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...

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 tomato & sweet potato soup

Ingredients 1 lb tomatoes, 1 can coconut milk, 1 onion, 2 cloves garlic, 2 sweet potatoes, coriander, chilli flakes, 1 orange, butter.

Serves: 6 Preparation: 1 hour

This soup was a sort of Frankenstein's monster, I'll be honest, but whilst the majority of time I plan to create a specific recipe - sometimes something evolves from a "bung it" and turns out to be spectacular! I've been all about pistachios this week and whilst roasting some tomatoes to make bruschetta with my pistachio pesto I had a glut of roast tomatoes left over and also some baked sweet potato so decided to make soup. To make the juicy tomatoes go further and add a silky feel to the thick sweet potato I combined it with coconut milk and then suddenly this scrumptious spicy warm Autumn soup emerged!

1) Add the tomatoes, whole, to a lidded ovenproof dish and roast at 200 degrees for 25 minutes. This keeps every bit of that luscious tomato juice and has a completely different flavour from just boiling the tomatoes in stock. Bake the sweet potatoes in their skins for the same amount of time.

2) Peel and slice the onion and sautee in a little butter. When the onions are soft, add the garlic cloves, crushed, then take off the heat before they begin to brown.

3) Add the onions and garlic to a food processor along with the tomatoes - juice and all - and blend thoroughly. Pass through a sieve and back into the pan, then peel and blitz the sweet potato and add the smooth puree to the concentrated tomato flavoured juice in the pan.

4) Add the coconut milk, season and taste. At this point I added the juice and zest of an orange but depending on the variety of tomato you use, your soup may not need this additional tang. It's a judgement call! Simmer for a further 20 minutes.

5) Serve with crushed chilli flakes and chopped coriander.

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.

Moroccan roast vegetable salad

Ingredients 1 sweet potato, 1 carrot, 1 tsp garam marsala, 1 tsp coriander, olive oil, 2 oranges, 1/4 cup sultanas, 1 cup wild rice, Quorn "chicken" pieces

 
Serves: 2 Preparation: 1 hour

Well my little toasties, it has been quite some time since I have updated this blog. Everything Goes With Toast will be 2 years old in March, which is coincidentally the same month I will be giving birth to my Starchild, and the same month David Bowie releases his first album in 10 years. A month of excitement all round! Due to the whirlwind of pregnancy I have neglected this horribly, but I hope this lovely Eastern spiced rice salad will make up for it.

1) Peel the carrot and cut into chunks, then cut the sweet potato into equal sized chunks. Add to a casserole dish along with the juice and zest of 1 orange, a teaspoon of garam marsala and a teaspoon of olive oil. Put the lid on the dish and shake thoroughly to coat the vegetables, then roast at 180 degrees for 30 minutes, shaking again after 15 minutes.

2) Add the Quorn pieces and shake to coat with flavour. Roast for a further 30 minutes.

3) Juice the other orange and put the sultanas into the juice to plump up. Set aside.

4) Rinse the rice and put on to boil. When the rice is cooked, strain the water away and add the sultanas and orange juice.

5) Add the coriander to the casserole dish and shake to coat the Quorn and vegetables, then serve the vegetables with the rice.

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. 

Peanut buttered sweet potatoes

Ingredients 2 Sweet potatoes, peanut butter (I like Whole Earth Foods), honey (or agave syrup), olive oil

Serves: 2 preparation: 20 minutes

Peanuts with their salty, slightly bittersweetness bring out the natural sweetness of the potatoes and give them an almost powdery, velvet crust. These make a great topping for Mexican mole.

1) Slice the sweet potato thinly with a mandoline, or carefully with a knife.

2) Smooth the peanut butter over each slice with your fingers and arrange in a roasting tray. Drizzle with a little honey and olive oil.

3 Roast in the oven for 15 minutes until the edges crisp.

These go wonderfully as a topping for Mexican Mole with a little soured cream.

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.

5 bean chilli & sweet potato melting burger

Ingredients 2 sweet potatoes, kidney beans, pinto beans, cannellini beans and haricot beans, maize, pistachios, sesame seeds, old bread, coriander, 5 jalepenos, Philadelphia

Serves: 4 preparation: 30 minutes


I love bean burgers and this is a fabulously spiced with a scrumptious melting Philadelphia centre to cut through the heat.


1) Peel and dice the sweet potato, then boil it in hot, salted water until soft. Drain, mash and set aside to cool.  


2) Stir the beans into the sweet potato (Tesco sell "taco beans", 1 can of which is perfect - but rinse away the sauce, otherwise it will make the mixture too wet) and add a teaspoon of cumin and some chopped jalepenos to taste.


3) Sift in a little maize flour and stir through, adding more bit by bit until the mixture has stiffened just enough to form a patty with.


4) Blitz your bread in a blender until fine breadcrumbs are formed. Crush a handful of pistachios in a blender and stir through the bread with some sesame seeds.


5) Slice the patty in half and fill with a good teaspoon of Philadelphia. Form the patty back around the cheese to ensure there is no place for it to bubble out. Roll it in the breadcrumb mixture, then bake in the oven for 10 minutes until the breadcrumbs are golden brown.

Sweet potato, maple & pecan mash

Ingredients    4 sweet potatoes, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, 1 tablespoon of crushed pecan nuts, salt.

Serves: 4 preparation: 20 minutes

Sweet potato and ginger mash has been a staple favourite in this house ever since I first made it for The Boy. Today however I had foolishly used up all my ginger making rhubarb and ginger glazed pork and was forced to consider an alternative. With my creative hat on, this idea for salty, buttery mash with a seductive maple gloss and soft nuggets of pecan nuts evolved and truly, it's a magnificent mouthful.


1) Peel the sweet potatoes and slice into small chunks. Boil them for about 15 minutes until soft.


2) Crush the pecan nuts in a blender, then add the sweet potatoes, a teaspoon of butter, a good pinch of salt and the maple syrup. Pulse until the mixture has completely combined and then taste it. The balance you want is similar to salted caramel - sweet yet unctuously savoury at the same time. Add more salt or maple syrup if necessary until you have it right and then serve hot.

Vegetable crisps

Ingredients Sweet potato, carrot, beetroot, parsnip, olive oil

Preparation: 20 minutes

I'm not much of a crisp person - I tend to only eat them if I've made dips and need something to scoop up the gloriousness with, and since I discovered Fudge's I've been straying from what I call "posh crisps" (Kettle chips) and been using their nummy flatbreads instead. Now that it's autumn I'm very into flame coloured foods and root vegetables in particular and these vegetable crisps just make me feel like a kid kicking through crunchy leaves in wellingtons.

1) It's entirely up to you whether you peel the vegetables or not. I'm not a big fan of carrot or parsnip peel but I love potato peel so as you can see, mine are a mixture. You do need to peel the beetroot...
To get those thin, ribbons I use the potato peeler to peel the vegetables into strips. You could use a mandolin slicer if you wish but for best effect - go for the peeler.

2) Pat the vegetables dry with some kitchen roll, tedious I know but it really does make all the difference.

3) Either brush the strips with olive oil or pour a little in a bowl and toss them until coated and arrange them on a baking tray.

4) Bake in the oven for 5 - 10 minutes at 200 degrees. Carrot and beetroot will only need 5 minutes but the potatoes and parsnips will need 10.

5) Serve! These are fabulous as croutons in soup or to scoop up some dip. Some suggestions are: cheese & chive, Wensleydale & cranberry, Basil dip, roast pepper & goats cheese, spinach dip, rose tzatziki, avocado tzatziki, aioli, baked camembert, basil hummus and hummus.

Lavender lamb stew

Ingredients 3 tablespoons Lavender Jam/2   teaspoons dried lavender, 2 onions, 3 stalks of rosemary, 900g lamb, 2 carrots, 2 sweet potatoes, salt, 1 pint beef/lamb/venison stock, red wine, butter/rosemary oil, Worcestershire sauce.

Serves: 6 Preparation: 2 hours


My favourite ingredient is lavender. It has an incredible flavour and scent, medicinal properties and is perfectly partnered with rosemary which makes this stew sinfully rich and fragrant. You can use my Lavender Jam to caramelise the onions which gives this stew that wonderful dark French Onion glaze and hint of sweetness, or keep it savoury and make your own lavender essence to add to the stock.


1) Peel and dice your onions and add to a stock pot with 2 tablespoons of butter or rosemary oil. As the onions begin to soften, crush 4 or 5 cloves of garlic into the pan along with the rosemary stalks (chopped finely) and stir through.


2) At this stage add the lavender jam and caramelise the onions if you're taking this approach. If not, peel and dice the sweet potatoes and carrots as the onions and garlic begin to soften, then set aside.


3) Add the chunks of lamb and stir through until the meat begins to colour then add 1/3 of a bottle of red wine and stir through. Allow to simmer on a low heat.


4) If you are not using lavender jam, infuse the beef stock with the dried lavender by simmering on a low heat in a separate pan for about 10 minutes. Strain the stock through a sieve into the stock pot and discard the lavender.


5) Add the carrots and sweet potato and stir through. Leave on the hob for at least 30 minutes to allow the sauce to reduce and the carrot and potatoes to soften. Taste the sauce and season according to taste with salt, pepper and worcestershire sauce.

Sweet potato & cheddar croquettes

Ingredients Sweet potatoes, ginger, cheddar, old bread, egg

1) Bake the sweet potatoes and remove from the skin. Mash roughly with finely chopped ginger and allow to cool a little.


2) Slice a baton of cheddar cheese and form a sausage sized roll of potato around the cheese. Set aside.


3) Pulse old bread in your blender to form breadcrumbs. These work wonderfully with a little cayenne pepper and some coriander in the crumbs. In this case I used some mediterrean rustiques - garlic, tomato and herb bread.


4) Drip the potato rolls in egg and then roll in breadcrumbs. Fry until golden and crispy.

Roast beef & beef dripping vegetables

Ingredients Beef joint, sweet potato, butternut squash, olive oil.

1) Halve and de-seed the butternut squash, remove the seeds and dice the flesh into large chunks.


2) Peel and dice the sweet potato into equally sized chunks and arrange in a roasting tin around the joint of beef.


3) Roast in the oven for an hour (unless you have a particularly enormous joint - this was 850 grammes), basting the meat and stirring the veg in order to coat the vegetables in the meat juices every 15 minutes.


4) Slice the beef and serve - ideal with horseradish or dijon mustard.

Sweet potato & carrot mash

Ingredients Sweet potato, carrot, honey, ginger, marscapone Serving suggestion Pork medallion, cherry tomatoes, mozarella, basil, basil oil, lemon juice, salt, parmigiano, cream, pine nuts, garlic, courgette.

1) Peel and dice 2 carrots, ginger root and 2 sweet potatoes. I used about a teaspoon of the ginger root because I wanted it to enhance the flavour of the sweet potato, not overpower it.
Add to a pan of hot, salted water and cook until the carrot and sweet potato pieces are soft.
Mash or blend in a food processor with a teaspoon of honey and a tablespoon of marscapone.

2) Sautee the pork medallions in a pan.

3) To make the pesto - finely slice a good handful of fresh basil leaves and add to a mortar bowl. Sautee 1 clove of garlic in basil oil and add to the mortar bowl along with a pinch of salt and a handful of pine nuts.
Grind thoroughly, adding lemon juice, basil oil and parmeggian to taste.
Quarter some thick slices of courgette and stir them, along with a tablespoon of pesto in a hot pan. Finish the rest of the pesto with a tablespoon of cream.

4) Pour this cream onto some roughly chopped mozarella, halved cherry tomatoes and the pork medallions. Serve with the sweet potato and carrot mash.

Beetroot and ginger soup

Ingredients 2 cooked beetroots, 1 sweet potato, fresh ginger, vegetable stock, orange zest, black pepper Optional coconut milk

1) peel and finely chop the beetroot, sweet potato and ginger and add into a hot pan with a knob of butter.

2) Grate orange zest, stir and pour in the vegetable stock

3) Simmer on a low heat until the vegetables are soft and parse through a sieve until the mixture is smooth.

4) This is gorgeous with a splash of coconut milk to cut the heat - personally I like mine the hotter the better so lots of ginger and black pepper to bring out the heat of the cooked beetroot.

Carrot and kiwi soup

Ingredients 6 carrots, 1 butternut squash, 1 sweet potato, 1 parsnip, 2 garlic cloves, 1 pint vegetable stock, sage, 6 kiwi fruit, basil oil, brandy, brown sugar Optional - to garnish grated cheddar

1) Crush 2 cloves of garlic and sautee in basil oil for 1 minute before adding a shot of brandy and a teaspoon of brown muscovado sugar to caramelise the garlic

2) Peel and cube the carrots, parsnip, squash and sweet potato and add into the pan along with a pint of vegetable stock and the chopped sage

3) Simmer for 20 minutes before separating the vegetables from the liquid and pureeing. Pass the puree through a sieve for a smooth liquid and add back into the pan of liquid along with the sliced kiwi

4) After 10 minutes puree a final time and serve with grated cheddar for contrast