The Modern Cook’s Year. Anna Jones

has rich layers of flavour which might lead you to think it had spent hours on the hob – pops of mustard seeds, warming cinnamon, everything I love in a dhal.

      The turmeric and carrots make this a vibrant sunny-hued bowl, and on top lies a colour pop of sweet-shop pink radish pickle. I serve it with poppadoms scrunched into shards over the top for a welcome bit of crunch. We have dhal in some form or another at least once a week, and this is one I keep coming back to. If you really wanted to speed things up you could do all your grating in the food processor.

      SERVES 4

      2 cloves of garlic

      1 green chilli

      a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled

      1 red onion, peeled

      coconut or vegetable oil

      1 teaspoon cumin seeds

      1 teaspoon coriander seeds

      1 teaspoon black mustard seeds

      1 teaspoon ground turmeric

      1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

      200g red lentils

      1 × 400ml tin of coconut milk

      600ml vegetable stock

      6 carrots, peeled

      2 large handfuls of spinach

      juice of 1 lemon

      FOR THE PICKLE

      a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled

      1 green chilli

      1 unwaxed lemon

      2 handfuls of radishes

      1 tablespoon nigella seeds

      1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

      honey or agave nectar

      a bunch of coriander, chopped

      TO SERVE

      plain yoghurt

      cooked brown basmati rice

      a few poppadoms

      Finely grate the garlic, chilli and ginger (I use a sharp Microplane grater; if your grater isn’t quite up to the job, finely chop them), then coarsely grate the red onion. Put a large saucepan on a medium heat, add a little oil and everything you have grated and cook for 10 minutes until soft and sweet.

      Pound the cumin and coriander seeds a bit in a pestle and mortar, then add to the pan with the other spices and cook for a couple of minutes to toast and release their oils. Add the lentils, coconut milk and stock to the pan and bring to a simmer, then turn the heat down and bubble for 25–30 minutes. Meanwhile, grate all the carrots and add those too.

      While that is cooking make a little pickle to go on top. Finely grate the ginger, chilli and the zest of the lemon into a bowl, then use a coarser grater to grate the radishes into the bowl. Add the nigella seeds, vinegar, a squeeze of honey, half the coriander, a good pinch of salt and mix well.

      To finish your dhal, take it off the heat, then stir in the spinach and allow it to wilt a little, stirring in the other half of the coriander and the juice of the lemon too. Pile into bowls and top with the radish pickle, spoonfuls of yoghurt and brown basmati rice. At the table, crumble over your poppadoms.

      Beetroot, rhubarb and potato gratin

      This might just get the all-time gratin crown. There’s gentle comfort from the potatoes and cream, with an unexpected pop of sweet acidity from the rhubarb, a foil for the unrepentant earthiness of the beetroot. The lively warmth of the pink peppercorns tops things off. It’s a pretty beautiful-looking dishful too; there are some amazing colours at play: whites, neon pinks, magenta and the dots of fluoro pink peppercorns – you’d struggle to find one pinker.

      I tend not to cook with a lot of dairy but here I make an exception, using the best I can get my hands on. Vegans might try this with almond or oat milk, or even some vegetable stock in place of the creams. I make the stock for this with about half the powder or stock cubes that the packet suggests, so the flavour of the stock doesn’t overwhelm; if you have homemade stock (see here), all the better.

      SERVES 4–6

      butter, for greasing

      1kg potatoes, preferably waxy ones, such as Desiree or Charlotte

      500g cooked beetroot (the ones in vacuum packs or home-cooked), peeled

      300ml weak vegetable stock (see note above)

      300ml double cream

      150ml sour cream

      2 bay leaves

      2 teaspoons pink peppercorns or ½ teaspoon black peppercorns

      200g forced rhubarb, thinly sliced

      Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan/gas 6. Butter a large gratin dish.

      Peel the potatoes and slice them very finely – a mandoline or the fine slicer attachment on a food processor is the best way to do this; just watch your fingers if you’re using a mandoline. Cut the beetroot into fine slices as well – they don’t have to quite be as thin, so you could cut them with a knife.

      Put the stock and both the creams into a large saucepan, along with the bay leaves and 1 teaspoon of the peppercorns. Bring the liquid to just under the boil, then take off the heat and leave to sit for 30 minutes or so. Remove the bay leaves, leaving the peppercorns in, then bring the liquid to just below a simmer. Add the sliced potatoes and cook gently for 5 minutes.

      Remove from the heat, season really well with salt and pepper, and spoon half the potatoes into the gratin dish. Put half the beetroot and rhubarb on top, seasoning as you go, then top with the rest of the potatoes and their cream, followed by the rest of the beetroot.

      Roughly bash the remaining pink peppercorns in a pestle and mortar and sprinkle on the gratin. Bake for 1 hour, or until the vegetables are completely tender. Cover the top with foil after about 45 minutes if it looks like it is becoming too dark.

      Butter bean stew with kale and sticky blood oranges

      This is a seriously comforting bowl. Sweet spiced beans, burnished blood oranges and the bright green goodness of kale, all topped off with a hazelnut and sesame seed crunch; full of flavour and texture. It’s quick but nourishing, with the satisfying depth of a pot that’s been very slowly ticking away on the stove for hours.

      SERVES 4

      olive oil

      3 cloves of garlic, finely sliced

      1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

      2 bay leaves

      a small bunch of thyme (4 or 5 stalks)

      1 red onion, finely chopped

      2 x 400g jars or tins of butter beans, drained (or 250g home-cooked beans, see here)

      2 blood oranges, or normal oranges, peeled and sliced

      1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

      1 teaspoon honey

      300g curly kale, leaves pulled away from the stalks and roughly torn

      100g hazelnuts

      2 tablespoons sesame seeds

      the zest of 1 unwaxed lemon

      1 tablespoon sumac

      feta or goat’s cheese, to serve (optional)

      Fill and boil the kettle. First put a little olive oil into a pan, add 2 cloves of the garlic and fry for a minute or two, then add the tomatoes, herbs and a good pinch of sea salt and simmer for 10 minutes.

      Meanwhile,