Elly Pear - Green Veggie and Vegan Meals for No-fuss Weeks and Relaxed Weekends

Elly Curshen AKA Elly Pear is a Sunday Times bestselling cookery author, as well as a food columnist, food-panel judge, cookery tutor and authority on all things delicious.

In 2006, Elly founded Bristols The Pear Caf, where both she (and her daily frittata) became staples of the Bristol food community.

Influenced by world cuisine, but with an eye on her local greengrocers, Ellys cooking is bright, inventive and meat-free. Passionate about encouraging people to cook from scratch. Ellys recipes are tasty yet easily achievable.

Follow the latest updates from Elly on her food, writing and events on Instagram @ellypear.

Ive designed this book to help you eat more veg all week long.

Its divided into two halves; Weekday and Weekend which translates basically into moments when you may be in a bit of a squeeze, timewise, and other occasions when you can cook with less urgency! When you do have time, use the recipes from the Freezer Food and Prep Ahead For The Week chapters to help yourself by getting on with batch cooking and/or meal prepping. When time is tighter, turn to the recipes in the Weekday section. Once that work is done, those bits and pieces that youve stockpiled, along with the quick recipes in the Ready in 20 Mins chapter (and the meal plan ideas at the back of the book) will make your cooking week flow with ease.

Having the opportunity to write this cookbook fills me with joy. Writing and sharing recipes, teaching people how to cook, encouraging everyone to try new foods each of these things are an honour and one that I enjoy immensely. While this is my third cookbook, for the first time all the recipes contained in these pages are entirely veggie and vegan. Dont panic if youre neither of those things. Ive written this book with the whole spectrum of diets in mind.

If youre already a veggie or a vegan, Im going to show you lots of things you may not have tried new ingredients, different ways of doing things or fresh approaches to cooking. If youre currently a meat eater, my aim is to prove a meal with no meat can still be satisfying, exciting and delicious.

I often say that my cooking is inspired by world cuisine but always with an eye on my local greengrocers. Like a magpie, Im constantly on the lookout and will gravitate towards anything that sparkles with the promise of new flavours, textures, visual appeal. Youll see a big old mash-up of influences in this book. Flavours from all over the world come together in my kitchen, often from cultures where meat is not necessarily the central focus of their plates. Looking outwards and constantly learning is especially important in the kitchen. Using world influences, but keeping the produce Im cooking with generally local, and an almost obsessive commitment to avoiding wasting food and thats me. I want to show you now how to do the same.

As the seasons change, new challenges arrive and small windows of natures treats are there to be embraced. Piles of Brussels sprouts, still on their stalks pops of bright green on frosty winter days. Spring bringing with it local asparagus, new season potatoes and the excitement of finding a patch of wild garlic in the woods. English strawberries at the height of summer, so ripe they can be smelt from metres away. A huge variety of winter squash, growing fast in fields as the Autumn gets colder and the leaves are falling off the surrounding trees. Spotting the first potentially face-puckeringly sour blackberry in a spiky bush and contemplating whether to go for it or not. These are the things that excite me. I relish the fact I live in a country with such distinct seasons (although Bristol does sometimes feel like it exists in a single one: rainy) and I try really hard to shop and eat seasonally. Eating vegetables and fruit when theyre in their prime is cheaper, more delicious, more nutritious (if theyve been picked and flown across the globe, essential nutrition is fading with every hour that passes) and just feels right. Mother nature is always there to remind us that whatever happens in our own lives, our own worlds, time ticks on, the seasons change, and this too shall pass.

I get the majority of my recipe inspiration from simply going to the greengrocers and seeing what looks good. My local grocer helpfully arranges the shop so that all local and seasonal veg is kept on one side of the room. Its always my first port of call. Once Ive chosen what I like the look of, only then will I turn around and fill in the gaps with imported produce. I do this in two stages; first I look at whats reduced in the bargain bin. Even if something is air-freighted, Id rather eat it than it ends up in the bin. I am often shopping for food to eat that day so things being past their best doesnt bother me at all. I also know how to make the best of these things and often a bit of imagination and skill is all you need to avoid food waste (more on this on ).

Once Ive scooped up any bargains I fancy, finally Ill get the last bits I need. Often thats lemons, sometimes the odd avocado, maybe a watermelon in the summer, that type of thing. In truth you never HAVE to buy anything in particular and reminding myself what a treat it is to have those things every once in a while, is important. My last and essential stop is the huge piles of herbs by the till and local organic eggs from the shelf behind. Theres little else I need to make good dinner but luckily theres a shop next door selling all the grains, pulses, tofu etc I could dream of. I love shopping like that, shopping bag in hand, loose unpackaged veg filling my shopping basket, but Im acutely aware thats not an option for everyone.

I wrote a lot of this book at my boyfriends house, where shopping in a big supermarket is the only option. While I desperately missed shopping on Gloucester Road (my local high street in Bristol) during those times, it actually provided a reminder to me. The truth is that these days, that is the only option open to lots of people. Not everyone gets to pop to the grocers or wander around a farmers market. I get to buy just what I want, not forced into buying more than I need, all wrapped in unnecessary plastic packaging. If you do need to shop in a supermarket, make the simple pledge to make local seasonal veg your prime focus and always try and buy the stuff thats unwrapped. The more customers that vote with their wallets, the more supermarkets will (hopefully) respond by providing more choice. Another option is a veg box delivery service. These are great, becoming more and more widespread and are a good way to try new things you might never have considered.

My approach to food and cooking revolves around some simple concepts; deliciousness, joy, texture, flavour, ease and satisfaction. There might not be any meat here in these pages, but I can guarantee all of the above. Whether you are vegan or veggie or simply trying to reduce the meat you eat and follow a more plant-based diet, Im here to help. We are going to compromise on nothing!

I stopped eating meat in 1989. Ive been asked a million times since then what my reasons are and, in all honesty, for years, I felt uncomfortable answering that question. I was young; my ideas and opinions were not fully formed. My reasons also changed. Regularly. Ask me one day and Id tell you that I simply didnt like the thought of eating animals. Ask me a month later and Id tell you it was farming practices that bothered me most. A week later and it was health reasons that stopped me chomping down on a steak.