Vegetarian - Tag - vo.rs

Herby Falafel with Tahini Sauce

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 09:00:00 +0000

A great falafel is crisp and deeply browned on the outside but vividly green and fluffy within, and the secret to that lies in a generous quantity of fresh herbs blitzed right into the mixture. Parsley, coriander and dill keep the centre fragrant and almost springlike. Alongside comes a lemony tahini sauce, nutty and tangy, for drizzling and dipping. Made from soaked dried chickpeas rather than tinned, these fry up light and shatteringly crisp every time.

Shakshuka with Feta and Smoked Paprika

Wed, 13 May 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Shakshuka is the ultimate one-pan breakfast: eggs gently poached in a thick, spiced tomato sauce until the whites set and the yolks stay molten. This version leans on smoked paprika for a deep, warming undertone and finishes with crumbled feta, whose salty tang cuts through the richness beautifully. It comes together in half an hour in a single pan, and tastes every bit as good at lunch or supper. Serve it bubbling, with bread to scoop up every last bit.

Charred-Lemon Hummus with Cumin Brown Butter

Tue, 05 May 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Good hummus is all about smoothness and balance, and two simple steps push this version well beyond the everyday. Charring lemon halves in a hot pan before juicing them adds a gentle smokiness and tames the raw acidity, while a drizzle of nutty cumin brown butter poured over the top turns a humble dip into something quietly luxurious. Cooked with a little bicarbonate of soda, the chickpeas blend to a cloud-like, silky purée. Serve it warm with flatbread and watch it disappear.

Extra-Crispy Roast Potatoes with Rosemary Salt

Fri, 01 May 2026 09:00:00 +0000

The secret to a truly crunchy roast potato is a rough, starchy exterior, and a tablespoon or two of semolina does the job better than flour ever could. Shaken over the parboiled potatoes, it forms a craggy crust that fries to a brittle, golden shell in screaming-hot fat, while the inside stays light and fluffy. A scattering of homemade rosemary salt at the end adds a fragrant, savoury finish. These are the roasties that vanish first from the table.

Apple and Caraway Coleslaw

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Coleslaw can be a sad, claggy afterthought, but a couple of small changes turn it into something you actively look forward to. Coarsely grated apple, stirred into the dressing skin and all, brings sweetness and an extra layer of crunch, while a teaspoon of toasted caraway lends a warm, faintly aniseed aroma that lifts the whole bowl. The result is fresh and tangy rather than heavy, the ideal partner to a roast, a burger or a slab of mature cheese.

Greek Salad with Watermelon and Oregano-Honey Dressing

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 09:00:00 +0000

A traditional Greek salad already sings of summer, but a handful of cool watermelon cubes takes it somewhere even brighter. The melon’s sweetness plays beautifully against salty feta and briny olives, while a dressing sharpened with red wine vinegar and rounded with a little honey and oregano ties the whole bowl together. It is barely a recipe, more an assembly, but the balance of sweet, salty and herbal makes it the kind of thing you will want on the table all season long.

Mushroom and Spinach Lasagne

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 09:00:00 +0000

A meat-free lasagne lives or dies on depth, and this one finds it twice over: a handful of dried porcini, soaked and stirred through the chestnut mushrooms, lends an earthy backbone that fresh fungi alone never quite reach. The other twist sits in the white sauce, where wilted spinach and a generous grating of fresh nutmeg turn ordinary bechamel into something fragrant and green. Layered and baked until the top blisters, it is proper Sunday comfort with no need for mince.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Brown Butter and Sage

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Roasting rather than boiling the squash is the quiet secret here: the dry heat concentrates its sweetness and gives the finished soup a depth that simmering alone never delivers. The twist is the finish, a drizzle of nutty brown butter and a handful of sage leaves fried until shatteringly crisp. It takes minutes, costs almost nothing, and turns a humble bowl of orange soup into something you would happily serve to guests.

Porcini Mushroom Risotto with White Truffle Oil

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 09:00:00 +0000

This risotto wrings every bit of flavour from the humble mushroom. Dried porcini are soaked and their fragrant liquor folded straight into the stock, so earthiness runs through every grain of rice, while a few drops of white truffle oil added at the end lift it into something genuinely indulgent. The result is creamy, deeply savoury and luxurious, yet built almost entirely from store-cupboard staples.

1 Ingredients

Serves 4.

30g dried porcini mushrooms
1.2 litres hot vegetable stock
50g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
250g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
300g arborio or carnaroli risotto rice
150ml dry white wine
60g Parmesan, finely grated, plus extra to serve
1 tsp white truffle oil, plus a few drops to finish
Small handful of parsley, chopped
Salt and black pepper, to taste

2 Method

Soak the dried porcini in 300ml of the hot stock for 15 minutes. Lift out, chop, and reserve. Strain the soaking liquid and stir it back into the rest of the stock. Keep the stock warm over a low heat.
Heat half the butter and the oil in a wide pan and cook the onion gently for 6-7 minutes until soft.
Add the chestnut mushrooms and chopped porcini, and fry for 5 minutes until golden. Stir in the garlic for 1 minute.
Add the rice and stir for 1-2 minutes until the grains look glossy and translucent at the edges.
Pour in the white wine and stir until it has almost fully absorbed.
Add the warm stock a ladleful at a time, stirring often and letting each addition be absorbed before adding the next, for about 18-20 minutes until the rice is creamy but still has a little bite.
Remove from the heat and beat in the remaining butter, the Parmesan and 1 tsp truffle oil. Season to taste.
Cover and rest for 2 minutes to let it relax and turn loose and creamy.
Serve in warm bowls with extra Parmesan, a scattering of parsley and a few final drops of truffle oil.

3 The Story

Risotto is northern Italy’s great rice dish, a speciality of the Po Valley and the regions around Milan, Piedmont and the Veneto, where the wet, flat plains are well suited to growing rice. Unlike most of Italy, where pasta reigns, here rice is the carbohydrate of choice, and the technique of slowly coaxing it into a creamy whole is a point of regional pride. The dish is thought to have taken its familiar form by the nineteenth century, though rice cultivation in the area is older still.

Ratatouille with Herbes de Provence

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 09:00:00 +0000

Ratatouille is the taste of a Provencal summer in a single pan: aubergine, courgette, peppers and tomato simmered until soft and fragrant. The twist here is method rather than ingredient, frying each vegetable separately before bringing them together, so every element keeps its character instead of collapsing into mush. A scattering of herbes de Provence lends that unmistakable scent of the south. It is wonderful warm, but arguably even better the next day, eaten at room temperature.