The day before
5 mins

If you’re using dry beans, soak ½ cup dry cannelini beans in cold water overnight.

Mise en place
15 mins

For the stock: peel and roughly chop 2 medium onions (save the peel). Separate a large head of garlic into cloves. Roughly chop 300g carrots and 2 stalks of celery.

For the carrot soup: Peel and roughly chop 200g carrots.

Prepare the vegetables: Clean the spring onions. Cut off the ends and the tips, cut the stalks in half, and store between paper towels in an airtight container. Scrub the radishes. Rinse the cherry tomatoes and dry them. Wash the watercress, dry well on a kitchen towel, and store wrapped in paper towel in the crisper. Clean all the herbs except the basil and dill (I find they bruise too easily), dry well on a kitchen towel, and store between paper towel in the crisper. Brush and dirt off the mushrooms with a damp paper towel and store in separate paper bags.

Start cooking
3 hours

Brown veg for the stock
Set the oven to 180˚C. Place onions, celery, and garlic in a roasting tin along with the onion skins. Mix together 3 tbsp light miso paste with 80ml water, then stir into the vegetables, coating them lightly. Bake for about an hour, tossing the vegetables once or twice during cooking, until everything is brown and toasty.

Cook the dry beans (if using)
Put the cannelini beans and their soaking water into a saucepan (top up with water to cover) and simmer with some salt until they are soft and creamy.

Make the dressing for the halloumi
(I couldn’t find validation anywhere on the internet that the original recipe is Too Much Dressing. I halved it here and I say that because I still have half the recipe in my refrigerator waiting for a pasta to make it whole. Use your judgment, though, and double this if you like:)
Put 125g frozen peas in a colander and run them under the cold tap for a few minutes until defrosted. Let them drain. Whizz the peas, 15g basil leaves, 10g mint leaves, and 75ml olive oil in a food processor until almost smooth. Store in the refrigerator.

Make some blue cheese butter
Cream together 50g soft blue cheese, and 30g butter. Shape into a block on some parchment paper, wrap and store.

Make the stock
Transfer the roasted vegetables to a deep saucepan. Add 75g dried shiitake mushrooms, 6 sprigs of rosemary, 15 sprigs of thyme, 4 bay leaves, 18 black peppercorns, and 15g dried kombu. Pour a little reserved water into the roasting tin and scrape to remove all the sticky caramelized bits. If the tin is flameproof, you can heat it on the stovetop to help get those bits off. Pour them into the saucepan. Add 4.5 litres of water. Bring to a boil, and then lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, for 50 minutes to an hour.

Roast the beets
Set the oven to 200˚C. place a large piece of cooking foil in a roasting tin. Wash and trim 400g beets, making sure to keep the skins intact. . Place them in the foil, add 1 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp water, and a grind of salt and black pepper, then scrunch the edges of the foil together to seal. Bake for 45-60 minutes until tender.

Roast the butternut squash
Peel the butternut squash. Cut it in half and remove the seeds. Cut into chunks and put in a single layer on a roasting pan. Peel 6 shallots, halve them, and put them on the tray tucked in among the squash. Mix 5 tbsp olive oil with 1 tsp each sweet and hot paprika. Bake for about an hour.

Make the carrot soup
Bring 250ml lightly salter water to the boil in a deep pan and add the carrots. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until tender. Put the carrots and their liquid into a blender with 5g coriander leaves and stems and 15g butter and blend until smooth. Cool and store.

Finish the stock
When you have a deep brown, richly coloured broth, tip through a sieve into a heatproof bowl and leave to cool. You will need 2.2l for the week. You’ll need 1.8l for the prep. Store the remaining 600ml in the fridge. I like to store in large mason jars.

Make the butternut squash soup
Warm 1 liter of the vegetable stock in a saucepan. Add the butternut squash and shallots. Use some of the stock to deglaze the pan the same way you did for the stock. Pour the deglazing liquid back into the soup. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until the squash starts to fall apart. Crush a few pieces of the squash with a fork to thicken the soup. Cool and store in the refrigerator.

Peel the beets
When they’re cool, peel the beets. Store in the refrigerator.

Salads & Lighter meals

Burrata, Beans, Tomatoes

Flatten 3 garlic cloves with the blade of your kitchen knife and peel away the skins. Warm 4 tbsp olive oil in a shallow pan and add the garlic, letting it cook briefly over a moderate heat. Drain the cannellini beans. Cut 250g cherry tomatoes in half. Pour a little more oil into the pan, then add the tomatoes and beans. Fry briefly, for four or five minutes, until the beans start to crisp a little. Don’t stir to often or they won’t crisp! Tear a handful of basil leaves and add to the pan, stirring gently until they start to wilt. Divide the beans and tomatoes between two plates, put a ball of burrata on each plate, and trickle with olive oil. Season will salt and fresh ground pepper.

Fennel, Peas, Halloumi

Remove the pea purée from the fridge, stir and bring to room temp. Trim and thinly slice 300g fennel. Warm 3 tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan. Place the fennel in the pan in a single layer, then season lightly and cook until the fennel is light gold on the underside. Turn each piece over and continue cooking until soft and translucent. Slice 250g halloumi into pieces slightly thicker than the fennel and place them in the pan, tucking them in wherever there is room and overlapping where there isn’t. Let the cheese turn gold. Divide between two plates and spoon the pea purée over the cheese.

Tofu, Radish, Ponzu

Make some Japanese rice. Drain 340g soft tofu on a paper towel. Mix together 4 tbsp ponzu sauce, 3 tsp sesame oil, and 3 tbsp rice vinegar. Trim and finely chop 1 spring onion, then thinly slice 4 radishes and add both to the dressing with a handful of coriander leaves. Put 6 tbsp cornflour or potato flour into a shallow bowl. Cut the tofu into six large cubes. Finely grate a thumb-sized lump of ginger. Warm oil for frying in a deep pan. Gently toss the cubes of tofu in the flour and lower into the oil. Fry for three to four minutes until light gold in colour. Divide the dressing between two deep bowls, lift the tofu from the oil with a draining spoon, then lower three pieces into each bowl. Eat right away with a bowl of rice on the side.

Mushrooms, Blue cheese, Toasting muffins*

Thinly slice 150g chestnut mushrooms. Peel and thickly slice 2 garlic cloves. Warm 4 tbsp olive oil in a pan. Add the garlic and let it soften. Add the mushrooms to the pan, followed by 2 tsp thyme leaves, and fry for six or seven minutes until they and the garlic are golden. Grind over a little black pepper and squeeze the juice of half a lemon into the mushrooms. Split two english muffins horizontally, toast them, then spread with the blue cheese butter you prepped earlier this week. Pile the mushrooms on top of the open faced muffins.

*Forgo the english muffin if you would prefer use the sourdough bread. This is what we did since getting through a whole load of bread and a whole pack of english muffins in a week is a bit much for us.

Beetroot, Blood orange, Watercress

Slice 8 radishes in half lengthways and put them in a mixing bowl. Slice a half inch off the top and bottom of 2 blood oranges. Set the oranges on the cutting board and slice the peel off the the oranges from top to bottom, following the shape of the orange, and staying close to the flesh without taking too much off. cut the segments out of the oranges by inserting your knife beside each membrane. Do this over a small bowl to catch any escaping juice and when you’re completely done, squeeze the membranes to collect all the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the radishes. Cut the beets you cooked earlier into quarters and add to the bowl. Trim 100g watercress. Put 10 mint leaves and a handful of parsley leaves into the bowl along with 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds. Measure out 2 tbsp of blood orange juice and mix it with 2 tbsp sherry vinegar, salt and ground black pepper. Pour over the salad and serve between 2 plates or bowls.

Soup

Mushrooms, Butternut, Sour cream

Slice 100g chestnut mushrooms thinly. Fry them in 5 tbsp olive oil until they are golden. Peel a 5g piece of ginger and chop into thin matchsticks, then add to the mushrooms and cook for a minute or two. When all is golden and sizzling, remove from the heat.

Heat half the soup you prepped earlier in the week (save the other half for later in the week) and ladle into two bowls. Top with 35g sour cream and half the mushrooms each.

Serve with buttered toasted sourdough bread for lunch or as a starter for dinner. Repeat this later in the week with the other half of the soup.

Carrots, Rice, Coriander

Peel and finely chop a small shallot and 1 clove of garlic. Warm 3 tbsp olive oil in a deep-sided frying pan and add the shallots and garlic. Let it cook over a moderate flame for about three or four minutes until fragrant, then add 125g arborio rice. Ladle in 300ml vegetable stock, a little at a time, stirring almost constantly. Continue cooking for fifteen to twenty minutes until the stock has been absorbed and the rice is tender but not soft. Stir the pureed carrots you prepped earlier this week into the rice and simmer for five minutes. Season with salt and black pepper. Peel and finely dice 50g carrots. Warm 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan and add the carrot. Cook for 3-4 minutes till the carrot is approaching tenderness. Finely chop a good pinch of coriander leaves. Spoon the rice into 2 dishes and scatter the carrots and coriander over top.

Tagliatelle, Dill, Mushrooms

In a blender or food processor, reduce 25g dill and 125g grated parmesan to fine crumbs. Tip into a saucepan, add 250g double cream, and bring gently to a boil, stirring until the cheese melts. Cover with a lid, remove from the heat and set aside.

Slice 200g king oyster mushrooms into 3mm pieces Clean and trim 150g brown Shimenji (or other small) mushrooms and 30g Chanterelles. Melt 30g butter in 3tbsp olive oil over a moderate heat. Sauté the king oyster mushrooms for 3-4 minutes until tender and then add the remaining mushrooms and cook for 3 minutes.

Cook the 250g tagliatelle or fettucine until al dente in a big pot of boiling salted water. Drain, return to the pot, the fold in the cream mixture, followed by the mushrooms. Divide between two plates.