Autumn Writing Food: Mushroom Bake

Hearty cheesy mushroom bake with red lentils, succulent inside and crispy on top.
Gluten-free | Veggie

Ars longa, vita brevis, as I said to one of my students at the WolvLitFest last weekend: art is long and life is short. It's always a struggle to find enough time for all the projects. 

At least, that's what I meant to say. I said the first word, paused because my head was full of another Latin phrase (memento vivere: remember to live), so... basically I just said, with full thoughtful confidence, "ARSE" and then looked around for a bit.

I don't think she's going to let me live that one down. 

Anyway, the brevity of time (ARSE!) is why I send you these seasonal writing food recipes. We need to carve out time for our writing, often from already busy lives, and we need to remember to live. Perfect writing food is quick (either to make or to double up another day's cooking) so it doesn't steal your writing time, low-carb so your writing time isn't sabotaged by sleepiness, and as much a treat as writing itself. 

This autumn's is one of my absolute favourites for a chilly writing day, easy to double, triple, or even quadruple, and freezes beautifully (and without wasting freezer space, if you use my nifty tinfoil trick). It's one to make on a non-writing evening, in extra quantity, and then freeze the rest for future writing time.

Mushroom Bake

Serving and times

Prep & active cooking: 25–30 mins
Oven time: 35 mins
Serves: 4 (This scales up very easily; always round up the number of eggs, as they hold it together. There's a scaling-up table at the bottom for easy reference.)

Ingredients

For spicy tomato sauce (optional)

• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 2 chillies, sliced
• 1 tsp of hot chilli flakes / powder (optional)
• 1 tin of tomatoes (400g)
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper

For mushroom & lentil bake

• 175g red split lentils
• 350 ml vegetable stock (I use powdered bouillon and hot water)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 175g mushrooms, chestnut or portabello chopped / sliced
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 stalk rosemary (5”), finely chopped
• 125g cheese, grated
• 1 egg, beaten

To serve

Baby spinach leaves (approx 50g per person) or side salad

Method 

Spicy tomato sauce

If you’re making the spicy tomato sauce, get this on the go first so it has plenty of time to simmer down (1 hour, ie the same time as the rest of the cooking)

• Thinly slice 1 small onion and 2 chillies.
• In a small pot, fry the ½ teaspoon black pepper, onion and chillies on a medium-high heat, for about 10 mins (you can start the other cooking meanwhile).
• Add the 1 tsp of hot chilli flakes / powderchilli powder if using, 1 tin of tomatoes and 1/3 teaspoon salt.
• Turn the heat down and let it simmer gently, uncovered, to reduce for about an hour.

Mushroom & lentil bake

• Heat the oven to 180 C.
• Chop one onion.
• In a pot, put the 175g lentils in the 350ml hot stock to simmer, covered, until soft (10 mins). When they’re done, just turn them off and leave them on the side for now.
• Meanwhile, slice the onions.
• Melt the 2 Tablespoons butter in a deep wide pan (the wider it is, the faster this goes; deep is helpful for when you’re stirring in the mushrooms)
• Add the onion to the pan and fry on medium for about 10 mins.
• Meanwhile, slice / chop the 175g mushrooms (you can just hack them all up – no need for finesse) and finely chop the stalk of rosemary
• Add the mushrooms and rosemary to the onions, turn up the heat, and fry till they’ve released all their water and the water has evaporated (5–10 mins)
• Meanwhile, beat 1 egg in a bowl large enough to contain all the ingredients and grate 125g cheese into the same bowl. Grease a baking dish (approx 20 x25 cm for this quantity).
• Mix the cooked lentils and fried onion & mushroom into the bowl with the cheese and egg.
• Pour it into the greased baking dish: we like it about ¾–1 inch deep, to get more crispy surface. Deeper is also fine, up to about 1.5 inches deep. Bake for 35–45 minutes.
• Serve on a bed of baby spinach with the spicy tomato sauce dolloped on top.

Want to freeze it? Fridge it overnight then wrap each portion size (eg for 2) in tinfoil.

Scaling Up

Onions	1	2	2.5	3	4
Mushrooms	175g	350g	450g	530g	700g
Cheese	125g	250g	300g	375g	500g
Lentils	175g	350g	450g	530g	700g
Stock	350ml	700ml	875ml	1 litre	1.4 litres
Butter	50g	100g	125g	150g	200g
Eggs	1	2	3	3	4

And a generous stalk or two of rosemary!

A note on quantities: The red portion fills a 20x25cm dish and serves 3-4, so the orange and green quantities need two of those or something twice the size. (You can also make it a bit thicker.) The teal and purple are going into wild quantities: you'd need the actual oven tray for those, or several dishes. (The oven tray also works well to do loads and cut it into smallish squares as part of a family buffet or picnic.)

Freezing Tip

If you're freezing bakes, you don't want your whole tray to disappear into the freezer and waste space. Put the bake in the fridge overnight so it goes nice and solid, then cut it into meal-portions and wrap each portion in tinfoil, pinching it shut at the top so that the tinfoil doubles up as their "baking tray" for when they're reheated. Masking tape for the labels doubles up to seal those folds. (Air-exposure in the freezer would give it "freezer burn".) Then you write the food name and date on the masking tape in Sharpie.

Happy writing! And remember: whenever you say "ars longa, vita brevis," finish the phrase. 

Summer Writing Food: Lasting Salads

Fresh crunchy green salad that stays fresh and crunchy, topped with all your favourites.
Gluten-free | Vegan, Veggie, or Omnivore

As always, perfect writing food is quick (either to make or to double up another day's cooking) so it doesn't steal your writing time, low-carb so your writing time isn't sabotaged by sleepiness, and as much a treat as writing itself.

I'm serious about the low-carb thing, for writing time. On the Summer of Writing workshops, the people yawning in the afternoons are always the ones who brought a sandwich for lunch. Top tip: don't bring a sandwich!

Salad is my most frequent writing-day lunch, especially when I'm writing outdoors. It's super easy to make a large salad earlier in the week,  to serve as a side for a couple meals as well, and set some aside for my writing day. The fresh crunchiness is a joy, the toppings are a treat, and no sandwich-sleepiness to pole-axe the afternoon with drooping eyelids. That's me on my writing day in University Parks, exactly ten years ago, with my habitual Greek salad and its little jar of dressing.

To be yummy, though, the salad has to stay crunchy and fresh – so here are the secrets of making lasting salad. By nature, this post is more principles than recipe, but I'll add a recipe at the end for my favourite salad proportions and favourite dressing.

How to keep it fresh

The cardinal rule with keeping green salad fresh is don't put anything wet in it. As soon as the leaves and bits touch wetness, they'll start to slump and it'll lose its crunch within an hour, never mind several days. So that means...

• Dress it when you serve it: I make dressing in jars (which is handy for shaking them up to mix everything) and only dress the salad portions dished up onto our plates. For writing outside the house, I take a tiny jar of dressing with my salad.
• Deseed cucumbers: The seeds are the wettest bit, so without those, the rest of the cucumber doesn't wet the salad leaves so much. To deseed them easily, cut the cucumber in half lengthways, then scrape a spoon down the centre to pull the seeds out. It takes about twenty seconds.
• Don't add chopped tomatoes: They're wet wet wet. Either add chopped tomatoes when you serve it or use whole cherry / baby tomatoes.
• No mushrooms or apple or other wet food: Mushrooms shrivel and go miserable and make everything else sad; apples go brown. Fruit like orange segments are wet, so they're out too. Avocado goes brown almost instantly and is wet.
  
• Keep it tightly sealed in the fridge: Find a tupperware the exact right size, so there's as little extra air as possible in the container. Don't push the salad down to fit it all in though - crushing the leaves will again hasten their softening. If you're making grab-and-go portions like my pic, you can portion it up when you make it.
• Take what you're having out the fridge: Fridge-cold salad is a bit meh, it's nicer if it's allowed to lose that edge of chill. If I'm writing at home, about half an hour before I eat, I take a portion out the fridge - either in its nifty serving container, or I dish some into a bowl and cover it.

With these strategies, a green salad can last very happily in the fridge for four days, without losing its lovely crunch.

You can also vary it by making a large salad base and then changing up the toppings. I often make a large salad base for the week on a Sunday or Monday night, with a base of romaine lettuce, deseeded cucumber, halved black olives, and red onion. That night we'll add feta and chopped tomatoes to make it a Greek salad, to go with moussaka; the rest often turns into a bacon & blue-cheese salad, for the week. (That's what I was portioning up in the pic at the top.)

What to put in the salad base

What you add is completely up to you, but here are some of the ingredients that are happy living in the fridge chopped up, as part of the salad base:

• salad leaves – I like the crunchier ones, romaine and little gems
• cucumber, deseeded
• spring onion
  
• normal onion, red or white, finely sliced
• red green and yellow peppers, finely sliced
• baby spinach
• sliced raw courgette
• celery
• mange tout
• watercress, rocket, etc 
• small whole tomatoes

Adding toppings

Your salad base is a perfectly respectable green salad all on its own, but for a treat writing lunch, you want some joyous extra bits on top. These are some of my favourites:

• bacon and blue cheese
• bacon and avocado
  
• prosciutto and blue cheese: prosciutto slices are very happy in the freezer and then you can just pull out a few slices when you take the salad out to de-chill. Because they're so thin, they defrost at lightning speed.
  
• Greek salad: feta and olives
• apple and walnuts
• other nuts / seeds sprinkled over
• croutons, because sometimes you want salad to hurt
  

And of course, a beautiful dressing makes a salad sing, so I've got my favourite recipe for that at the bottom.

My habitual "recipe" is below, but really, the principles here are the main thing, and the rest is following your heart and making an effort to treat your writer-self!

Recipe

Serving and times

Prep: 20 mins
Serves: 6-8 lunches depending on toppings

Ingredients

• 1 heart of romaine lettuce, chopped into inch-sized pieces
• 1 cucumber, deseeded (cut it in half lengthways and scrape a spoon down the middle)
• 1 small red onion, chopped into eighths and then sliced. (Shake it in a tupperware to separate the slices.)
• 1 jar black olives, drained and halved
• 300g baby tomatoes, kept whole

PLUS 

• 1 block feta (200g), drained and chopped into cubes 
  OR
• 220g Stilton, chopped into cubes, and 500g bacon, fried to crispy and drained on paper towel

Perfect classic French dressing

• 4 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbsp lighter oil 
• 2 Tbsp red-wine vinegar
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 1 garlic clove, very finely grated or crushed to a paste
• Salt and black pepper, to taste

I mash the garlic, sugar, salt, and pepper in the mortar and pestle to really crush the garlic, then add the mustard and mix that well, then scrape it into a jar, add the oils and vinegar, tighten the lid on the jar, and shake it well.

Happy writing and happy salad eating!

Spring Writing Food: Moroccan peas, artichoke, & preserved lemon

A hefty flavour burst of preserved lemon, artichokes, olives, garlic, ginger, turmeric and fresh coriander, all vibrant and zesty.
Gluten-free | Vegan

As always, perfect writing food is quick (either to make or to double up another day's cooking) so it doesn't steal your writing time, low-carb so your writing time isn't sabotaged by sleepiness, and as much a treat as writing itself. 

This spring's dish is all of those plus some: super quick to make and to double up, with a smack of flavours like the sunshine bursting out after a week of grey. Plus it's all that lovely freshness and can be served hot or cold, for when the spring sunshine still has a sharp nip of chill.

It also uses almost entirely "store cupboard" ingredients: quote-marks because they're not necessarily things you have lying about in the cupboard, but they're all things that keep pretty much indefininitely. So if you want an option in stock for future writing time, add these to your grocery list:

• a tin of artichoke hearts
• a jar of olives
• a jar of preserved lemons (which keep apparently indefinitely in the fridge once opened)
• a packet of frozen peas
• fresh ginger to chop into inches, pop in a freezer bag, and freeze

That's everything you need, alongside some garlic, powdered turmeric, and olive oil. And optional fresh coriander, but I often make it without, as there are plenty of other flavours loudly bellowing.

 It freezes well, too. The peas do fade a bit when they're frozen, so if you feel strongly about peas being the brightest green, then freeze some of it without the peas and add them when you reheat it. On a non-writing day, or for feeding non-writing gannets in the household, you can bulk it out with pitta or ciabatta; for writing, just have it as-is. Maybe with some extra peas if the flavours are blowing your head off!

Moroccan peas, artichoke, & preserved lemon

Serving and times

Prep: 15–20 mins
Cooking:  5 mins
Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 6 Tablespoons olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 3 small preserved lemons, flesh and rind finely chopped (fish out the pips)
• 1 tsp ground turmeric or 1 inch fresh, minced
• 1 tsp ground ginger or 1 inch fresh, minced / grated
• 400g frozen green peas 
• 30g fresh coriander (in an ideal world), finely chopped
• Salt
• 2 generous pinches ground black pepper
• 400g tin drained precooked artichokes roughly chopped
• 120g pitted kalamata olives, roughly chopped
• Optional: pitta bread or ciabatta to serve it with (for a non-writing meal)

Note: This really does need to use preserved lemons; normal lemons won’t do at all. Both Tescos and Sainsbury’s sell the Beldi Belazu jars, 320g, which contain about 6 preserved lemons each.

Method 

• Prepare all the ingredients first, as the cooking time is very quick. (I halve the 3 preserved lemons and fish out the pips, peel the 4 cloves garlic, and take an inch of ginger out the freezer, then throw all three together into the chopper.) If you're making this on a non-writing day, heat the oven to warm the ciabatta / pitta bread
• Heat the 6 Tablespoons oil in a large deep saucepan / wide pot over a medium heat.
• Add the crushed garlic, preserved lemon, 1 tsp/inch ginger, and 1 tsp/inch turmeric, fry, stirring, for a minute, until the oil is fragrant.
• Add the 400g peas and 30g coriander (if using), season and give everything a good stir.
• Cover the pan and leave until the peas are fully cooked – about four minutes.
• Mix in the tin of drained chopped artichokes and 120g chopped olives, taste and adjust the seasoning, and serve warm or cold.
• If you’re having it with pitta bread for a non-writing meal, you can also fill the pittas with it or let people fill them themselves at the table. Make sure to nudge people until they say "Nice food" so you can say "Thanks! It has pockets!" And if a pea rolls free, you point at it and yell "ESCAPEE!"
• Eat, write, and rejoice!
  

If you want more writing-food ideas, here are all the seasonal recipes so far.

---

Recipe credits: Nargisse Benkabou in The Guardian

Winter Writing Food: Stuffed Aubergine Parmigiana

 

 

Roasted aubergine halves stuffed with mozzarella and breadcrumbs, topped with a parsley garlic and cheese crust, baked in a sea of tomato, onion, and garlic.
Vegetarian | Gluten

As always, perfect writing food is quick (either to make or to double up another day's cooking) so it doesn't steal your writing time, low-carb so your writing time isn't sabotaged by sleepiness, and as much a treat as writing itself. 

This winter's recipe is a glorious indulgence. It's comforting, rich, low carb, colourful, and easy to reheat: a sumptuous writing-day treat. It's not traditional aubergine parmigiana; it uses some cheeky / outright questionable hacks, but it is utterly bloody lovely.

It's also a lot quicker than regular aubergine parmigiana. Still not objectively quick, it's not a five-minuter, but I've managed to refine the original recipe down to 1 hour of active time, and it makes 8 portions, so that's a very generous reward on the time. After you've made it the first time, you also have parsley-garlic paste stashed in the freezer for the next two times you make it, so that speeds things up too.

If you're having a full writing day, you can make it earlier in the day as a brain-break, and then hold off the final 10-20 minutes in the oven. Alternately, make it on a non-writing day and pad it out with crusty bread or fried / boiled and herby potatoes, so the precious aubergine boats don't all get inhaled.

If you're after something healthier, quicker to make, vegan, or gluten-free, try last winter's recipe. If you've got 1h40 to be around (1 hour of which is active time) and you're looking to treat your writer self, then you may want...

Stuffed Aubergine Parmigiana

Note: There are also pictures at the bottom of the post, to show some of the techniques / cooking in progress.

Serving and Times

Cooking: 1h40, of which 1h active

Serves: 6–8 or 8 writing-time meals

Ingredients

Main

• 1 onion, diced
• 60ml extra-virgin olive oil (¼ cup), plus extra for drizzling
• 4 medium aubergines
• 2 tsp pouring salt
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 x 400g tins whole peeled tomatoes
• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 15g chopped parsley to serve, plus crusty bread / potatoes when you have it as a non-writing time meal (so your lovely aubergine halves don't all get snaffled up)

Parsley-Garlic Paste

• 70g parsley, leaves and stalks roughly chopped
• 5 garlic cloves
• Zest and juice of ½ lemon
• 125ml extra-virgin olive oil (½ cup)
• ¼ tsp pouring salt (½ tsp flakes)

Parsley-Garlic Crumbs

• 80g parsley-garlic paste (¼ cup)
• 100g breadcrumbs
• 50g butter
• 1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Stuffing

• 50g breadcrumbs
• 340g of your 500g mozzarella (the rest is for sprinkling)
• 15g parsley, roughly chopped

Equipment

• Large shallow baking dish that can fit 8 aubergine halves next to each other (mine is 24cm x 34cm and 6.5cm deep)
  
• Full-sized oven tray
• Baking paper
• Large mixing bowl
• Optional, makes it quicker: a food chopper; a 400ml jar for shaking garlic; a mezzaluna for speed-chopping parsley.

Method

50 Mins Active Time

• Find a baking dish large enough to take 8 aubergine halves (mine is 24cm x 34cm and 6.5cm deep).
• Dice 1 onion med-fine and put in the dish with 60ml olive oil. Put in the cold oven, then turn oven onto 180° C fan. Set onion timer for 15 mins.
• Line an oven tray with baking paper. Halve the 4 aubergines lengthwise and score them deeply, criss-cross diagonally, not piercing the skin. Sprinkle about ¼ tsp salt on each half, pressing the aubergine edges down so the salt can fall into the cracks. Lay the aubergines face-down on the baking paper.
• Shake the 9 garlic cloves (4 if you have your parsley-garlic paste already) in a jar, to remove/loosen their skins.*
• Blitz the peeled garlic in a ninja/chopper. If you're making parsley-garlic paste, set aside just under half  the garlic to join the onions later.

• Make the parsley-garlic paste: Add to the 5 cloves garlic in the ninja/blender: 70g parsley, zest and juice of ½ lemon, 125ml oil, ¼ tsp salt. Blitz till smooth. Divide into 3 x 80g: one to use now; two in small jars for the freezer, for future.

• When the onions have had 15 mins and the oven’s hot, take the onions out and put the halved aubergines in. Set a 30-min aubergine timer.
• To the onion dish, add the remaining 4 cloves minced garlic, 2 tins tomatoes, ½ tin water (200ml), 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar. Crush the tomatoes with a masher. Pop the dish back in the oven.

• Fry the breadcrumbs: Melt 50g butter in a frying pan. Add 1 Tbsp olive oil, 80g parsley-garlic paste, and 100g breadcrumbs. Fry till golden, stirring regularly. Between stirs, you can mix the stuffing.
  

• Mix the stuffing: Roughly chop the remaining 30g parsley. In a large bowl, mix half that parsley, 340g mozzarella, and 50g breadcrumbs. (Set the extra mozzarella and parsley aside for later.)

• When the aubergines have had 30 mins, take them out the oven. Turn the aubergines face-up to cool and set a 15-min timer.

15 Mins Rest

• Finish anything not done, clean kitchen, chill, etc.

10 Mins Active Time

• Take the tomato dish out the oven.
• With a spoon, scrape the aubergine flesh from the skins into the stuffing mix bowl, keeping the skins whole. Mix well.
• Lay the aubergine skins on the tomato mix. Fill with stuffing mix. Drizzle olive oil over them.
• Put in the oven for 15 mins.

 25 (15 + 10) mins rest (or longer if you wish)

• After 15 mins (this can be 20 if you wish), take the dish out and top each aubergine half with the parsley-garlic breadcrumbs and the extra mozzarella for sprinkling.
• If you want to pause dinner, you can keep it out the oven for longer now.
• If / when you’re ready to eat, put it back in the oven for 10 mins if it’s still piping hot (or 15–20 if you paused it and it needs to regain its heat).
• Sprinkle the remaining parsley over it before serving. (It's fine to parsley the ones for the freezer too.)

Freezing

Refrigerate the tray overnight, to help everything firm up. The next day, use a flat spatula to scoop each aubergine boat, along with the tomato mix under it, onto tinfoil. Wrap the portions in foil and label with masking tape & a sharpie.

Recipe credits: Alice Zaslavsky in the Guardian. I've adapted the technique to streamline the prep, cooked the tomatoes and onion for longer, and adjusted the quantities to suit the amount things are sold in, in the UK.

* Shaking garlic in a jar to peel it: This is not a spoof hack; it really works. A 400ml jar works best, not a huge one. For older garlic, the peels will usually fall off after vigorous shaking. For very fresh garlic, the peels often don't come off, but the bash-about in the jar makes the fresh cloves easier to peel: cut off the blunt end without severing the peel on the other side, then use that to pull the rest of the peel off.

The cooking, in pictures

The stuffing mix in its bowl (before the aubergines are added) with the two extra jars parsley-garlic paste.

Two extra jars of paste labelled for the freezer.

Holding the scored aubergine open to sprinkle with salt.

Scooping the aubergine flesh out the skins.

Empty aubergine skins laid out on the tomato sauce.

Aubergine halves filled to be baked before their topping is added.

Aubergine halves baked, before the parsley is sprinkled on.

Aubergine parmigiana for my writing day.

Four portions for the freezer, for future writing-time joy.

Autumn writing food: Roast Butternut

 

 

Roast Butternut with chorizo or halloumi, goats cheese, toasted walnuts, and mint on a bed of greens
Veggie / Vegan / Omnivore | Gluten Free

As always, perfect writing food is quick (either to make or to double up another day's cooking) so it doesn't steal your writing time, low-carb so your writing time isn't sabotaged by sleepiness, and as much a treat as writing itself. 

Roast butternut is wonderfully easy to prepare in bulk – if anything, it's quite hard not to do in bulk, with the size of some butternuts. And it's easy because you don't have to peel it. That's so important that I'll shout it:

You don't have to peel butternut!

It's actually better if you don't peel it! So if you've been labouring away at an orange rock with a peeler, or you've gone off butternut because it's "mushy", let me set you free. LEAVE THE SKIN ON. It roasts beautifully, with lovely texture, and if you're boiling your butternut for soup, the skin softens enough to blend up smoothly.

In this recipe, we're roasting it in chunks, so we get lovely caramelised textured butternut, with the rich umami and chewiness of either chorizo pieces or halloumi tossed in smoked paprika, offset by the creamy tang of goats cheese, plus fresh mint to add a lively zing, and all served on a bed of fresh green spinach which softens deliciously under the roasted heat without quite collapsing. Amazing treat food for an autumnal day, and the roasted ingredients (butternut, chorizo/halloumi, walnuts) freeze beautifully for future writing sessions. 

This is one where I make lots for that evening's cooking, and portion up the extra for writing days. For this recipe, that means the full quantity of butternut, chorizo/halloumi, and walnut, which is the part I'll freeze. And then just enough goats cheese, mint, and baby spinach for what we'll eat that night, with any extra saved for that week's writing day(s) and work-lunches for my beloved. For future writing days where I want this dish, I'll get more goats cheese, mint, and baby spinach. And any of those I don't use will make a great goats' cheese and spinach frittata.

I've tinkered with this recipe for years, varying timings and toppings, and bloody love it. I've got both omnivore and vegetarian versions for it, colour-coded below. I don't have a vegan version; I tried to work one out and realised anyone who's actually vegan will be more skilled than I am at what to use in place of the chewy protein (chorizo / halloumi) and the creamy tang (in this version, goats cheese). If you come up with a vegan variation, please let me know! But whichever version, the recipe starts with this:

You don't have to peel butternut!

So before the recipe, here's how to disassemble a butternut without peeling it or risking limbs:

• Wash the butternut well, as you'll be eating the skin.
  
• Lay it flat on the board and cut it in half widthways just above the bulge. The top end has no seeds. (Make sure to hold your non-cutting hand above the knife, pressing on top of the knife.)
  
• Top end: Cut the stalk off the top. Cut the rest in circles about an inch wide. Lay the circles flat and cut each one into 6 segments, the way you'd divide a pizza, so they each have skin attached.
  
• Bottom end: Stand the bottom end up and cut it in half vertically. Scrape out the seeds with a spoon. Lay each half face down on the chopping board and cut it into half-circles about an inch wide. Lay each half-circle flat and cut each one into 4 even pieces, again each with skin. The final round end will have a hard stem bit in the middle that you need to cut out.
  

Voila! Stress-free butternut chunks. 

Scroll on for the recipe or download it as a PDF here. 

To use the PDF as a scrollable on your phone, download Adobe Acrobat Reader free from Google Play or the Apple Store. When you open your PDF in the Adobe Acrobat Reader app, tap the Liquid Mode icon at the top for easy scrolling. The method repeats the quantities so you don't have to scroll back and forth.

Roast Butternut

Serving and times

• Prep: 10–20 mins
• Cooking: 1h10
• Serves: 4–6

Ingredients

• 1 very large / 2 small butternut (2kg +) chopped into 1-inch / 1.5 inch at widest chunks, skin on
• 2 teaspoons chilli flakes (or 1 tsp if you don’t want it too hot)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6–9 Tablespoons olive oil
• 100g walnuts
• Small handful mint (approx 5g), finely chopped
• 125g goats cheese (more if you’re feeling generous)
• 260g approx baby spinach (or a mix of baby spinach and peppery greens eg watercress, rocket, etc)

Plus: omnivore version

• 1 ring chorizo (225g), sliced into ½ cm rings

OR

Vegetarian version

• 225g halloumi, sliced in 5mm slices, tossed with 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Method

• Set the oven to 180 C fan.
• Chop the butternut with skin on and toss it in the 6–9 Tablespoons olive oil, 1-2 teaspoons chilli flakes, and 1 teaspoon salt.
• Spread the butternut in a large roasting tray so the pieces aren’t on top of each other
• Put in the heated oven and set a timer for 25 mins.

OMNIVORE VERSION:

• After 25 mins, toss the butternut and set a timer for another 25 mins.
• Meanwhile, chop the 225g chorizo.
• When the butternut’s had 50 mins total, scatter the chorizo on top and set a timer for 15 mins.

VEGETARIAN VERSION:

• After 25 mins, toss the butternut and set a timer for another 30 mins.
• Meanwhile, slice the 225g halloumi and toss it in 1 teaspoon smoked paprika.
• When the butternut’s had 55 mins total, scatter the halloumi on top and set a timer for 10 mins.

BOTH VERSIONS CONTINUE HERE:

• Meanwhile, chop the small handful mint and get the goats’ cheese ready to serve. Divide the greens evenly between the plates.
• When the timer goes, scatter the walnuts on top of the roasting butternut and chorizo / halloumi. The walnuts will take 3–5 mins depending on your oven – keep a watchful eye on them so they don’t burn!
• Dish the roasted butternut, chorizo/ halloumi, and walnuts onto the plates, on top of the greens. Divide the goats cheese between them, in scattered bits. Sprinkle over the mint and serve.

To freeze:

Freeze just the roasted part (butternut, chorizo/halloumi, and walnuts) in portions. Take note how much you actually eat: it often looks too small, without the other ingredients. To reheat it, defrost fully, roast for 10 mins at 180, then serve with greens, goats cheese, and mint.

Enjoy, happy writing, and spread the word: you don't need to peel butternut!

 

Summer writing food: Roast Mediterranean Veg

   

Perfect for heatwaves or rainy summer days: the best of summer’s veg roasted to bring out its flavour.
Vegan | Gluten-free

As always, perfect writing food is quick (either to make or to double up another day's cooking) so it doesn't steal your writing time, low-carb so your writing time isn't sabotaged by sleepiness, and as much a treat as writing itself. 

Roast Mediterranean veg is quick to prepare, easy to make lots of, and freezes well. You can play around with the exact ingredients and quantities, add extra protein for omnivore / veggie / vegan eating, and get creative with herbs and spices to change it about. 

It's also ideal for whatever extreme of summer we end up getting. In a heatwave, cooked food is less physical work for your body to digest than raw salads, so roast vegetables that are delicious at room temperature is perfect. As soon as a heatwave is forecast, I prep trays of roast veg for the week ahead. In veils of rain, you can serve it hot or reheat it, and enjoy all the flavours of summer while admiring how very green everything is, through the rain-streaked window. Possibly with a summer-themed blanket wrapped round you. I'll keep any further witter to after the recipe!

Roast Mediterranean Veg

Serving and times

• Active time: 15 mins
• Oven time: 40 mins
• Serves: 4–6 (easily doubled or more)

Ingredients

• Approx 1.5 kg of mixed Mediterranean veg, eg
  1 aubergine
  2 courgettes
  3 peppers, any colour or a combination
  300g mushrooms
  2 small red onions
• ½ head of garlic (about 6–9 cloves)
• 4–6 Tbsp olive oil
• ½ – 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper
• Optional: 4–6 whole mild chillies

Optional extras: protein

We often serve it as is, or with grilled chicken or sausages. You can also add more protein to the dish, partway through cooking or at the end:

• Chorizo: 5mm slices, 20 mins before end
• Halloumi: ¾ cm slices, 10 mins before end
• Walnuts: 5 mins before end
• Cheese (goats, camembert, brie) when serving

Optional extras: additional flavours

You can add whatever herbs, citrus, and spices you fancy, to vary it. Eg rosemary, thyme, sage, mint, basil, tarragon, chives, parsley, lemon, lime, chilli, cumin – though perhaps not all at once! My favourite combos are: mint and goats cheese; rosemary and lemon; chilli flakes and lime; cumin, leaf coriander, and lemon.

Method

• Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan).
• Chop the aubergine, courgettes, and peppers into chunks about an inch / 2.5cm big – err bigger than smaller.
• Rub the mushrooms clean of dirt and trim the stalk ends if necessary.
• Halve the onions, peel them, and trim the ends leaving as much on as possible. Chop each half into quarters or thirds lengthways.
• Break the garlic into cloves, the skin still on.
• Get an oven tray large enough to hold all the vegetables in a single layer. (The oven’s own tray does well, lined with foil if necc.)
• Toss all the vegetables in the olive oil, salt, and pepper.
• Put the tray of veg in the oven for 40 mins.

Optional Extras

• Before roasting: Toss any lemon zest, chilli, and whole spices (eg cumin) with the veg. Tuck any woody herbs (rosemary, thyme, sage) under the veg, stalks and all.
• While roasting: Set an extra timer for when to add your chorizo, halloumi, or walnuts.
• After roasting: Add any chopped soft herbs (eg mint, basil, tarragon, chives, parsley, coriander), any citrus juice (eg lemon, lime), and any cheese.

Notes

Avoid dishes with high sides for roasting: A metal tray with low-ish sides is ideal. Higher sides keep more of the moisture trapped, even when the dish is open at the top, making the veg boil in its juice more than roast.

Fridging, freezing, re-eating

• Keep for up to 5 days in the fridge. 
• To freeze, portion into tupperwares (don’t squish it down) & label with masking tape & a sharpie. Defrost overnight in the fridge for maximum food safety.
  
• For hot days, take it out the fridge an hour before to eat at room temperature, with a dash of extra olive oil and balsamic or citrus juice.
• For colder days, reheat for 10–15 mins in a 160°C oven. Add a splash of lemon or lime to brighten it.

Further witter on roast veg, chillies, and variable summers

In 2022, with the Summer of Writing workshops finally set to happen in person again, a massive heatwave was forecast. I leapt into action. For me and my partner, I roasted heroic quantities of Mediterranean veg, throwing in some of my freshly homegrown jalapeños: the perfect chilli-heat to add some zing but still eat whole without blinking. For everyone coming to the workshops, I laid in extra ice, double quantities of iced teas, two electric fans, an extra large garden umbrella for lunchtime, and a water-mister and hand fan to pass round. The front room, where the workshops are held, is north-facing and always the coolest, but even so I pinned thick white cloth on the conservatory side and the stair windows to block any heat from the south side of the house. The roast veg was delicious, and everyone at the workshops was kept as cool as humanly possible. 

After two weeks of heatwave, I made another batch of roast veg, with the new jalapeños that had grown. I ate one, and... I didn't even get the laughing chilli high. Just straight to crying with pain, half a pint of milk, brushing my teeth (while crying), more milk (still crying), and then collapsed into a pain-induced nap on my partner's lap. I couldn't even finish my dinner. Heatwaves, it turns out, make chillies hotter as well as people.

In 2023, I was even better prepared to keep everyone cool. Everything as before plus a second even bigger umbrella for the garden, more bottles for iced tea, cream black-out blinds installed on the south side instead of cloth... and we had the other kind of summer. Cue piles of towels to dry people who arrived soaking, coathangers for sopping coats to dry off, hot chocolate alongside the teas and coffees. All the veg I'd bought to roast made cosy warming dinners for wet evenings and welcome hot lunches for writing days. And the chillies, even the superhots, offered the humblest zing of heat, right at the bottom of their respective Scoville scales.

So, whatever kind of summer we get this year, beware of heatwave chillies, happy eating and happy writing!

Spring Writing Food: Italian Frittata

   

Flexible, fresh, and quick: flash-fried vegetables in an open omelette, topped with cheese.
Vegetarian / Omnivore | Gluten-free

Perfect writing food is quick (either to make or to double up another day's cooking) so it doesn't steal your wriitng time, low-carb so your writing time isn't sabotaged by sleepiness, and as much a treat as writing itself. 

In spring, I start hankering for fresher food than winter's roots, stews, soups and braised veg, but with a nip in the air, I still want something hot. Italian frittata fits the bill perfectly: flash-fried fresh salad vegetables in an open omelette, topped with cheese. It's ready in 5–10 mins from start to finish, packed with freshness, and piping hot. And unlike its Spanish cousin, no pototoes! (I love potatoes, but boy do they make me sleepy.) It's also super-flexible for whatever fresh veg and cheese you have about, and whatever herbs, chillies, or spices you fancy adding.

I got a little shy about suggesting it: it's hardly avant-garde or innovative, and I thought of another much more glamous recipe instead... But this isn't a cookery school or a place for me to show off a new recipe I've nicked; it's easy ideas to make the most of your writing time. And actually, now that it is spring, this is what I'm throwing together almost every writing day. So here you go!

Italian Frittata

Serving and times

Active time: 5–10 mins
Serves: 2 (easily halved or doubled and tasty served cold. I usually make enough for 2 and have it cold or quickly reheated later in the week.)

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, whisked
• 2 teaspoons butter / oil
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 handfuls of vegetables (see below)
• grated/crumbled cheese of your choice

Suggested combinations

This is what “2 handfuls of vegetables ” roughly equates to, in actual veg, plus the cheese combinations I like. Any veg that you can also eat raw does perfectly: use what you have and what you fancy. (Each suggested combo is for its own frittata, serving two.)

• 200g spinach (it looks like masses but quickly fries down to almost nothing), optional half-onion, lemon zest, topped with blue cheese
• 1 red pepper, 1 courgette, 1 chilli, optional half-onion, topped with cheddar
• 1 onion, 1 pepper, chilli flakes, topped with cheddar
• 2 courgettes, optional half an onion, topped with goats cheese
• 1/2 cup of peas and 50-100g mangetout or asparagus tips, topped with parmesan
• Peas and fresh herbs, topped with feta.

You could also add meats: ham, chorizo fried slowly to render it, bacon bits, etc.

Method

• Put the grill on to pre-heat.
• Whisk your eggs and the salt together.^*
• In a pan on the stove, heat the butter / oil and add pepper / chilli / any spices you’re using.
• Fry your vegetables – choose your temperature and timing accordingly. I gently wilt spinach on medium heat for 2 minutes, and sear peppers and courgette on high heat for 3–4 minutes.
• When the vegetables are almost done, turn the heat down to medium-low.
• Pour in your whisked egg, stir briefly to mix the egg and veg, shake the pan lightly to redistribute the egg, and return to the heat.
• While it cooks, grate or crumble your cheese over the top.
• After 2–3 minutes, when the bottom is cooked but the top is still wet. pop it under the grill for 1–2 minutes to cook the top and melt the cheese.
• Slice in the pan and lift out with a spatula, to serve.

Notes

• Leftovers: Any leftovers keep well in the fridge and make a lovely cold lunch.
• Pan sizes for doubling or halving: The recipe scales easily, but remember to scale your pan size too. If the frittata’s too thin, it won’t hold together; too thick, it’ll struggle to cook through. These are the approx pan sizes I use:
  2 eggs: 20cm pan
  4–6 eggs: 24cm pan
  6–8 eggs: 30cm pan
• Wet vegetables: If you use  mushrooms, tomatoes, or other vegetables that hold a lot of water, fry them for longer first so they release any water and it boils off before you add the eggs. For courgettes, I sear them hot rather than let them release all their water.
  
• Herbs: If you want to use any soft-leaved herbs (basil, mint, tarragon, coriander, chives, etc) chop them finely and mix them with the raw egg.

Recipe credits: Italians, generally, and Megan

^* Salt in the eggs? Really? Yes: Serious Eats says so!

And if it suddenly starts snowing...

Then you might want some Winter Writing Food: Bhakti Dahl Soup, a warming, bright and fragrant lentil soup, lively with ginger and chilli.

Happy eating and happy writing!

Winter Writing Food: Bhakti dhal soup

 

Warming, bright and fragrant lentil soup, lively with ginger and chilli.
Vegan | Gluten-free

 

"Carve out your writing time and defend it like an angel with a flaming sword," I say again and again. Most of us are carving out writing time from the crannies of an already busy life and the hacks for doing that are often simple, practical things. Like a shower after work, to reset your mind and reenergise you. Or having food already sorted, to win that extra time. In my personal life, I'm the queen of recipe sharing (I don't think my Facebook friends know I do anything besides cook) so I thought I'd share a recipe here, each season, of handy writing food. 

The perfect writing-food recipe has two criteria:

• Time-saving: incredibly quick to make or very easy to make a double batch of and freeze for your writing time. That's carving out the time.
• Low carb: I'm a big fan of carbs, but there's nothing like a sandwich to pole-axe my afternoon or evening's writing with yawns. Carbs = sleepy, so low carbs is defending the time.

And, it should go without saying, delicious: a treat to eat, just as writing time is a treat to have. Economical is also a major plus-point: if you can work less, you can write more. If you want to drop to a four-day week, to write more, you want perfect writing food that matches that.

With those criteria, absolutely brainstorm what's in your repertoire already: we start from where we are. That said, winter writing food can be a challenge. The writing-day salads I joyously chow down six months of the year have no place on a freezing misty day. Most gleeful wintery bulk-cooks are swimming in creamy carbs. And while I have a ton of low-carb bakes I make and freeze in heroic quantities, I figured the inaugural recipe should be a tad more accessible.

I'd been puzzling over this for two months. Then we got Covid, just as we'd run the freezer down in advance of Christmas cooking, and I went through my recipe list for "What can I make in five minutes, while feverish and swaying, which will sort us out for several days?" and returned to this absolute marvel.

Bhakti Dahl Soup is a warming, bright and fragrant lentil soup, lively with ginger and chilli. It's reviving, nourishing, and incredibly quick to put on. As a bonus, it's vegan and gluten-free. (I'm an omnivore and gluten-enthusiast, but I'll make sure recipes I post here either suit everyone or are easily adaptable.) And it wins prizes for thriftiness.

Why it's quick: It uses hing, aka asafoetida, aka yellow powder, instead of onions and garlic, which cuts down on prep time. If you have a food-chopper, you can throw the ginger and chilli together into that, to speed it up still more. The only other prep is grating a courgette. The rest is frying spices, opening a tin of tomatoes, and pouring things into the pot. So with five minutes' prep, you've got a six-portion soup which freezes beautifully. It does need to simmer for 30-40 mins, but you can carry on writing while it does. If it's just for you, freeze the other 5 portions for future writing sessions: it freezes perfectly. And if you're feeding a household army, it's very easy to double the recipe, or even triple it if you have a big enough pot.

Bhakti Dahl Soup

Serving and times

• Active time: 5–10 mins
• Simmering: 30–40 minutes
• Makes: 5–6 portions

Ingredients

Spices

• 1 Tablespoon cumin seeds
• 1 Tablespoon black mustard seeds
• 1–2 inches ginger, finely chopped / grated
• 1–2 green chillis, finely chopped
• ½ teaspoon hing (also called asafoetida or yellow powder)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric

Other ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon ghee or oil
• 1 courgette, grated
• 1 teacup red lentils (170g)
• 1 tin tomatoes
• 5 teacups boiling water (1 litre)
• 1 teaspoon salt

Optional: to serve

• Fresh coriander, if you have any and fancy it
• Handful of spinach leaves stirred in and wilted just before serving
• Generous dollop of yoghurt

Method

• Grate 1 courgette and discard the top.
• Chop / grate 1–2 inches ginger and 1–2 chillies.
• Boil a litre of water in the kettle.
• Heat 1 Tablespoon oil or ghee to medium-high in a good-sized pot.
• Add the dry spices: 1 Tablespoon cumin seeds, 1 Tablespoon black mustard seeds.
• As soon as the mustard seeds start to crackle like tiny popcorn (usually about 30 seconds), turn the heat to medium-low and add the wet spices: ginger and chilli.
• Stir for 30 seconds or so till fragrant, then add the powdered spices: ½ teaspoon hing, 1 teaspoon turmeric.
• Stir to mix well then add a teacup of red lentils (170g approx) and the grated courgette. Add the tin of tomatoes and 5 teacups (1 litre) of hot water. If the tomatoes are whole, use a potato masher to break them down.
• Stir in a teaspoon salt.
• Simmer for 30–40 minutes till the lentils are soft and mostly broken down.
• Serve it as it is, or add whatever you fancy: a handful of fresh spinach stirred through to wilt down, a sprinkling of fresh coriander on top, a dollop of yogurt in it. Bliss out on the lively flavours and enjoy your writing!
  

Notes

• Weights and measures: This recipe is very happy with approximation. I use an actual teacup instead of weighing / measuring, with a 1:5 ratio of lentils:water.
• Ginger & chilli: Original recipe says 1 inch ginger, 1 chilli; I double both. (And I sometimes add more chillis, if they’re mild. I like heat.)
• Storing ginger: When you buy it, cut off any very tough bits of skin, chop it into 1-inch lengths, and freeze it in a ziplock bag: you then always have fresh ginger to hand. To use it, I blitz it from frozen in my food chopper, along with the chilli. You can also grate it. I don’t bother peeling it.
• Hing aka asafoetida aka yellow powder: If you don’t know it, Hare Krishna recipes use this in lieu of onion or garlic and you’ll smell why! You can find it in most Asian groceries (eg Tahmid Stores on Cowley Road), usually in a bright yellow container. It comes from the resin of giant fennel plants and is wonderfully pungent.
• Freezing & portioning: Always cool food fast to freeze it, and freeze it in the portion sizes you need. I allow just under 300ml per person. To label it, I stick masking tape on the tupperware and write in Sharpie.

Recipe credits: The Higher Taste (Hare Krishna recipe book)

Enjoy!