I was brought up in a vegetarian household – often vegan, as southern Indian food tends to be. Other than pizza night, my mother rarely failed to put at least three different types of dish on the table – whether it was rice, spiced potatoes and aubergines, sambhar, carrots and beans in mustard seeds and a peppery tomato rasam, or home-made mushroom quiche, roasted vegetables and a Caprese salad.
Given that she worked full-time as a GP, I have no idea how she managed. Food for dinner parties or birthdays was even better – home-made paneer, blitzed with spices, then formed into koftas, deep-fried and cooked in a rich Mughal tomato and cream sauce, tiny stuffed aubergines, cauliflower cooked with ginger and chilli, and my favourite, pulao rice with cashews and saffron.
Weeknight cooking rarely affords the time for so many dishes, so I’ve taken the principles of vegetarian cooking that I  learnt from home and applied them to the tray-bakes in my book, The Green Roasting Tin.
Orzo and bulgur wheat are all-in-one tray-bake heroes – add enough stock, layer your vegetables on top and stick in the oven for just 15 to 20 minutes, and you have a balanced dinner.
My boyfriend, recently initiated into the joys of ready-rolled puff pastry, finds it a revelation: unroll, top with vegetables and bake – it’s an easy weeknight win.
The carrot and taleggio tarte tatin below is as good for midweek supper as it is for a dinner party.All the recipes are designed to work as stand-alone dinners if you wish – you’ll need nothing more than a grain or some greenery for a full meal unless they’re already incorporated into the dish. But if you’re feeding more people, it’s always nice to combine several dishes and share.
Recipe| Carrot and taleggio tarte tatinThis is a lovely tart to make if you’ve impulse-bought some tiny, green-topped  carrots  and are wondering what to do with them; it looks even prettier if there are rainbow carrots on offer. You don’t need much more than a green salad alongside this for an elegant weeknight dinner.
Serves four
Ingredients
1 x 320g ready-rolled puff pastry sheet
2 scant teaspoon mustard
200g taleggio, thinly sliced (if you can’t find taleggio try brie)
250g baby carrots, halved lengthways
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Few sprigs of fresh thyme
To serve: Green salad
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Lay the pastry on a lined baking tray and spread with the mustard, leaving a 2.5cm border around the edges, then scatter over the cheese.Toss the halved carrots with the olive oil and salt, then arrange these over the cheese. Scatter over the thyme, transfer to the oven and roast for 30 minutes.Serve hot, with a green salad alongside.
Recipe| Roasted tomato, red pepper and artichoke panzanella with tarragon and lemonThis is a glorious all-in-one warm salad. The sourdough for the panzanella toasts beautifully on top of the roasting tomatoes and red peppers, with added flavour from the artichoke oil – perfect to feed a crowd. Serves four
Ingredients
800g mixed large vine and cherry tomatoes
2 red peppers, roughly chopped
200g jarred artichokes, sliced
2 tbsp oil from the jarred artichokes
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2-3 sprigs of fresh tarragon, leaves only
2 tsp sea salt 150g rocket or spinach
200g sourdough bread, torn into rough chunks
For the dressing: 1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp sea salt1 tbsp fresh tarragon, finely chopped
Method
Preheat oven to 200°C. Cut the large tomatoes in half and mix in a roasting tin with the smaller tomatoes, red peppers, artichokes, oil, garlic and tarragon. Season with sea salt, place the roughly torn sourdough on top, then transfer to the oven and roast for 35 minutes.Meanwhile, mix together the lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and finely chopped tarragon.Once vegetables are cooked, gently stir the dressing through along with the rocket or spinach. Serve hot.
Recipe| Roasted asparagus and avocado with spinach and orangeRoasted asparagus and avocado pair beautifully with quinoa and an orange tahini dressing in this fresh, light dish that packs plenty of flavour. Serves two
Ingredients
2 avocados, halved and stoned
150g fresh asparagus
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 orange, zest only
1 tbsp olive oil
Good pinch of sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
40g almonds or hazelnuts
100g spinach, chopped
1 orange, segmented
For the dressing:25g tahini1 orange, juice only
½ tsp sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
To serve:Cooked quinoa
Method
Preheat oven to 200°C. Tip the avocados and asparagus into a roasting tin with the garlic, orange zest, olive oil, salt and pepper, and mix well. Scatter the almonds or hazelnuts into the tin, transfer to the oven and roast for 15 minutes.Mix tahini with orange juice, salt and black pepper, adding a little water if needed to make it the consistency of single cream. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed, then set aside.
Once the avo and asparagus have had 15 minutes, tip the quinoa, spinach and orange segments into the tin.Mix everything well, drizzle with the dressing and serve hot. – The Telegraph