Wahaca, veganised: Black bean soup

Great transitional piece darling. No, but seriously, I started getting cravings for this hearty, moreish-than-thou soup back in August, and now I know it's going to work wonders right through winter. This is a slightly simplified and adapted version of Thomasina Miers' black bean soup. It's quick, tasty and there never seems to be quite enough of it...

Ingredients
Lots of tomatoes- as you can see from the photo above I was lucky enough to get a mix in the vegetable box, but one large punnet should do the trick. Chop into quarters.
2 garlic cloves, chopped
100ml olive oil
1 onion, diced
1-2 tbsp oregano or marjoram
2 bay leaves
2 chillies
salt and pepper
2 tins of cooked black beans
Juice of 1 lime
800 ml vegetable stock

For the salsa:
Handful of tomatoes, chopped
Handful coriander, chopped
1 red/white onion, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
Juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp red wine vinegar/ sherry vinegar
1 tsp soft brown sugar

Heat the onion and herbs in a large pan for around 5-10 minutes, making sure the onion stays soft, before adding the garlic. Cook for another few minutes, then add the tomatoes and chillies and season. Cook for another 5-10 minutes, then add the beans.

Stir the beans in the oil and herbs, then allow to cook for a few more minutes, before adding the stock and lime juice and allow to simmer for another 5-10 minutes so all the flavours can mix. In this time you can make the tomato salsa by mixing together the tomatoes, onions and the rest of the salsa ingredients, seasoning to taste.

Blend the soup to your preferred consistency (I like to still be able to see a few bits of tomatoes and beans in there!), then pour into bowls or mugs, and top off with the fresh salsa.

Wahaca, veganised: Courgette, pea, sweetcorn and potato tortillas

I like to hum Galvanize by The Chemical Brothers whenever veganising a recipe. Just something to think about.

The original form of this recipe is Thomasina Miers' broad bean, pea and new potato quesadilla. I've swapped the broad beans for courgettes and added some sweetcorn for a little colour and flavour, after taking away the feta and cheddar. This makes an amazing lunch as just a wrap with some jalapenos, or as a dinner done as quesadillas in a grill pan. 

Makes enough for four

Ingredients
2 large handfuls of potatoes, peeled and chopped in half
Plenty of olive oil
1 onion, chopped small
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 green chili, finely chopped
2 courgettes, chopped down small as shown in photo above
100g frozen peas
100g frozen sweetcorn
Juice of one lime (I know there's lemon above but lime does work better-it's just all I had!)
handful of mint
handful of tarragon or tbsp of dried tarragon

Boil the potatoes in salted water until they are ready to mash. While this is happening, take a large pan and slowly sweat the onion, garlic and chili in plenty of olive oil- making sure none of it burns, for about ten minutes. Bring another pan of water to boil and add the courgettes, sweetcorn and peas.

With the back of a fork, mash the potatoes into the onion mix, adding the lime juice, mint, tarragon, some more olive oil, and seasoning to taste. Keep the pan on a low heat as you add in the courgettes, sweetcorn and peas. Taste the mixture once more and add some extra herbs/juice/ seasoning to your liking- you should be able to taste every flavour.

Serve with homemade corn tortillas, in flour wraps, or in quesadillas. I made this dish (centre in photo) for a Mexican themed dinner I had for my friends, and there wasn't any of this left by the end of the night!