All recipes provided by Louisa Chapman-Andrews from Cook Folk

This is a brilliantly simple one pan roast that gives you two for the price of one – a deeply flavoured freezer friendly sauce with ‘hidden veg’ that the whole family will love, and, some delicious roasted vegetables to use over the course of the week to create a myriad lunches and suppers.

•   Turn your oven to 200C (180C fan) and find your largest roasting pan and line with baking parchment

•   Cut which ever root vegetables you have (we used carrots, red onions, butternut) into similar sized pieces – long and thin with some sharp pointy edges give the best caramelisation and looks nicest in the final dish (roll cutting helps here)

•   Place in whole garlic cloves in their skins, salt and pepper and some woody herbs like thyme, oregano, rosemary, sage (bear in mind rosemary and sage will have very pronounced Med flavours so think about versatility once cooked?)

•   Add onions if you have them and perhaps some spices if you want to add a particular flavour at this stage as well

•   Cover with cold pressed rapeseed oil and roast, turning occasionally, anywhere from 20-40 minutes. Set a timer and check regularly

•   Once cooked through and looking golden and smelling wonderful, then you can of course use them immediately, or, what I tend to do is to split the veg in two, reserving one half for lunches and suppers over the course of the week – label and date and store in your fridge. They will easily last for 5/6 days in your fridge

 Use the whole roasted vegetables as a base to make the following:

•   Pesto – turn into a sort of red pesto by blitzing with toasted pine nuts, parmesan/pecorino and a little water

•   Empanadas – open a khobez flat bread or pitta and fill with mashed roasted vegetables / pesto / grated cheese / hummus and dry fry in a pan till hot and melty

•   Countless hot and cold lunches and suppers – just add cooked grains/pulses, sliced avocado, leftover roast meats/fish, leaves, herbs, flavoured yogurts, toasted nuts/seeds, etc.

Then blitz down the other half – perhaps adding some sun-dried tomatoes, tomato passata – or just a little stock or water to give you a roasted vegetable sauce for your freezer. Freeze portions in freezer safe bags or jars – don’t forget to label and date! Use the blitzed sauces as a handy flavoursome base to make the following:

•   Soup – let down with good quality fresh stock and top with something crunchy; fried lardons/sage leaves, croutons, toasted nuts/seeds

•   Pasta sauce/base for pasta bakes – leave as is or stir through ricotta and black cabbage, parmesan

•   Veggie chilli – add roasted vegetable pieces, a tin of black eye beans, cumin, cinnamon, crushed allspice, chipotle chilli/smoked paprika and serve with herbed guacamole (smashed avocado, lime, mixed chopped herbs, olive oil, s&p)

•   Curry – add a ‘tarka’ to make a curry sauce base for tinned chickpeas/fried okra/paneer (fried spices and aromatics; garlic, ginger, fresh curry leaves. Use it as a spiced poaching liquor to poach chicken or fish – a great curry in a hurry!

•   Home-made ketchup/BBQ sauce – reduce the sauce down so its thick and glossy adding a splash of balsamic vinegar and maple syrup to create a thin flavoursome sauce for dipping or marinating