Golden miso potato salad

      Potatoes are pretty magical in all their forms: the crispy-edged golden brown crunch of a roastie; cloud-like mash; a little new potato, boiled and tossed with grassy green herbs, good oil and flaky salt… This warm potato salad has become a household staple, a dinner for cold nights and wet homecomings: bolstering, full of flavour and comfort. I bake the potatoes in miso until deeply golden brown, then slather them in a tomato and ginger dressing before mixing them with lentils and toasted almonds. A complete meal.

      Although new potatoes aren’t around yet, I find this recipe works well with smaller potatoes, so I buy them from the loose bin and pick out the smallest ones I can find. If yours are bigger you might want to cut them in half or quarters.

      SERVES 4

      1kg small floury potatoes

      2 teaspoons white miso paste

      2 tablespoons olive oil

      the cloves from 1 head of garlic, skin on

      1 x 400g tin of Puy lentils or 250g home-cooked, (see here), drained

      100g almonds, skin on, toasted and sliced

      a handful of basil, leaves picked

      FOR THE DRESSING

      2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil, chopped, plus 2 tablespoons of their oil

      the zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lime

      a thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped

      Preheat the oven to 220ºC/200ºC fan/gas 7.

      Rinse the potatoes, scrubbing off any gnarly bits, and dry well. Mix the miso and olive oil with 1 tablespoon of water. Put the potatoes into a large baking tray or two smaller ones, add the miso mixture and toss well to coat.

      Put the garlic cloves into the tray as well. Roast the potatoes until they are fluffy inside and golden outside: this should take 25–35 minutes depending on the size of your potatoes.

      Meanwhile, make your dressing. Mix the sun-dried tomatoes and their oil with the lime zest and juice and the ginger, and mix well.

      Remove the potatoes from the oven and spoon out the garlic cloves. Squeeze the softened cloves from their papery outsides, mash them and add them to the dressing.

      Tumble the potatoes into a large bowl, add the lentils and the dressing and toss together. Top with the almonds and tear over the basil.

      Roasted Savoy and squash with Cheddar and rye

      In the colder months of the year I find it all too easy to lean on Asian, Indian or Mexican flavours to perk me up and create a bit of excitement when the offerings of the season have become a bit monotonous. But truthfully it’s at this time of year I want simple British flavours most, and this salad sings with them. The sometimes forgotten Savoy cabbage is roasted into crisp-edged wedges, more pleasing to me than the now ever-present roasted broccoli or kale, and paired with plump roasted squash, caraway seeds, a rye crumb and a mustard-spiked dressing, all finished with a crumble of sharp Cheddar (though vegans can happily leave this out). This dish is so rooted in time and place, and that’s when eating and cooking feels best to me.

      SERVES 4

      a small Delicata or butternut squash (about 500g)

      1 Savoy cabbage (about 400g), tough outer leaves removed

      olive oil

      1 teaspoon caraway seeds

      50g rye bread (about 2 thin slices)

      2 tablespoons baby capers, drained

      100g good sharp Cheddar, crumbled

      FOR THE DRESSING

      1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard

      1 teaspoon honey

      1 tablespoon cider vinegar

      3 tablespoons good extra virgin olive or rapeseed oil

      Preheat the oven 220ºC/200ºC fan/gas 7.

      Halve and deseed the squash and cut into wedges 2cm thick. Cut your cabbage into eight chunky wedges. Place them both on a large roasting tray and sprinkle with a good amount of salt and pepper. Add a good drizzle of oil and the caraway seeds and roast in the hot oven for 35 minutes until the squash is soft and cooked through and the cabbage is golden and crisp and charred at the edges.

      Meanwhile put the rye bread into a food processor and blitz until you have rough breadcrumbs – you still want a good bit of texture here. Put the crumbs on a baking tray with a drizzle of olive oil, a good pinch of salt, a generous grind of black pepper and the capers, and toast in the hot oven for 5 minutes until they smell toasty and have a pleasing crunch, being careful not to burn them – with the dark colour of the rye bread it can be easy to overcook them.

      Mix the dressing ingredients, season well and put to one side.

      When the cabbage and squash are cooked, take them out of the oven and tumble on to a platter with the Cheddar. Drizzle generously with the dressing, mix well, then scatter over the rye crumbs and take to the table.