Roasting Cabbage/ Exploding Squash

Sprout tops tossed in coconut and olive oil, salt and pepper,

Romanesque cauliflower tossed in olive oil,  toasted cumin seeds, salt and pepper....carrot batons coated in coarse grain mustard, olive oil and pomegranate molasses ( instead of honey)  - a gift from my niece in Beirut,

and then all roasted. They don't look so pretty but taste wonderful.

The little gem squash

that exploded in the pan of boiling water.

I'm inspired to do something different with veggies after reading Henry Dimbleby in the Cook section of the weekend Guardian. He says his co-writer of the column, Jane Baxter is 'arguably the country's greatest vegetable cook'. She used to run the Riverford Farm kitchen in Devon where I have eaten many times and have had many memorable veggie dishes there.

She says her secret is to never boil or steam a vegetable ( apart from peas, green beans and new potatoes) and roasts them instead - including cabbage.

So tonight I tested her theory and have to say it worked wonderfully on flavour and texture - although I did miss the bright emerald greenness of just cooked leaves. And more calories of course with all that oil.

I ignored her advice about cooking the little gem squash (which coincidentally I bought in Riverford Farm shop on Saturday) and did what we always did in Africa when I was growing up, and boiled it whole like a little football. Unfortunately I forgot to pierce the hard outer skin and it exploded with a pop in the pan - like an egg in the microwave - leaving stringy strands of innards in the water. Luckily it split roughly in two so I rescued it and steamed it instead.

And I wouldn't eat it any other way - discard the seeds , scoop out the spaghetti-like sweet flesh and mash up with lashings of butter, black pepper and salt. You can't really mess with the taste memories of childhood....

You can read Henry Dimbleby and Jane Baxter here -here