I recently came back from Baja California, the north-western state of Mexico. There, vegetables are celebrated as much as the extraordinary local seafood and game. In the restaurant of one vineyard, I was served a plate of wood-smoked vegetables that were so good, I’ve been talking about them ever since. Today’s first recipe is inspired by that dish. The second is an autumnal pudding that makes full use of the blackberries currently lining the hedgerows, as well as a few plums and raspberries. It’s delicious on its own, but even better with pools of thick cream.
Smoky-roasted vegetables with whipped goat’s cheese and toasted nuts
This combination of roast leek, beetroot and carrot, made smoky with paprika and harissa, and dressed with a saba-spiked goat’s cheese dressing, makes a lovely light lunch, and also works well as a side dish for sausages or lamb chops. If you can’t find saba, use an aged balsamic vinegar instead; failing that, reduce some regular balsamic vinegar down until rich and syrupy. Serves four to six as a first course or side.
5 small or medium uncooked beetroots, cut into thin wedges
5 carrots, peeled and cut into 3cm chunks
3 medium leeks, tough outer leaves discarded, chopped into 2cm rounds
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp saba
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
A few handfuls fresh thyme branches
300g cherry tomatoes (ideally on the vine)
80g hazelnuts
For the goat’s cheese dressing
150g goat’s cheese
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large tbsp saba
Juice of ½ lime
3 tbsp harissa
Heat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. Put the beets, carrots and leeks in a large baking tray, keeping them well spread out (if your tray isn’t big enough, it’s better to use two smaller ones than to cram them all into one). Pour over the oil and saba, and season generously with salt, pepper and paprika. Strip the thyme from its branches and toss with the vegetables, using your hands to make sure they’re well coated in oil, saba and seasoning. Roast for 35-40 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally; add the tomatoes halfway through. The vegetables are done when they are browning and caramelising at the edges and tender all the way through.
While the vegetables are roasting, toast the hazelnuts in a small roasting pan in the same oven for five to eight minutes, until golden (keep a beady eye on them, because they burn easily). Leave to cool, then roughly chop.
Blitz the goat’s cheese in a food processor with the olive oil, saba and lime, then stir through the harissa until well mixed through.
To serve, spread the goat’s cheese mix over a large plate, top with the roast vegetables and scatter over the toasted nuts. Serve with wedges of lime and the remaining dressing.
Autumn pudding with blackberries and bay
It is hard to describe just how intensely pure and fruity this variation on summer pudding is. It’s best made with sliced white bread, preferably slightly stale, and is as tasty on day three or four as it is on day one. You will need a 1.5-litre pudding bowl. Serves six to eight.
750g damsons or plums
125g caster sugar, plus extra to taste
Peel of 1 orange
1 vanilla pod, split in half
2 bay leaves
500g blackberries
250g raspberries
60g softened butter
About 12 slices of sliced white bread, ideally stale, crusts removed
Creme fraiche or thick cream, to serve
Stone the damsons or plums and cut into blackberry-sized chunks. Put the sugar, orange peel, vanilla pod, bay and 100ml water in a large, deep pan and bring to a boil. Add the damsons, turn down the heat and simmer gently for six to eight minutes, until the fruit is soft. Add the blackberries and raspberries, and taste the syrup: add a little more sugar if you think it could do with extra sweetness. Bring back up to a simmer and, as soon as a few of the berries have burst, take off the heat, discard the vanilla, bay and orange peel, and leave to cool.
Butter the pudding bowl and generously butter the bread slices. Line the bowl with two-thirds of the bread slices, laying them in butter side up. Tear a slice or two of bread into the required shapes to patch up any gaps, then pour the fruit into the bread-lined basin, gently pressing it down with a spoon. Top with the remaining slices of bread, trimming them as necessary, then cover tightly with clingfilm and put a saucer or small plate on top (ideally, one that fits neatly inside the bowl). Weigh down the plate and refrigerate the pudding overnight.
The next day, remove the weights and saucer. Run a thin blade all around the edge of the pudding, gently to loosen it from the sides, then put a large plate on top and flip it out. Serve with lots of sharp creme fraiche or rich, thick cream.
And for the rest of the week…
The roast veg go with other dressings, too: try them with a gusty romesco to use up the last of the year’s tomato crop. Excess goat’s cheese dressing makes a fabulous filling for baked potato; serve with a salad decorated with toasted nuts or seeds for a lovely light meal. I often use saba instead of balsamic vinegar in dressings, as well as with slow-roast tomatoes: put trays of halved plum tomatoes dressed with saba, thyme, olive oil and lots of salt and pepper, and roast at 120C. They take a few hours to cook, but are wonderful to have in the fridge.
