Meat Free Monday
For animals, people and planet

🧡 With colder, darker weather outside, stay in and stay warm whilst cooking up this Sweet and Sour Pumpkin recipe by @carluccios. The perfect dish for an autumnal #MeatFreeMonday!

Ingredients

* 750 g yellow-orange pumpkin, with skin
* plain all-purpose flour, for dusting
* olive oil for shallow frying
* 6 large fresh sage leaves
* 1 teaspoon rosemary needles
* 50 ml balsamic vinegar
* 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
* salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Peel the pumpkin and cut it first into 10 cm sections, then into thin slices.

Dust the slices with flour.

Add enough olive oil to a medium frying pan so it is 1 cm deep. Place over a medium heat then fry the pumpkin slices until golden on both sides. Drain on absorbent kitchen paper.

In a ceramic dish, make layers of the pumpkin slices, interspersed with the sage leaves and rosemary needles.

Put the vinegar in a small pan along with the garlic and some salt and pepper. Briefly bring to the boil.

Pour the hot vinegar over the layers of pumpkin in the dish. Leave for a few hours for the flavours to combine before serving. ...

Presenting a beautiful autumnal dish this #MeatFreeMonday – Squash, Blackberries and Apple from @hughfearnleywhittingstall #InSeason
Ingredients
* 250-300 g young squash, such as ½ small butternut or a chunk of Crown Prince
* 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus an extra trickle
* ½ medium eating apple, cored and chopped
* 100 g blackberries
* juice of ½ small lemon
* 1 teaspoon sugar
* 50 g hazelnuts (skin on), roughly bashed
* sea salt
* black pepper
Method
Use a vegetable peeler to peel the squash (or a knife if it’s a tough, thick-skinned variety). Then use the peeler to pare the squash flesh into ribbons. It’s easiest to cut it into manageable pieces, removing any seedy bits as you go, then pare each piece. The ribbons needn’t be long – in fact, short curls are easier to eat.
Put the squash ribbons into a large bowl, add a trickle of olive oil, season with some salt and pepper and toss together.
Put the chopped apple and about half the blackberries into a mortar or robust bowl. Use the pestle, or the end of a rolling pin, to bash up the fruit a bit – just enough to crush some of the apple and get the blackberry juices flowing. Add the lemon juice, 1 tablespoon olive oil, the sugar and some salt and pepper and mix well.
Arrange the raw squash over a large serving plate, or individual plates and spoon the juicy blackberry and apple mix on top. Scatter over the remaining whole blackberries and then the roughly bashed hazelnuts. Give the dish a final grinding of pepper, and serve.
Swaps
Veg: Replace the squash with ribbons of raw carrot, beetroot or celeriac – they all work well.
Fruit: Try using autumn raspberries in place of the blackberries. And pear can certainly be used instead of apple. ...

God bless Queen Elizabeth II
May she rest in peace
Long live The King

Paul McCartney ...

Hero the seasonal veg this #MeatFreeMonday with @Alpro’s Roasted Tomato and Broccoli Pasta! A colourful dish, ready in under an hour. 🍅🥦

Ingredients
4 garlic cloves
400 g cherry tomatoes
few sprigs thyme
olive oil
400 g spaghetti
400 g tenderstem broccoli
1 onion, finely chopped
½ teaspoon chill flakes
5 tablespoons plain flour
1 litre plant-based milk (e.g. Alpro Oat Unsweetened drink)
½-1 lemon, juice
50 g pine nuts
40 g cashew nuts roughly chopped
40 g almonds, roughly chopped

To serve
large bunch of fresh basil leaves
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6. Put the garlic cloves and whole cherry tomatoes on a baking tray. Season with salt and pepper, thyme and toss through olive oil. Roast for 25-30 minutes until blistered and a little coloured, remove from the oven and set aside.

Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook the pasta to pack instructions. Add the broccoli florets for the last 3 minutes of cooking time, then drain and set aside.

In a large deep saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over a medium heat and add the onion. Gently fry for 5-8 minutes until softened and a little coloured. Add the chilli flakes and flour and fry for a few minutes until bubbling.

Remove from the heat and gradually add the plant-based milk. Stirring all the time, then put over a medium heat and stir regularly until the sauce thickens and bubbles. Season with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon. Toast the pine nuts, cashews and almonds together until golden in a small non-stick frying pan.

Toss the spaghetti and broccoli through the sauce. Top with the roasted tomatoes, toasted nuts, a handful of fresh basil and drizzle of olive oil. ...