This Organic September, Jenny will be sharing exclusive recipes and tips for you to make the most of your seasonal produce and store cupboard essentials.

We will be providing a series of recipes that are Twice as Nice. With some minor tweaks, each recipe can provide two distinctly, deliciously different meals – reducing your time, energy, and food waste in one go, nice!

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Seasonal Squash and Vegetable Stew

Serves 8 in total (2 distinctly different meals x 4)

Preparing a large pot of seasonal vegetables gives you plenty of options – it’s batch cooking without the repetition. The first serving is layered with North African Style heat and spice whilst the second becomes a substantial Italian Minestrone served with pesto.

The central vegetable here is squash, it’s a great opportunity to try different varieties, each giving a unique taste and texture.

Ingredients

4 tbsp olive oil
1 aubergine, diced into 2-3cm cubes
1 large onion, finely diced
2 carrots, scrubbed and roughly diced
2 sticks celery, diced
1 bulb fennel, chopped roughly
1 red pepper, core and seeds removed, chopped roughly
2 cloves garlic, crushed
About 800g prepared squash, skin and seeds removed, chopped into 4cm dice
1 x can chopped tomatoes
Salt

Method

Take a large saucepan or casserole and begin by heating up 3 tbsps of the olive oil, add the aubergine and fry over a medium heat for about 5 minutes until turning translucent. Don’t worry the pan will look dry, as the aubergine soaks up the oil like a sponge, but it collapses and releases moisture as it cooks.

Add the remaining oil along with the onion, carrot, celery, fennel and pepper and cook for a further 10 minutes until the vegetables begin to soften.

Toss in the garlic and the squash, stirring until you really smell the garlic aromas.

Tip in the tomatoes and enough water to just cover the veg along with a good pinch of salt.

Simmer, covered, for about 2o minutes until the squash is tender (you may need to top up the water but think stew rather than soup).

Now divide your stew between 2 pans.

North African Style

2 zucchini, roughly chopped
1 x can chickpeas, drained
1 tbsp roasted cumin seeds, lightly crushed with a pestle and mortar
100g green, pitted olives
2-4 tbsp Harissa paste
Juice of 1 lemon
A handful of fresh coriander leaves.
Flatbreads/couscous + 4 tbsp natural yoghurt

Heat the stew (1/2 of the original pot) and add the zucchini, it will cook through in moments, along with the chickpeas, cumin seeds and olives. Now balance to taste with the lemon juice and harissa and sprinkle over the coriander leaves.

Serve warm with flatbreads or couscous and a dollop of yoghurt.

Minestrone with Pesto

1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
75g orzo pasta (or spaghetti broken into tiny pieces)
1 x can borlotti beans, drained
100g green veg (e.g. trimmed green beans, chopped kale, spinach or chard)
Salt and black pepper
4 tbsp homemade or ready-prepared basil pesto

Add the stock to your vegetable casserole (1/2 the original pot) and bring up to the boil.

Tip in the pasta and boil for about 5 minutes.

Add the canned beans and the veg, continue to cook until your greens are just cooked through. Season well with salt and pepper.

Serve with a large spoonful of pesto swirled into the top each bowl and enjoy with good bread.