Rukmini says: “This simple puff pastry tart is nice enough to make when friends come over, but easy enough that you could make it for a quick weeknight dinner. Just unroll your puff pastry, top with a mixture of quickly cooked frozen peas, eggs and crème fraîche, scatter over your cheese and voilà! An easy quiche-adjacent meal. I love the background complexity from adding fresh tarragon, but if you don’t have it or aren’t keen on the flavour, just let the Boursin cheese do the herb heavy-lifting for the dish.”

Serves: 4
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 250g frozen peas, defrosted
• 2 sprigs tarragon, leaves finely chopped
• 4 nice free-range eggs
• 100g full-fat crème fraîche
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• ½ teaspoon sea salt flakes, plus extra to serve
• 150g Boursin garlic and herb cheese (or similar)
• 1 x 320g sheet all butter (if available) ready-rolled puff pastry

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/gas 6.

Boil the peas in a saucepan of water for 2 minutes, then drain and rinse well under cold water.

Meanwhile, whisk the tarragon, eggs, crème fraîche and lemon zest together with the sea salt, then stir through the peas.

Unroll the puff pastry into a 20cm by 30cm roasting tin, just small enough that the pastry comes up the sides to form a lip. Pour in the pea and crème fraîche mixture, dot the Boursin cheese over evenly, then bake for 25 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden brown.

Scatter over a pinch of sea salt flakes and finish with a squeeze of lemon juice before serving hot or at room temperature.

Note: If you have bought a packet of tarragon just for this dish, strip the leaves into a small freezer bag and freeze for future use.

Make it GF: Use gluten-free ready-rolled puff pastry.

Rukmini says: “This is a beautiful dish. Salty halloumi, pomegranate, spiced almonds, buttery avo and asparagus – I could eat it every day. If you have jarred rather than tinned chickpeas, by all means use those instead, but a quick stint in the marinade will work wonders even with ordinary tinned chickpeas.”

Serves: 4
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 300g bulgur wheat
• 1 x 700g jar chickpeas (or 2 x 400g tins chickpeas), drained and rinsed
• 600ml boiling vegetable stock
• 125g asparagus, sliced diagonally, woody ends trimmed

For the spiced almonds:

• 100g flaked almonds
• ½ tablespoon olive oil
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• Good pinch sea salt flakes

For the dressing:

• 15g fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
• 15g fresh basil or parsley leaves (or a mixture of the two), finely chopped
• 200g pomegranate seeds (from 1 pomegranate)
• 60ml extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• Couple of pinches sea salt flakes

To serve:

• 225g halloumi, sliced
• 2–3 avocados, sliced
• Lemon juice

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/gas 6. Tip the bulgur wheat into a large roasting tin, then scatter over the chickpeas. Pour over the stock, top with the asparagus, then transfer to the oven to bake for 15 minutes.

In a small, shallow baking tray, mix together the almonds, oil, smoked paprika, brown sugar and sea salt flakes, then pop the tray alongside or on another shelf of the oven for the last 10 minutes. While the tins are in the oven, mix the chopped herbs with the pomegranate seeds, olive oil, lemon zest and juice and sea salt flakes to make the dressing.

Heat a griddle pan to medium-high heat and place the halloumi slices on it. Griddle for 1–2 minutes per side until stripey, then remove to a plate. Fluff the bulgur wheat through with a spoon and leave to cool for 5 minutes before stirring through the dressing. Taste and adjust the salt as needed, then serve hot, topped with the avocado, halloumi, spiced almonds and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Make it GF: Omit the bulgur wheat and stock, roast off the asparagus and chickpeas by themselves in olive oil and cook quinoa in your preferred way before dressing with all the other ingredients.

Rukmini says: “This is an update on one of my favourite Green Roasting Tin recipes, a really simple dish of baked orzo with fresh cherry tomatoes. Here, I add in a big square of feta to bake on top of the pasta, along with olives for a briny hit of flavour – all your food groups in one go. It’s perfect for a light dinner on a summer evening.”

Serves: 2 generously
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 25 minutes

Ingredients

• 200g orzo
• 450ml boiling vegetable stock
• 300g baby plum or cherry
• tomatoes, halved
• 50g olives, pitted and halved
• 200g feta cheese
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Couple of handfuls fresh basil leaves
• Freshly ground black pepper

To serve:

• Extra virgin olive oil
• Chilli flakes (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/gas 6.

Put the orzo into a medium roasting tin, pour over the boiling stock and stir, then top with the tomatoes and olives.

Place the block of feta cheese in the middle of the dish, then drizzle over the olive oil, a scatter of fresh basil leaves (reserve some for later) and a good grind of freshly ground black pepper. Transfer to the oven to bake for 25 minutes.

Carefully remove the baked feta with a fish slice and give the orzo a good mix with a wooden spoon before serving, then replace the feta as pictured. Scatter over the reserved basil leaves and top with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a scatter of chilli flakes. Once cooked, let the dish stand for a few minutes before serving hot.