Avocado and Sun Dried Tomato Bruschetta

This fresh tasting Celia Brooks Brown recipe makes a perfect appetizer, starter or snack for any occasion.

crusty white bread

1 avocado

dried chili to taste (we had some nice apple tree smoked habaneros a friend gave us)

1 tsp cumin seed, toasted and ground

salt

pepper

lime juice

sun dried tomatoes

olive oil

- Peel and mash the avocado, add the spices, season and add the desired amount of lime juice (roughly one lime).

- Drizzle some olive oil on the bread slices, and bake at 180 degrees until crisp.

- Spread a generous layer of the avocado paste on the hot bread and top with a sun dried tomato.

Beetroot and Coconut Soup with Cucumber Salsa

This is a perfect autumn or winter dish with a lovely citric and soft coconutty combination. The recipe is from Celia Brooks Brown's cook book called Entertaining Vegetarians.

Cucumber Salsa:

- 1/2 a small cucumber, cored and finely chopped.

- 1 red chili, de-seeded.

- salt

- lemon juice

Combine the ingredients and season with a twist of salt.

The Soup:

-1/2 kg of fresh beetroot

-zest of 1 lemon, juice of 1/2

-1 tsp ground cumin

-400 ml coconut milk

-vegetable stock

- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped.

- In a large pot of salted, boiling water, simmer the beetroot for 45-60 minutes until tender. Rinse them with cold water, remove the root, top and peel.

-Warm some stock in a pot, retaining a small amount for later, add the coconut milk and continue to gently warm the mixture.

- Combine the lemon zest and juice, ground cumin, some of the stock, garlic and beetroot and blend until smooth.

- Add the blended mixture to the pan and gently simmer with a lid on for about 20 minutes.

-Serve with a few spoonfuls of the cucumber salsa sitting on the surface of the soup.

Stuffed Turkish Aubergines and Lemon Roast Potatoes

These are another perfect Celia Brooks Brown recipes. The sweetness of the dates and cinnamon perfectly complements the citric potatoes.

Lemon roast potatoes:

about 500 g small new potatoes

olive oil

lemon (juice of half and zest of one)

salt

pepper

1 tsp sugar

- Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper.

- Wash and scrub the potatoes thoroughly.

- Par-boil the potatoes for 5 minutes in salted water.

- Place the potatoes in an oven dish and coat with the dressing.

- Roast for about 30 minutes at 200 degrees, turning and basting the potatoes regularly.

Turkish Stuffed Aubergines

1 large aubergine

50 g couscous

3 dates, pitted and chopped

olive oil

25 g pine nuts

handful of parsley, fine chopped

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1tsp ground cumin

salt

pepper

A tomato half

(vegetable stock)

(Olive oil)

-Cover the couscous with an equal volume of boiling water and leave for 15 minutes. Then fluff with a fork and set aside.

-Being careful not to break the skin, gently bash the aubergine all over with a rolling pin until it feels soft to the touch. Then gently flatten it as much as possible and make a shallow cut around the tip, avoiding simply chopping it off. Twist and pull the top off the aubergine, and the core should come away with it. Liberally salt the insides of the aubergine and leave upside down to drain.

-Fry the onion and finely chopped aubergine-core in some olive oil until golden and soft. Add the ground spices and garlic and fry for a further 2 minutes.

-Fry some pine nuts in neutral oil until lightly browned.

-Combine the couscous, pine nuts and onion mix in a bowl with the remaining ingredients and season to taste.

-Stuff the aubergine with the filling, plug the hole with a tomato half, and barbecue until the skin is charred and the insides tender.

OR: In a baking tray, sit the aubergine in 1 cm of vegetable stock mixed with a few glugs of olive oil, cover with foil and bake for around 45 minutes at 200 degrees, turning the aubergine over halfway through.

Cut the aubergine into slices and serve with the lemon roast potatoes, or with lemon slices and greek yoghurt for a lighter meal.