Rose Elliot - Rose Elliot’s New Complete Vegetarian

You can serve this salad straight away, warm and juicy from the pan, or let it cool. Pile it up on a base of pretty salad leaves and scatter with chopped parsley.

This succulent mixture of flavours is delicious as a first course for four people, or as a light lunch or supper for two, served with some bread and something green and leafy to make the meal complete.

SERVES 2–4

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 tbsp wine vinegar

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 mild onion, sliced

450g (1lb) tomatoes, sliced

400g can butter beans, drained and rinsed or 125g (4oz) dried butter beans, soaked, cooked and drained

a handful of black olives

Put the oil and vinegar into a mixing bowl, or straight into a salad bowl, and add a little salt and pepper.

Add the onion, tomatoes, butter beans and olives and turn everything gently to mix the ingredients.

Serve from the bowl, or on individual plates.

This tastes like the bean salads you get all over Greece, which I love, but without all the hours of slow cooking. In fact, it’s almost instant, though it does benefit from sitting for an hour or so. Enjoy it with Greek salad, kalamata olives and ciabatta.

SERVES 4

4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tbsp tomato purée

2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 × 400g butter beans

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, to garnish

In a large bowl mix together the olive oil, garlic, tomato purée and lemon juice.

Drain and rinse the beans, and add to the bowl. Mix well and season with salt and pepper to taste.

If possible, let the salad rest for an hour or so for the flavours to develop.

Serve at room temperature, sprinkled with chopped parsley.

A fabulous salad: meltingly tender pieces of sweet butternut squash bathed in a glossy tamari and balsamic dressing with a hint of chilli, a scattering of sizzling hot sesame seeds and some peppery green rocket.

SERVES 4–6

1 butternut squash

a little olive oil for brushing

4 spring onions, sliced

2 tsp sesame seeds

150g (5oz) rocket leaves, to garnish

FOR THE DRESSING

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice

2 tsp tamari or other soy sauce

½ tsp dried red chilli flakes

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 190°C (375°F), gas mark 5

Cut the butternut squash in half lengthways and brush the cut surfaces with oil. Put them, cut-side up, into a roasting tin and bake for about 1 hour or until the squash is soft.

Set the squash aside until it’s cool enough to handle, then scoop out and discard the seeds. Peel off the papery skin – it will come away easily – and cut the flesh into 2.5cm (1in) chunks.

Put all the dressing ingredients into a large bowl, with salt and pepper to taste, and mix well.

Add the butternut squash to the bowl, along with the spring onions, and mix gently, so that it is coated with the glossy dressing. Check the seasoning.

Toast the sesame seeds by stirring them for a minute or two in a dry saucepan until they smell toasty and start to jump around.

Put the butternut squash salad on to individual plates, top with a scattering of sizzling sesame seeds and garnish generously with rocket.

VARIATION

A delicious variation is to add 200g (7oz) feta cheese, cut or broken into small cubes or pieces. The creamy saltiness of the feta contrasts well with the sweet tenderness of the balsamic-glazed butternut squash and the fresh peppery rocket.

A lovely salad for the autumn, sweet apples and sultanas with crisp red cabbage and walnuts, and a honey dressing.

SERVES 4

450g (1lb) red cabbage

2 sweet eating apples

1 celery heart

50g (2oz) sultanas or raisins (optional)

small handful of chopped walnuts

honey and cider dressing

Wash and finely shred the cabbage. Wash the apples and chop, without peeling if the skins look good, and slice the celery. Place all these in a salad bowl.

If you’re using the sultanas or raisins, cover them with boiling water and leave for 10 minutes, to plump them; drain, and mix with salad, along with the walnuts and enough honey dressing to make the mixture moist and shiny.

VARIATION

Make as described, but using tender primo or pointed green instead of red cabbage. The walnuts are optional in this version.

Make as described, but use 450g (1lb) cauliflower (1 medium-sized cauliflower) instead of cabbage, and pine nuts instead of walnuts.

This colourful salad is excellent with jacket potatoes, onion quicheor quick cheese and tomato flan.

SERVES 4

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 tbsp wine vinegar

salt and freshly ground black pepper

350g (12oz) white cabbage, shredded

175g (6oz) carrots, chopped or coarsely grated

175g (6oz) red pepper, deseeded and chopped

2 heaped tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, chives or spring onions

50g (2oz) raisins

50g (2oz) roasted unsalted peanuts or cashews, or pine nuts or chopped walnuts

Put the oil and vinegar into the base of a salad bowl, add some salt and pepper and mix together.

Add the cabbage, carrots, red peppers, parsley, chives or spring onions and raisins, and turn everything over a few times with a spoon so that it all gets covered in the dressing.

If possible leave for an hour or so; this softens the cabbage and gives the flavours a chance to blend. Stir in the nuts just before serving.

This salad is so pretty: pale cabbage with shiny ruby pomegranate seeds glinting among the bright green mint.

SERVES 4

1 tbsp chopped fresh mint

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

450g (1lb) white cabbage, coarsely grated or finely shredded

1 pomegranate

3–4 sprigs of mint, to garnish

Put the chopped mint, honey, vinegar, oil and some salt and pepper into a large bowl and mix together to form a dressing.

Add the cabbage and mix thoroughly, so that it gets well coated with the sweet herb dressing.

Leave for at least 1 hour, so that the cabbage softens a little and absorbs all the flavours.

Just before you want to serve the salad, cut the pomegranate in two and, holding one half over a plate to catch the juice, bend the fruit backwards to make the seeds pop out, helped as necessary with the point of a sharp knife.

Add the pomegranate juice to the salad, and stir in some of the seeds. Then tip the salad out on to a large flat plate and decorate with the mint sprigs and remaining pomegranate seeds. Serve as soon as possible, while the pomegranate is bright and sparkling.

VARIATION

Make as described, using chopped fresh lovage instead of mint. The pungent, aromatic flavour of lovage along with the sweet dressing makes this salad deliciously different. Lovage is not easy to find in the shops, but if you have the space to grow it, it’s easy because it comes up every year.