... Roots and Alliums

Potatoes, beets, turnips, carrots: these robust, dense and heavy vegetables can take whatever you want to throw at them. Naturally thickening the dishes in which they are added, they will hold their flavour well and also absorb flavours. Start them off with a zingy headnote spice, such as cumin seeds. Turmeric and chilli can be added partway through cooking. For finishing flavours you could use tomato, ginger, ground coriander and mustard paste. Alliums – onions, shallots and leeks – while often used chopped up and fried as a headnote ingredient, can also be stars in their own right. Try them cooked in larger pieces, or even whole, softened through slow cooking, their flavours tempered and sweetened, and you will find them quite delicious.