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Konjac Cherry tomato Pasta by Hibiscus Kook This recipe is gluten-free and vegan friendly Creamy Cauliflower In case you want to try making these but don't have a pasta machine, pasta tree or ravioli cutter, click

I don't think I've made rösti since last year when my Non-Traditional 6 Veg Rösti was my first post on here when I started the blog. I don't know why I haven't made it since, as I do like. it. So many other things to make and to try out, I suppose. And a Challenge early on not to make the same thing twice that lasted 100 days. Anyway, looking at the contents of the fridge and trying to figure out what to make for dinner, the zucchinis and apples, as well as some left-over boiled potatoes from a raclette with friends, suggested this to me. It didn't come out perfectly in the first instance as I forgot to salt the zucchini first. This draws out the excess liquid and also leaves them less bitter. Not having done so, the dish was a little wet. In a hurry to get dinner on the table so as not to delay Little Bit's bedtime, I didn't give it as long as I normally would have done to crisp up. Don't make my mistake! Crisp it! The leftovers though, I heated in the air fryer and they were delightfully crispy. Aside from this minor setback in execution the first night, I loved the interplay of the different flavours - the sweetness to the apples, and the salty ham, and the chanterelles. All of it came together very nicely! Ingredients: 1 - 1 1/2 c boiled potatoes, coarsely grated 2 apples, coarsely grated 2 courgettes, coarsely grated 2 onions 4 tbsp olive oil 1 tomato, sliced, 1 c bacon bits or ham 2 tbsp butter or lard (I save bacon fat whenever I cook bacon) 2 c chanterelles, chopped 1 tsp rosemary 1 tsp thyme 1 c cheese, grated (I used Gruyère) salt and pepper to taste Optional: 1 fried egg per person 1) Heat oil in a frying pan and sauté onions until soft. Set aside. Fry bacon briefly until cooked through and beginning to brown. 2) Mix all ingredients except tomato and chanterelles. Place in a greased oven-proof dish or a cast-iron skillet. Arrange sliced tomato over the top. Dot with butter or lard. Bake at 200°C for 35-45 minutes until cooked through and beginning to brown. 3) Use the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil to sauté the chanterelles. Drain the excess liquid and arrange them over the top of the rosti. Serve, and place a fried egg on top of the portions for anyone wanting them (personally, that's the way to go!). I briefly placed the chanterelles on top of the rösti and popped it back in the oven, but I am not sure this added anything to the dish, so I skipped that step above. It could easily be made vegetarian or vegan by skipping the ham (tasty but non-essential) and swapping the lard for butter. I do enjoy a traditional rösti, but all too often I find it too stodgy and heavy, and just too greasy. Also, depending on where you have it, it is almost nothing but potato. I love playing around with this dish as there is so much that can be done with the basic idea, carrying the essence of the dish forward but reducing the stodge and the grease, adding different flavour notes and different colours - not to mention nutritional value! It is an endlessly adaptable dish if you allow yourself to be unbound from strict tradition...

Risotto is one of my go-to recipes. Sometimes there is a specific kind that I plan ahead, sometimes it is a question of using up what's in the fridge. This one was a bit of both. I've used chestnuts in risotto before (check out my Caramel Chestnut Risotto), but I wanted to do something a little different and a little more savoury. We had a local pork sausage in the fridge, so I decided to see how well the two flavours would marry. Chestnuts always hold special emotional associations for me, reminding me of Christmas magic and family time, so anything with chestnuts to me, is the ultimate comfort food! All the more so when it is a stick-to-your-ribs risotto for a cold evening. And now that chestnuts are available frozen, my desire for such food doesn't have to be limited to November and December (although admittedly November is a cold, grey month needing all the cheer it can get!) Warning: the amount of rice is a bit of a guesstimate on this one. Add liquid slowly, so that there is not too much. If need be, add a little extra liquid. Recipe Cook time: approx 50 minutes -- Servings: 6-8 ( depending on size) -- Cooking level: Easy Ingredients: 2 tbsp olive oil 1 head garlic, minced 3 1/2 - 4 c arborio rice 4 c beef stock 2 c pork sausage, chopped 8 carrots, chopped 1 tbsp sage 1 tsp tarragon 2 tsp thyme 1 1/2 c red cooking wine 2 c water (if needed) 1 c milk 1 1/2 - 2 c roasted chestnuts, halved or quartered 1/2 c soft cheese, in pieces ( I used a tomme vaudoise, similar to a Brie, but local) Optionally, accompany with: sumac, apple sauce, cranberry sauce, walnuts 1) In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat the olive oil. Stir in the garlic and fry for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the rice and stir for another minute or two, until the grains turn translucent. Be careful not to burn them! Add the stock and bring to a simmer, stirring. 2) Meanwhile, in a saucepan, fry the sausage and the carrots (if your sausage is not rendering, then add a little olive oil here). Add the herbs. Cook until the carrots are fork-tender, then set aside. 3) Once the rice has absorbed the stock, still stirring, add the wine and continue to simmer. Once that is absorbed, stir in the veg and sausage, the chestnuts and the milk, allowing the flavours to marry as the last of the liquid is absorbed. When almost all the liquid is gone, stir in the cheese. 4) Serve hot, and accompany with toasted walnuts, cranberry sauce, apple sauce or simply a sprinkling of sumac. (we tried all four, individually or in combinations and greatly enjoyed them). We really enjoyed this. I like risottos (risotti?) anyway, but wasn't entirely sure how the different flavours would marry. I was working on a hunch and on the principle of the sniff and taste test as you go method. It worked! Everyone really enjoyed it. The leftovers, we fried up as simple arancini balls in the air fryer, some with a little cranberry or cheese centre, some with some breading on the outside. While those were nice, though, they weren't necessary. Just the simple leftover risotto fried up in balls was tasty. On a smaller scale, the arancini would work as nibbles for party food. Just a thought... I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

With autumn mists and fall harvest fruits and vegetables available, I've been enjoying taking advantage as much as possible of what's on offer. Planning a white lasagna, I was excited to realise that I had part of a pumpkin that needed using and some apples in the fruit bowl. I wasn't sure how it was going to go, but seeing as everyone at the table (including someone who is not Hubby and therefore is less biased) had seconds, I thought it was probably worth posting. For this, I specially grilled a chicken in the air fryer (I love how easy that was) but normally I would have used leftover chicken from a roast dinner or something. Ingredients: 2 - 2 1/2 c chicken, shredded 3 onions (small) diced 2 apples, diced 2 c spinach or (2 cubes frozen spinach) 2 tbsp butter 1 tbsp sage 1 tsp orange peel 1 - 2 c whey 1 tsp sumac 1/4 c butter 1 zucchini, thinly sliced along its length 1 2 inch pumpkin wedge, thinly sliced 2 1/2 c ricotta 1 1/2 c parmesan, grated Lasagna sheets 1 tomato, sliced 1) In a saucepan, melt the butter then sweat the onions. Add apple, spinach, sumac, orange peel and sage and cook until apple is beginning to soften. Add chicken and enough whey to moisten but not drown the sauce. 2) Melt remaining butter. Brush an ovenproof dish and begin layering: zucchini, chicken and apple sauce, pumpkin, pasta brushed with butter, ricotta, parmesan, repeat. End on a layer of ricotta, parmesan and then sliced tomatoes. 3) Bake at 180°C for about 45minutes until a knife goes in easily and the top is golden and molten. This was really tasty, but I made it a little too wet. I have a bit of a hard time judging the right level of moistness in a white lasagna sauce. It was just right on the second go when we reheated it though! I had thought of using apple sauce in the chicken sauce instead of the whey (which, incidentally, you can replace with stock if you don't have whey lying around), but decided not to this time. I had also considered adding some warm autumnal spicing, given that I was using pumpkin and apple, but didn't. Maybe next time.

(I blanch mine and keep them in the freezer until I'm ready to use them) Book pairing: With cold dark They knew they were going North, and that there was a likelihood of encountering freezing temperatures

also dawned on my while making them that if I can get the barley flour fine enough, barley, with less gluten than regular flour, is a great replacement as in shortbread everything is done to prevent gluten chain

Barley has a lower gluten content and is a bit sweeter, so I thought it might help make the crackers (Kneading forms gluten strands which would make the crackers chewy, not crumbly).

, leaving me free to experiment. Here is the result.

Feel free to go take a look!

Freeze. Freeze. I am curious to see how different this would be if made with fresh rose petals.