Vegetarian recipes

This recipe will probably serve about 4 people as a starter or wee snack! Serve with salad and a wedge of lime or maybe a yogurt, cucumber and mint dip.

Fry the spring onion, chilli and garlic in a little oil until softened. Add the ground cumin and coriander and some salt and pepper.

This recipe uses mafalda corta, a short, flat, ribbony pasta with a wavy edge from the Campania region of Italy. If you can't find that, any other short pasta (such as penne or gemelli) with ridges to hold the sauce will work just as well.

Put the pasta on to cook.

Another winter warmer, full of spicy goodness! Great for lunch on a snowy day...Fry the onions in the oil in a large pan over a gentle heat until soft and slightly caramelised - about 15 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli and fry for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the broccoli and fry, stirring, for a few minutes before adding the pine nuts, garlic, chilli and a pinch of salt

Put the vegetables into a baking tray, sprinkle over the fennel seeds and chilli flakes, drizzle over some olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Roast in a hot oven (200C) for about 30 minutes

Cut the squash in half lengthways, remove seeds and score the flesh in a criss-cross fashion. Place on a baking sheet, rub with olive oil, season and pop a garlic clove in each seed cavity. Roast in a hot (220C) for about 40-45 minutes or until the flesh is soft and slightly charred.

This is pretty simple, put all the ingredients into a liquidiser or a pestle and mortar to combine them. To make it easier add a little water. This will make around 4 - 5 tablespoons of paste

If using fresh tomatoes, blanch in boiling water for a minute, remove and place in iced water. Skin and seed them into a sieve over a bowl to reserve juices. Discard seeds and skin. Chop tomatoes finely.

Heat oil in large pan and cook onion over low heat for about 10 mins until soft. Add rice and turn to coat with oil and onion. The rice should not colour but become translucent

In a large frying pan, fry the bacon in a good slug of olive oil unitl just cooked (not crispy). Add the onion and fry on a low heat until soft but not coloured. Next, add the garlic and fry for a minute or two

Blanch the 6 cloves in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain all the water off then add 200ml of the stock and half the butter. Simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes until the garlic is really soft and the stock and butter have reduced to a syrupy glaze.