Delia's Vegetarian Collection

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Lastly, I try the recipe that inspired this column in the first place, Kate Young’s vegetable-based “not-sausage rolls” from her new book, The Little Library Christmas. They are, as she promises, deeply savoury, with a base of sauteed leek and mushroom mixed with spinach, breadcrumbs and various umami-rich seasonings – in short, they’re deliciously moreish, but they don’t feel very Christmassy to me. Next add the blanched vegetables to the lentil mixture along with the yoghurt, tomato puree and just ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Stir well, and try to push all the vegetables below the surface of the liquid. Now bring to simmering point, cover and cook for a further 20 minutes, or until everything is tender. Taste and add a further ¼ teaspoon of cayenne, if you prefer a hotter flavour, and season with salt. If you have the time, salt, drain and dry the sliced courgettes: layer them in a colander, sprinkling each layer with salt, and place a suitably sized plate on top. Most of the recipes I try include an umami-rich element in homage to the original meat filling. Cheese will do that job perfectly, of course, as well as adding fat, so if you use it, fold in grated hard cheese of your choice to taste (about 50g should do, but it will vary depending on strength; you’ll need less mature cheddar than red leicester, for example). Soy sauce is a popular vegan alternative, and makes an appearance in both Elliot’s and Young’s versions, with the latter also adding miso paste for an extra hit of savoury flavour; Bosh, meanwhile, use nutritional yeast, which always reminds me, not unpleasantly, of Quavers. All of these are excellent choices, but I like to keep things simple with a spoonful of Marmite, which is something I always have in the house anyway. If you don’t care for it, choose one of the above instead. The seasoning

Fried Halloumi Cheese with Lime and Caper Vinaigrette

While we're on the subject of texture, baked pasta dishes such as lasagne are apparently not intended to be served al dente – they should tend more towards the "custardy", which is certainly not an adjective I've ever heard applied to any other kind. This is perhaps why Hazan and Stewart insist on the use of fresh pasta. When the aubergines and peppers are cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh of the aubergines and mash up any large pieces. Peel the peppers, remove the seeds and finely chop the flesh, then add to the aubergine. Begin by preparing the aubergines: to do this cut them into ½ inch (1 cm) dice leaving the skins on.The more I learn about lasagne, the more I realise that the real deal is quite different from the sort I grew up with – Italian lasagne doesn't slump on the plate in a puddle of sauce, but sits proud and holds its shape. Most recipes I make achieve this goal, though the American Academy's fresh cherry tomato sauce does slosh about a bit (but if you have a glut of tomatoes, pureeing them and layering with pasta and mozzarella does make a gorgeous summer supper). The obvious solution, of course, is to use a plant-based meat substitute, and Mob Kitchen recommends a pea, rice and soy protein-based brand for their recipe, which is mixed with sage, onion, chopped chestnuts and apricots, and nutmeg to produce something that looks much more like the fillings with which I’m familiar. The problem is that plant-based meats are incredibly low in fat, and cook to a crisp, leaving the filling sadly dry and, in this case, bland – I can’t detect much in the way of flavour from the “mince”. It might work better with another kind, but then you could also encase meat-free sausages in pastry without any guidance from me. Delia left school at 16 with no qualifications and worked as a trainee hairdresser, then a shop assistant and later at a travel agency. At age 21, she spent time washing up in a restaurant, and this experience piqued her interest in cooking. However, she says it was when a boyfriend kept praising his former girlfriend's talents in the kitchen that she got fed up and started cooking seriously.

Courgettes and Tomatoes au Gratin | Recipes | Delia Online Courgettes and Tomatoes au Gratin | Recipes | Delia Online

Delia Smith’s veg sausage rolls: cheddar, breadcrumbs and cream. Thumbnails by Felicity. The ‘meat’ Delia studied English cookery books at the British Museum to find inspiration for cooking meals for family and friends, with mixed success. One of her first television experiences was as an assistant on a food advertisement. When someone dropped a pie just before filming began, she volunteered to make the replacement. The rest, as they say, is history. Mix the ricotta with the toasted pine nuts and about three-quarters of the pecorino. Season to taste. The same goes for the chestnut puree in Rose Elliot’s version from her Vegetarian Christmas book: though the chestnuts feel festive, the texture is similarly mushy and the flavour similarly sweet. It’s a clever idea, especially because chestnut puree is now fairly easy to come by in large supermarkets, but for me it needs more than onion, garlic and seasoning to compete with sausage meat.Laura Fyfe’s recipe for Jamie magazine also contains cheese (stilton this time), but the base is roast butternut squash mixed with breadcrumbs and chopped walnuts, which makes it much more adaptable – you could easily leave out the cheese, or replace it with a plant-based substitute without changing the flavour profile too much. (Other recipes that fall into this category include Anna Jones’s root vegetable rolls and Bosh’s giant parsnip and bean one.) Delicious as these are, however, they’re far softer and sweeter than a traditional sausage roll, and I’d like to find something that doesn’t feel so much like a vegetarian alternative. Cover and cook gently for 6 minutes, then drain, reserving the water. Now heat the oil in a pan and fry the onion until softened. Then stir in the turmeric, coriander, cumin seeds, ginger and garlic, followed by the lentils, and stir until everything is thoroughly combined before pouring in the reserved vegetable water. Now bring to the boil, cover and cook gently for 40 minutes, or until the lentils are just tender.