Chunky. Fresh. Warm. Unusual.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm ink and graphite on paper. The paper is no ordinary paper, it is textured Hahnemuhle 300 gsm 100% alpha cellulose which is acid-free fibre of vegetable origin. 

When I was perusing the gallery shop at the Tate Britain one time I stumbled across a neat little book of amusing gardening quotes accompanied by quirky, thoughtful illustrations. Their style was the very distinct work of the much lauded Laura Stoddart. The book in question is Up the Garden Path: a Little Anthology which I promptly bought. It really is a lovely piece of work and most gardeners would appreciate it. Anyway, this painting is inspired by the distinct flowers of the fennel plant colliding with the elongated, gentle and watery style of Laura Stoddart.

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

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Baked Fennel and Walnut salad - the vegetarian dinner recipe

Fresh fennel is a strong flavour that people are usually black and white about. It's a love or hate reaction. However, baked fennel is much, much, much milder and although it still has hints of anise, most people are quite happy to chow down on it.

about 800g fennel
1 large red capsicum, cut into big chunks of about 2 inches

several tablespoons olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

salt

1/2 cup dried puy lentils

2 bay leaves

1/8 onion, very finely sliced

75g walnuts, broken into pieces

1 cup roughly chopped parsley leaves, about 15g

parmesan to taste

Remove the stalks from the fennel and discard. They tend to be quite tough and stalky. Cut the fennel bulb into quarters like an apple and then cut out the core and discard. Chop the remaining bulb pieces into big chunks of about 2 inches. Separate the layers of the fennel chunks.

Put the fennel and capsicum chunks into a baking dish with the lemon juice, a sprinkling of salt and a few tablespoons of olive oil. Mix thoroughly.

Bake at 200C for 40 minutes and remember to stir at half time.

Meanwhile, boil the lentils in lightly salted water with the bay leaves. They take around 20 minutes.

When done, drain and rinse thoroughly under warm water and discard the bay leaves.

Combine the baked fennel and capsicum, cooked lentils, raw onion, fresh parsley and walnuts in a big bowl.

Serve with parmesan to taste.

Makes a meal for 2 and goes really well with crusty bread slathered in butter.

Light. Fresh. Filling. Warm.

When the recipe muse smacks me over the head with inspiration, it does it well. That's all I can say. This whole recipe landed from the ether, almost fully formed. Exact quantities were missing, but that was simple to deduce. This is really easy to put together. Just cook the few ingredients that need it and combine.

450g pumpkin, chopped into 1cm cubes

100g green beans, very finely sliced

150g feta cheese, very finely crumbled

100g walnuts, broken up

1/4 small onion, very finely sliced

about 1 cup or 18g parsley leaves (left whole and with stems removed)

1 cup couscous

1 cup or 250 ml water

1 teaspoon salt

cracked pepper to taste

3-4 tablespoons olive oil

3-4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Boil the pumpkin until done.

Steam the beans (on top of the pumpkin?) until they turn bright green.

Put the couscous in a bowl. Add the salt and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Then add 1 cup of boiling (straight from the kettle) water. Mix and cover with a lid for 3-5 minutes.

Combine the feta, walnuts, parsley and onion in a big mixing bowl.

As the other ingredients are done, add them to the feta mix.

Add a generous amount of cracked black pepper, to taste.

Add a good slosh of both olive oil and balsamic vinegar to the completed mix, about 3-4 tablespoons of each.

Fills 2 people.

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More vegetarian cookbook goodies

Need help with conversions? Download this handy dandy pdf of cooking conversion charts for every cooking measuring system I could find. It should make your life easier.

Want to check out more vegetarian dinner recipes? They're all in the Table of Contents.

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Chunky. Not too sweet. Unusual. Warm.

When I lived in Scotland was when I was introduced to the utter delight of green tomato jam. It was a drizzly day, cold but insulated somewhat by all the clouds. I was on Experience Week at Findhorn. We were out gardening in the drizzle. Covering various outside plants in the vegetable garden with straw as protection against the upcoming frosts. We broke for tea. We had hot mugs of weak tea with cold crunchy toast topped with green tomato jam. Partly due to being cold and damp and partly due to the marvelous jam, I was smitten. I failed to get the recipe from the kitchen and it's taken years to find a comparable version of this jam. Now here it is. Thanks to a touch of internet sleuthing and a large dollop of reverse engineering.

2 pounds (900g) of green tomatoes, after being washed, chopped into wedges and deseeded

up to 2 cups sugar / 385g

juice of 1 lemon

7cm stick of cinnamon

5cm piece of fresh ginger, grated or minced

After washing, chopping and deseeding the tomatoes, dice them.

Combine the tomato chunks, sugar, lemon juice and ginger in a pot. Cover, and leave overnight in the fridge.

Next day, add the cinnamon.

Put the pot on the stove and bring to the boil.

Then reduce to a low heat and cook for 10 minutes.

Cover and refrigerate again.

Next day, repeat.

Skim off any muck if necessary.

Check the set of the jam and cook on if it needs it.

Put in sterilized jars and seal.

This jam comes out thick, chunky and substantial, with a hint of warmth.

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More vegetarian cookbook goodies

Need help with conversions? Download this handy dandy pdf of cooking conversion charts for every cooking measuring system I could find. It should make your life easier.

Want to check out more vegetarian dinner recipes? They're all in the Table of Contents.

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