Greenfeast

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• The drop scones can be flavoured with chopped thyme or rosemary, basil or tarragon. In which case I would serve them with grilled tomatoes, lightly crushed with a fork, or chopped spinach softened with a little cream.

PUMPKIN, ONIONS, ROSEMARY (#ulink_8b04a16e-b54f-5536-92f5-eac824564dd6)

Sweet and sticky squash.

Enough for 6

pumpkin or butternut squash 700g

onions, medium 2

butter 30g

olive oil 2 tablespoons

rosemary 3 sprigs

Peel the pumpkin and cut the flesh into cubes roughly 3 x 3cm. Peel and roughly chop the onions. Warm the butter and olive oil in a large, shallow pan, add the pumpkin and onions and let them cook, with a regular stir, for about ten minutes. Finely chop the rosemary leaves, discarding the stalks, add to the pan with a little sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper, then cover with a lid and leave to cook over a low to moderate heat for about fifteen minutes.

Check the onion and pumpkin occasionally to make sure they aren’t browning too much. They are done when soft and easily crushed between your fingers. Serve with the drop scones on the previous page.

• As well as a side dish for the drop scones this can be used as the stuffing for an omelette or frittata, or served as a vegetable dish piled onto steamed rice.

• Use the recipe above with courgettes instead of pumpkin.

RAINBOW CHARD, EGG, NOODLES (#ulink_8c4c53b6-82ef-527b-94d7-bd563c23b608)

A joyful tangle of noodles and greens.

Serves 2

a red chilli, medium

a green chilli, medium

a bunch of coriander 25g

garlic 1 clove

ginger a 15g piece

rainbow chard 100g

eggs 3

groundnut oil 5 tablespoons

fresh udon noodles

soy sauce to taste

sesame oil a dash

Thinly slice the chillies. Cut the coriander stems into small pieces the length of a matchstick and reserve the leaves. Peel and thinly slice the garlic. Peel the ginger, then cut into skinny matchsticks. Remove the leaves from the chard and roughly shred them, then chop the stems into short pieces.

Break the eggs into a small bowl and beat them. Warm half the oil in a large, shallow pan over a moderate heat, pour in the beaten egg and leave to set, checking the underside after a minute or two. When the omelette is golden, flip over and let the other side cook for a minute or two, then remove from the pan and tear the omelette into small pieces.

Wipe the pan clean with kitchen paper, add the remaining oil and let it sizzle. Add the ginger, garlic and chillies to the pan and fry till golden and fragrant. Add the coriander and chard stems and continue cooking for two minutes, then add the soft noodles and toss everything together.

Add in the soy sauce and a little sesame oil, add the chard and coriander leaves and the torn omelette, and continue cooking for a minute till all is hot and sizzling.

TOFU, RADISH, PONZU (#ulink_0a3fc9a9-692b-56f0-b8d9-b618a8a30df6)

A gossamer-thin, crisp crust. Trembling tofu. A salty citrus dressing.

Serves 2

soft tofu 340g

ponzu sauce 4 tablespoons

sesame oil 3 teaspoons

rice vinegar 3 tablespoons

spring onion 1

radishes 4

coriander leaves a handful

cornflour or potato flour 6 tablespoons

ginger a thumb-sized lump

oil, for deep frying

Drain the tofu on kitchen paper. Mix together the ponzu, sesame oil and rice vinegar. Trim and finely chop the spring onion, then thinly slice the radish and add both to the dressing together with the coriander leaves.

Put the cornflour or potato flour into a shallow bowl or deep plate. Cut the tofu into six large cubes. Finely grate the ginger to a purée.

Warm the oil to 180°C in a deep pan. Gently toss the cubes of tofu in the flour, then lower into the oil and fry for three or four minutes till light gold in colour. Divide the dressing between two deep bowls, lift the tofu from the oil with a draining spoon, then lower three pieces into each bowl, top with the puréed ginger and eat while the tofu is still hot and crisp.

Two little words. So much joy. I sometimes think ‘on toast’ might be the best two words in the world. That slice of toast could be heavy with butter, shining pools forming on its surface; saturated with olive oil, glistening bright with crystals of sea salt, or perhaps its golden crust is shimmering with Marmite or honey.

Toast can be a round of ‘white sliced’ popping up from the toaster; thick air-pocketed sourdough, its crust caught black under the grill; neat rectangles of dark rye, all treacle and aniseed. Then again it could be a muffin, ripped rather than sliced in half, or a crumpet whose buttery cargo has trickled deep into its holes. Toast can be focaccia or ciabatta, fruit loaf or panettone, naan or roti. In short, any dough whose surface will toast crisply and hold something delicious.

I often tuck a piece of thick toast underneath a wedge of roasted pumpkin or aubergine, the bread soaking up the juices as it cooks. Almost anything, from broccoli you have cooked in butter on the hob to a stew whose juices deserve a thick pillow to soak them up, can be piled on top of toast.

It is difficult to think of anything more instantly satisfying than a thick wodge of golden bread under a pool of melted cheese. But that is just a start. I like to cook slices of leek or onion in butter till silky, then hide them underneath a layer of Cheddar or Wensleydale; mix grated beetroot and apple with goat’s curd or soft cheese and sit it on sourdough or rye.

We can extend the very meaning of toast to include any piece of dough whose surface has been deliciously crisped by the heat. Many is the time I have commandeered everything from warm oatcakes to a white sliced loaf to use as a supporting role for cooked vegetables or melted cheese. Even a crumpet fits the bill, especially when spread with a layer of cream cheese and topped with lightly cooked spinach. And I could never forget using naan as a soft cushion on which to put torn pieces of mozzarella with tomatoes or an English muffin spread thick with hummus and fried mushrooms.

There are no rules really. The toast should be thick enough to support whatever we put on top of it and it should be hot and freshly made. Other than that, we are surely free to mix and match toasts and toppings at will. Authenticity is of little interest here; what matters is that the two are compatible.

A slice of toasted bread has the ability to make anything more substantial. A lump of cool, milky burrata with a trickle of peppery olive oil; a trio of roasted tomatoes, their skins blackened from the oven and scented with basil and butter; a spoon or three of last night’s stew, brought to a steaming simmer, or the bread, cut thick and toasted and dunked into a bowl of soup where it will slowly sponge up every bit of goodness and savour.

BEETROOT, APPLE, GOAT’S CURD (#ulink_553f46bd-cf45-51cb-9400-894c96e40cad)

Hot toast, cool curd, crisp seeds.

Serves 2

pickled beetroot 100g

a small, sharp apple

cider vinegar 2 tablespoons

sunflower seeds 2 tablespoons

poppy seeds 2 tablespoons

rye or sourdough bread 2 thick slices

goat’s curd 200g

dill, chopped 2 tablespoons

Coarsely grate the beetroot into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Grate the apple into the beetroot but don’t mix them together. Sprinkle the cider vinegar over the apple and beetroot.

In a dry pan, toast the sunflower seeds for three or four minutes till golden and fragrant, then mix them with the poppy seeds. Toast the bread lightly on both sides.

Stir the goat’s curd into the apple and beetroot, together with a little salt and half the seeds and chopped dill. Spread the apple and goat’s curd onto the toasts in thick waves, scatter over the remaining seeds and dill and eat immediately, while the toast is still hot.

• A light stir is all you need to mix the curd with the apple and beetroot. Over-mixing will result in a rather pink covering for your toast.

• Instead of the goat’s curd, try fromage frais or a fresh, fluffy goat’s cheese.

CRUMPETS, CREAM CHEESE, SPINACH (#ulink_4354ca8d-ecaa-5780-bb28-7fab42a968b7)

The comfort of crumpets. The goodness of greens.

Serves 2

spinach 100g

tarragon, chopped 1 tablespoon

chives, chopped 1 tablespoon

parsley, chopped 2 tablespoons

spring onion 1

cream cheese 200g

crumpets 4

Wash the spinach, remove any thick stems, then pile the still-wet leaves into a saucepan. Place the pan over a moderate heat, cover tightly with a lid, then let the leaves steam for a minute or two. Lift the lid and turn the leaves, so they soften evenly. When they are bright green and glossy, remove from the pan, squeeze the leaves almost dry and chop roughly.

Mix the chopped tarragon, chives and parsley together. Finely slice the spring onion and mix with the herbs, then stir into the cream cheese. Season with black pepper and a little salt. Toast the crumpets till golden, then spread each generously with some of the herb cream cheese. Pile some of the spinach leaves on top and tuck in.

• The crumpet’s holes have the ability to soak up anything we spread it with, from butter to herbed cream cheese. Rather than sit on top of the toasted crust, the melted cheese, cream, Marmite or whatever trickles down through the holes to become part of the crumpet itself. An utterly joyous conception and the reason for keeping a packet in the freezer.

• Once a crumpet is toasted, I find it best to cover the surface generously with something delicious, then return it briefly to the grill. Crumpets don’t hold the heat well, so an extra minute or so under the heat will ensure they are piping hot.