Vegetarian and Vegetable Dishes

Vegetables in British cooking tend to be seen and used as side dishes, as an accompaniment to a roast or stewed meat or chicken. On the Continent, they’re regarded as dishes in their own right, and I think we should all start to look at serving and eating them in that way, too; they’re as important as all the rest.

A lot of the recipes here and throughout the book are fairly versatile. For instance, the Stuffed Tomatoes with Fried Leeks are a popular vegetarian main course, but could quite easily be made individually as a vegetable side dish or served as a starter. And some of the recipes listed in the Starters section could serve as vegetarian main courses: the Gruyère Cheese Flan, Spanish Omelette or Grilled Aubergines. Likewise the Spinach Dumplings or Potato Raviolis here can make good starters. In fact, there’s another recipe which could be both a starter or a main course, and was something I was often given at tea time when I was a child: Macaroni Cheese. My version has been enhanced by leeks and onions, which give a whole new flavour.