrange around the chicken.


4) Roast in the oven, basting at intervals to crisp up the skin, then remove carefully from the can and carve. Save the beer and carcass to make stock for soup.

Emerald salad

Ingredients2 tsp grainy mustard, 4 eggs, lemon juice, salt, pepper, 1 pint rapeseed oil, 1 tablespoon pumpkin oil, green beans, exquisa potatoes, 2 avocados, goats cheese.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 30 minutes

I can scarely believe that it's been less than a week since I discovered Pumpkin Oil but in these last few days it has been a major source of foodspiration for me! I knew the stunning nutty flavour would make the most unbelievably rich mayonnaise but I was worried it would be too light to "take". A combination of Yorkshire rapeseed oil and pumpkin oil later, I had a dish of vibrant green mayonnaise and couldn't wait to smother it on waxy, exquisa potates, silky avocado, tangy goats cheese and the fresh green crunch of fine beans. With a little mustard for added piquancy this really is a stunning salad.

1) To make your own mayonnaise - separate 4 egg yolks from the whites (discard the whites) and put in a large clean bowl to whisk (or use the whisk attachment on your blender if you have one). Add the lemon juice/vinegar, salt and pepper and whisk thoroughly, adding the rapeseed oil ONE DROP at a time until the mayonnaise is thick and glossy. When the mayonnaise has started to thicken, begin adding the pumpkin oil. You can always alternate if you wish but do remember you don't have to use all the oil - I like it quite thick but if it's too thick you can always add a little warm water to thin it back down again. Don't be afraid to stop whisking and keep checking. Once it coats the spoon without dripping it's mayonnaise, you won't get it wrong!

2) Prick the potatoes and put them on to boil for 20 minutes. Put the fine beans in with the potatoes for the last 2 minutes, then strain and run under cold water to bring them down to just above room temperature.

3) Stir the mustard in with the mayonnaise and spoon over the potatoes and green beans, stirring until they are evenly coated.

4) Slice the avocados in half, scoop the fruit from the shell (discarding the stone) and cut into chunks. Add to the salad with crumbled goats cheese and serve!