Barley and Root Vegetable Soup or Stew with Umeboshi and Sesame

This recipe has macrobiotic overtones, but feel free to play with flavours in any way that you wish. It has the interesting flavours of sesame oil, tamari and umeboshi vinegar.

The recipe comes from a scribbled recipe on a piece of paper, as many of my recipes do. I have collected them over millennia, it seems. To the original recipe I have added some olive oil as the stated sesame oil was not enough for sautéing the onions and vegetables.

Would you like to try similar recipes? Try Adzuki Bean and Barley Soup with Pumpkin, Parsnip and Barley Soup with Sage and Garlic, and Farmhouse Barley and Vegetable Soup.

You might be looking for all of our Barley recipes – you can find them here. Or browse our Soup recipes here and here. Our easy Mid Wintery recipes are here.

Soupe aux Carottes Nivernaises | A French Carrot Soup from Nivernais

One more soup for the cold weather in the wintery regions. A French Carrot Soup, Soupe aux Carottes Nivernaises. A very special soup, this one. Warming and buttery, sweet and luxurious, it deserves a place at your winter table.

This soup is a specialty of Nivernais, a former province of France, around the city of Nevers that forms the modern department of Nièvre, which ennobles the carrot in its coat-of-arms! Old recipes have twice the amount of sugar as carrots, but today, this amount is greatly reduced.

Are you looking for similar Carrot Soups? Try these other recipes too: Parsnip and Carrot Soup with Crispy Garlic, Roasted Carrot and Apple Soup, and Carrot and Roasted Tomato Soup.

You can browse all of our other Carrot Soups. Or you might like to browse our Carrot recipes and Soup recipes. French recipes are here. Or check out our easy Late Winter recipes here.

Caramelised Onion Salad with Bitter Greens and Pinenuts

I classify this recipe as an Easy Salad, but you do need to plan ahead to have enough time to caramelise the onions. Depending on your onions and your preference, this can take up to 45 mins of slow cooking. But don’t be dictated to by me – cook the onions to your preferred level of caramelisation. The longer you cook them, the sweeter they are, and this pairs nicely with the bitterness of the greens.

Add some orange segments if you care too – they are so nice with this salad. I particularly like this salad with with the Slightly Pickled Jicama and Citrus Salad.

Are you after other Onion recipes? Try South Indian Spring Onion Soup, Onion Marmalade, and Sweet Onion Salad with Coriander Spice.

You can browse all of our Salads (there are quite a few, take your time), or you can check our Salads for different seasons by clicking on the Seasonal Cooking menu item at the top of this page. All of our Onion dishes are here, or you can browse our Radicchio recipes, Endive and Belgian Endive recipes, and Escarole dishes. Or simply explore our Early Winter dishes.

Rocket Salad with Penne and Parmesan | Arugula Salad with Penne

Pasta salads are wonderful, don’t you think? Talking with my Italian Providore the other day, she wondered aloud why she and her staff didn’t bring them to work for lunch, instead of their usual sandwiches. And her question is a good one. This salad makes a perfect lunch time dish, an afternoon snack or a dinner accompaniment.

The trick with this salad is to make it a Rocket Salad with Penne, not a Penne Salad with Rocket. So the salad is heavy on rocket and light on penne. Mix it up if you wish, it would also be wonderful with different ratios, but if you are wanting your greens, I recommend trying it this way.

This is another Bittman Salad. After 3 years, we are nearly at the end of working our way through his 101 salads, making all of those that were vegetarian and modifying those that are not. There are about 13 more salads to make, and that feels so close to the end of our journey with Mark. But we shall be a little sad as we make the last one.

You might like to try other Bittman Salads. Try Roasted Sweetcorn and Avocado Salad, Fennel, Tomato and Potato Salad with Garlicky Mayonnaise, Vermicelli and Green Mango Salad, and Charred Tomato Salad with Mint and Lime. There are many, many more to come, in the queue to be published in the coming months, so stay tuned.

Or some other Pasta Salads? Try Light Pasta Salads, and Orzo Pasta with Spinach and Pinenuts.

Browse all of our Bittman Salads here (we have more in the queue for publishing over the coming months), and all of our Pasta Salads here. Explore all of our Pasta dishes (not just salads), and our Rocket recipes. Or simply browse our Early Winter dishes.

Drinking Barley | Barley Water and Roasted Barley Coffee

Barley is so good for you, yet it is not very popular. It is great in winter in soups, being filling and nourishing. Yet it also has a cooling property, so works well in drinks for hot weather or for heat producing disease such as fevers.

Here are two barley drinks. I have to be honest – Barley Water is not for me. I find it rather bland. But a “coffee” made from deeply roasting barley, coarsely grinding it and making plunger “coffee” produces a great drink. Despite reports from others, it does not taste like coffee, but it does have a lovely roasted taste that is very pleasant.

Are you looking for similar recipes? Try Cardamom Spiced Coffee, and Unusual Coffees.

You might like to check other Barley recipes. Or browse our teas and infusions. Or spend some time and explore our easy Late Summer recipes.

Lightly Pickled Jicama and Citrus Salad | Yam Bean and Citrus Salad

This recipe is a salad that is tangy and juicy. It is refreshing and clean tasting with the crispy, apple flavoured jicama (yam bean) marinated in a variety of citrus juices.

Marinate the jicama for at least an hour, and you can leave it overnight in the fridge if you like, ready to be made the next day.

When you find a good supplier, jicama is available for a most of the year, and it is a versatile ingredient, useful both raw and cooked. We find it readily available in our local Asian grocery.

Are you looking for more Jicama recipes? Try Pickled Jicama, Vegetable Sticks with Spices, and Spicy Radish and Jicama Salad with Coconut Milk.

Browse all of our Jicama dishes, and all of our Salads. Or explore our Late Autumn collection of recipes.

Garlicky Potato Mash

Our first days of Winter this year have broken records for low overnight temperatures, and immediately one’s attention turns to wintery ingredients and dishes. Parsnips, Barley, Potatoes, Celeriac. Mung Beans, Fava Beans. And indeed, Mashed Potato.

This is a simple twist to the humble but delicious mash. It adds garlic, – use smoked garlic if you have it – to potatoes as they cook, and then makes them delicious and luxurious with butter and cream. Winter, welcome!

Are you looking for other Potato recipes? Try Potatoes Baked with Cumin and Tomatoes, Gratin of Potatoes and Zucchini with Thyme, and Roast Potatoes.

And try these Potato Mashes – English, French, and Indian.

Browse all of our Early Winter recipes for instant warmth! All of our Potato dishes are here.

Pan Fried Broad Bean Salad with Tomato and Thyme

I admit it. I have had an aversion to broad beans since childhood. We seem to have grown them by the bushel as I was growing up, and we ate them with every meal, often in their pods, boiled and boiled and boiled. Over the ensuing years I have tried to fall in love with them. I have even grown them myself. But that taste, and the childhood associations would not go away.

This year, with a wonderful Italian green grocery near me, I resolved to try again. Putting a lot of effort into treating them properly, I double peeled them while watching TV in the evenings, ready to work with them in the morning.

The efforts have been rewarded. I am now loving these wonderful, short-seasoned beans. I will be quite sad when their season is over (but I have discovered that frozen broad beans are available, and they are particularly good).

Are you looking for similar Broad Bean recipes? Try Glorious Five Bean Salad, and Broad Bean and Butter Bean Spread.

Browse all of our Broad Bean dishes, and our Tomato Salads. Or browse all of our Salad recipes. Or take some time to explore all of our Mid Spring dishes.

Pere al Forno con Marsala e Cannella | Pears Baked with Marsala and Cinnamon

Aaah, the thought of these makes me feel hungry. First made in our household about 20 years ago they still feature occasionally in our kitchen, especially in winter. They are a great way to take the evening chill off of the kitchen – turn the oven on, pop in the pears and perhaps some parsnips to roast, pour the wine and put some Italian music on in the background.

Are you looking for similar dishes? Try Roasted Rosemary Pears, and an Autumn Fruit Salad.

You might like to browse our Dessert recipes, and our Pear recipes. Check out our easy Late Winter recipes.

This recipe is one of the vegetarian recipes from our first blog which was in existence from 1995 – 2005. You can browse more of those recipes in the Retro Recipes series.

Avocado Smash with Radishes | Spread, Dip or Salad

Sometimes you don’t quite want a guacamole, you want a bit more than smashed avo, and you want to use that ripe avocado, mashed and tasty, to pile onto sourdough toast. Or to use as a salad. Well, here we have that recipe for you.

Are you looking for other Avocado dishes? Try Avocado Salad with Pomelo, Cucumber and Avocado Salad, and Roasted Sweetcorn and Avocado Salad.

Or Radish Salads? Try Wombok and Radish Salad with Peanut Dressing, Radish Salad with Coconut Milk, and Cucumber and Radish Slightly Pickled Salad.

Or perhaps you are looking for other Dips and Spreads? Try Fava Bean Spread with Dill, Zhug – Coriander Chilli Spread, and Babaganoush.

Browse all of our Avocado dishes and all of our Dips. Or explore all of our Late Autumn collection of recipes.

Maddur Vadai

When the rains come, then snacks are needed, and it is the same here as it is in India, even though the temperatures are about 20C less than what they might be in India. Snacks means deep-fried too, but it it is a treat, who is to mind?

These are flat vadai, a little like thattai, and very delicious. Grab your flours from your Indian grocery and don’t substitute all purpose flours.

Maddur Vadai, named after the town of Maddur in South Indian, are also sometimes spelt Maddur Vadai.

Are you looking for other Vadai? Try Paruthithurai Vadai – a Thattai Vadai from Sri Lanka, and Kothimber Wada. There are also Gram flour Vada that are made to go into a Kuzhambu, but can be eaten as snacks as well.

Browse all of our Vadai, and all of our Indian recipes. Our Snacks are here. Or relax and browse our Late Autumn dishes.

Pomelo or Pink Grapefruit Salad with Avocado

Oh that huge fruit! Pomelo – citrus in the extreme. It tastes like a mild grapefruit with a hint of sweetness. The flesh is either pink or white – the pomelos that I have access to are the white variety. If you prefer pink you can always use pink grapefruit.

With a thick, pithy and slightly tough peel, it takes a special approach to peel. Luckily there is some YouTube help. Note how he removes the membrane surrounding the segments. The enveloping membrane is a little bitter and is best discarded. But once it is out of its peel and membrane, Pomelo can be eaten as-is, tossed into salads and salsas, used in marinades, made into jam, or juiced.

This salad is amazing! The tang of the Pomelo against the creaminess of the avocado is a perfect combination. This time, I dressed it with a cumquat olive oil that I made recently.

Are you after other Pomelo recipes? Try Three Citrus Salad with Chilli and Ginger, and Pomelo and Green Mango Salad.

What about other Avocado dishes? Try Roasted Sweetcorn and Avocado Salad, and Cucumber and Avocado Salad with Japanese Dressing.

Browse all of our Pomelo recipes and all of our Avocado recipes. All of our many many Salads are here. Or explore our Mid Spring collection of recipes.

Pineapple Pulissery | Pineapple in a Spicy Yoghurt Sauce from Kerala

This is another recipe from my cooking session in Kovalam in Kerala. My scribbled notes have recently come to light again – Chef cooked and I helped and observed and tried desperately to copy down the recipes.

This recipe can be made with okra, Indian cucumber, green mango and plantain (green banana), but today we use pineapple. It is easy to make, and so very delicious – I am sure that you will love it.

Pineapple Pulissery is a delicate dish with aromatic flavours of mustard seed, cumin seed and curry leaves with chilli and black pepper. It is from Kerala, that beautiful tropical state on the West Coast of India.  Pineapple curry is also a traditional dish from the Sri Lankan cuisine, and there it is also a delightful sweet and spicy curry.

Are you looking for other Pineapple dishes? We don’t cook with it very often so don’t have anything to offer you right now. But check back here in the future – I am sure there will be more.

Would you like more Pulissery dishes? Try Mambazha Pulissery – a sweet and sour Mango dish.

Our other Kerala dishes include Green Mango in Coconut Milk, Simple Cabbage Thoran, Olan and Avial.

Browse all of our Pineapple dishes, Pulissery recipes, Kerala dishes and all of our Indian recipes. Or if you would rather, explore our Late Autumn dishes.

Green Tahini Sauce | Dip | Dressing | Spread

Tahini, aah, such a wondrous ingredient, made from sesame seeds and not understood or used enough in this country. One of its properties is that it thickens in the presence of acid, so you can add lemon juice to it to thicken it as well as flavour it, and gradually thin it with water or milk until you get to the right conistency (depending on what you are using it for).

This classic green sauce includes garlic and parsley as well, for a great dip, spread, sauce or dressing. It is Middle Eastern in flavours, so pair it with pita bread, falafel, herby salads, or any flatbread. It is great in salad sandwiches and wraps. Dress vegetable salads with it, pair it with some steamed beetroot. Dip crackers and crudites into it. Spread tiny toasts and top with chopped cucumber or chopped tomato and chilli. You are going to love it.

You might like to try some other Tahini recipes. We have Crushed Du Puy Lentils with Tahini and Cumin, Yoghurt Tahina Dip with Herbs or Tahina Tarator | Tahini Spread, Dip or Dressing.

Try these spreads too: Avocado Mash, and Broad Bean and Butter Bean Spread.

All of our recipes featuring Tahini are here. Feel free to browse our Middle Eastern recipes, or our Salad recipes. Or all of our easy Mid Summer Recipes.

Parsnip and Barley Soup with Garlic and Sage

Last winter we fell in love with Barley. It was never an ingredient that I used very much. And because of that, it retained an old-fashioned aura, something my Grandmother would have used in her soups and stews, but less common in today’s kitchen.

Then Jude and I got talking on Twitter about Barley, and she mentioned her amazing soup that combines parsnips and barley. I have to say that this combination is fantastic and much more than the sum of the ingredients. The parsnips melt into the soup and the barley adds creaminess and texture. It is pretty good, I have to say. I tweaked her recipe outline a little, and here it is.

Barley has made a comeback into today’s kitchen. Ottolenghi is not afraid to use it and his books contain several recipes. Other well known cooks have also included it. It has become a staple winter ingredient in our pantry too.

Are you after similar Barley Soup recipes? Try Barley and Root Vegetable Soup or Stew with Umeboshi and Sesame, Adzuki Beans, Barley and Pumpkin Soup, and Italian Farmhouse Barley and Vegetable Soup.

Or other Parsnip dishes? Try Parsnip and Carrot Mash, and Parsnip and Carrot Soup with Crispy Garlic.

You might like to browse all of our Parsnip recipes, and all of our Barley recipes. Or explore our easy Early Winter dishes.