From Season to Season: A Year in Recipes. Sophie Dahl

over the noodles.

       Lentil salad with a mustard dressing

      Lentils are always good things to have in stock, along with chickpeas. You can turn them into a salad or soup on the spot. This is a hearty salad that is also good warm.

      SERVES 4

      225g/1¼ cups of Puy lentils

      2 celery sticks, chopped in fine rounds

      A handful of cherry tomatoes, finely chopped

      150g/1 cup of feta, crumbled

      A small handful of fresh chopped mint

      For the dressing

      4 tablespoons of olive or rapeseed oil

      1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar

      2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard

      1 shallot, peeled and finely chopped

      Salt and pepper

      Place the lentils in a pan and add just enough water to cover. Simmer over a low heat for 20 minutes, then drain.

      In a serving bowl, mix the lentils with the celery, tomatoes and feta.

      Make the dressing by whisking all the ingredients together, adjusting according to taste. Dress the salad and then toss with the mint.

       Beef Stroganoff

      I know, I know. Totally from the same school as Chicken Kiev in terms of 80s nostalgia and naffness. But wasn’t it good, particularly if it came in a ready meal? We knew not what we did. I used to beg for Beef Stroganoff as a child. I think, as a worthy vegetarian, it became Quorn Stroganoff and now, somewhere in the middle, the last time I had anything resembling it was a mushroom variety in a pub in Cornwall. Good old retro food.

      SERVES 4

      1 tablespoon of olive oil or butter, plus extra oil

      1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

      1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

      2 handfuls of mushrooms, roughly chopped

      500g/1lb 2oz of beef fillet, chopped into strips 1cm/½ inch wide and thick

      1 teaspoon of paprika

      Juice of ½ a lemon

      A splash of vermouth

      60ml/¼ cup of sour cream

      A handful of fresh chopped parsley

      Put a frying pan on a low heat and drop in the oil or butter. Add the onion and garlic and sweat for a few minutes, making sure they don’t brown. Add the mushrooms and cook until they are golden. Put this mixture to the side.

      In the same pan, heat a little more oil and add the beef strips, the paprika and the lemon. Toss around. Cook for a minute or so, and then splash on the vermouth. Pour the mushroom and onion mixture back in the pan, cook for another minute but no longer, and then take off the heat and add the sour cream and the parsley. Mix it all together and serve with some simple boiled potatoes or rice.

       Autumn Suppers

       Salmon steaks with a wasabi coating

      I adore the kick that wasabi gives to anything in its path. Buy it in powder form and add SLOWLY to dressings or mayonnaise, or if anyone you know goes to Japan, get them to bring you back some of the toxic green stuff in a tube.

      SERVES 2

      2 salmon steaks, about 175g/6oz each

      Salt and pepper

      For the rice

      100g/¾ cup of wild rice

      1 large beetroot/beet

      1 pomegranate

      1 tablespoon of olive oil

      A small handful of fresh chopped mint

      For the wasabi coating

      2 tablespoons of mayonnaise

      ½ teaspoon of ground cumin

      1 teaspoon of wasabi paste or powder mixed to a paste with water

      Cook the wild rice (two parts water to one part rice) by boiling for 45 minutes. Leave to the side to cool.

      Meanwhile, cover the beetroot/beet with water; bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes until the beetroot/beet is tender. Drain, and when cool enough to handle, peel off the skin and cut the beetroot/beet into rough chunks.

      Chop the pomegranate in half and extract the seeds. Add the pomegranate, beetroot/beet, olive oil and mint to the rice. Leave to the side.

      Make the wasabi coating by mixing the mayonnaise, cumin and wasabi together. Taste and adjust if you want. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas 4.

      Wash and dry the salmon, and season. Heat a griddle pan or ovenproof frying pan big enough to fit both salmon steaks and, when it is searing hot, drop the salmon in, skin-side down. Turn after 5 minutes or when the skin is brown and crispy. Take off the heat, carefully turn again, and spoon the wasabi mayonnaise onto the top of the salmon. Put the pan into the oven and cook for around 10 minutes until the glaze begins to brown. Serve on the wild rice.

       Baked vegetables smothered in scamorza

      Scamorza is an Italian cow’s milk cheese, available in most Italian delis. If you can’t find it, use mozzarella instead. The smoked scamorza lends a smoky depth to sauces and whatever it touches. It is also pretty bloody good on it’s own, eaten from the packet. This is a variation on a recipe given to me by my girlfriend Emma.

      SERVES 2

      1 large aubergine/ eggplant

      Salt and pepper

      2 tablespoons of olive oil

      1 ball of smoked scamorza or smoked mozzarella (or use regular mozzarella)

      For the pesto

      1 large clove of garlic, peeled

      A large handful of fresh basil

      A few tablespoons of pine nuts

      3 tablespoons of olive oil

      30g/¼ cup of grated Parmesan

      Salt and pepper

      Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas 4.

      Start with salting the aubergine/eggplant. Slice it lengthways, put on a tea towel and sprinkle it with sea salt. Turn after 20 minutes or so, and do the other side. Rinse and dry thoroughly.

      Make the pesto in a big pestle and mortar by grinding up the garlic. Add the basil, keep mashing away, and then add the pine nuts. Slowly add the olive oil, and then the Parmesan. Season to taste.

      Put all the aubergine/eggplant