1. Spinach borani with celery and walnuts
It may be cheap this month, but a whole bunch of celery is one of the vegetable kingdom’s most unwieldy specimens. It is large, aggressively leafy, takes up prime fridge real estate and, in my experience, there are few recipes that will rip through the better half of a bunch (Chinese-style celery stir-fry is satisfying, celery soup is sad). This borani is an exception. Ottolenghi’s riff on the Persian yoghurt dip contains spinach and walnuts as is custom, but the celery is a fresh, crunchy addition. The recipe cooking time is 35 minutes but really, 20 of these minutes are spent waiting for the wilted spinach to drain and cool (can relate). When the dip is done, serve it with bread, of course, as part of a shareable spread.
2. Grilled carrots with red onion pickle and coriander yoghurt
Carrots are a thrifty choice year-round. This recipe calls for 600g – so if you have a kilo-bag, you can cook these twice-cooked carrots – they’re par-boiled, coated in maple syrup, then grilled – twice. Note, the recipe makes more onion pickle, spice mix and herby yoghurt than you need, which is not a bad thing. The pickles would work well in sandwiches, the yoghurt with roast vegetables, and the spice mix with dips.
3. Olive salsa verde and golden raisin pasta
This is one of the fridge- and pantry-raid recipes when you realise yes, you want dinner but no, you haven’t shopped for groceries. Dried pasta is always a saviour; so are breadcrumbs for crunch, and capers, olives and raisins for big flavour. This is billed as a 30-minute recipe but for extra-speediness, I like to boil my water in the kettle before dumping it in the pot. And in case it’s not already on your radar, adding a quarter-cup or so of pasta water to your sauce will do wonders – the olive oil, starchy water and lemon juice combine to create a silky coating.
4. Mushroom ‘carbonara’
Mushrooms in carbonara is unconventional. So is garlic, soy sauce and mirin. So perhaps this is not so much a purist’s carbonara as a celebration of autumnal mushrooms, paired with big, savoury flavours, in a creamy, eggy sauce. This recipe serves two people, which, in my experience, is the correct amount of people to attempt to serve for any last-minute sauce. Add more diners, and you’ll need a larger pan, and a lot more ambition.
5. Silverbeet and green bean poriyal
If you’re fortunate enough to have access to fresh coconut, it will do wonders for this stir-fry. Otherwise, dry-store desiccated coconut will work fine. As with many stir-fries, mise en place to meet the pace: trim your green beans and silverbeet (it’s listed as chard in the recipe), chop your onions and chillies and soak your mustard seeds before you even think of heating up the pan.
6. Chorizo, cider and chickpea stew with ajillo
This is a one-pot recipe, provided you choose a pot that’s wide enough to fry the chorizo, and deep enough to simmer a stew. After your pot-hunting, it is fairly straightforward to put together: sizzle the sausage, saute the secret herbs and spices, then simmer the cider and chickpeas. As is the case with many European sausages, if you source your chorizo from a specialist butcher or deli, you will taste the difference. It’s also important to use raw chorizo for this recipe.
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7. Glazed pumpkin with tahini and pecan gremolata
Roast pumpkin sounds like a good idea – until you realise you have to peel it. Thankfully this is a skin-on pumpkin recipe, though you’ll still need a sharp knife and a sturdy chopping board to slice your orange friend into 3cm-wide wedges. There are a few elements to this dish, but you only need to cook the pumpkin and glaze: the tahini sauce and zesty gremolata don’t require the stove or oven. While this recipe simply calls for “pumpkin”, in Australia opt for a thin-skinned butternut over the kent or jarrahdale varieties.
8. Baked trout with apple and mustard slaw
In Australia we might be paying too much for granny smith apples, but in Ottolenghi’s slaw, any apple variety will do. If it’s a very sweet apple, up the lime juice, and do the reverse for a particularly tart apple. And you may be familiar with the joys of marinated fish, but limit the trout’s flavour-bath to 60 minutes. Any longer and it, like me after drinking bad wine, could become mushy and salty.
9. Corn creme brulee with coffee liqueur
Corn, Kahlua and creme brulee – it works. You’ll have to start the recipe one day ahead to infuse the corn, milk and cream, and after baking the creme brulee, they’ll take a couple of hours to cool. No blowtorch? You can still have your brulee and eat it too. This recipe slides the custards under a hot grill for that bubbling, burnished top.
