In her debut cookery book, Centrepiece, Helen Graham has set out to put vegetables firmly in the spotlight. The result is a kaleidoscope of colours and flavours – for instance, parsnip chips with poppyseed honey, or celeriac and curried burnt butter. It is all so original: for dessert, there is a chocolate, soy and olive oil torte or an Earl Grey, halva and blackberry fool. To fellow recipe supremo Meera Sodha, she is the best thing to have happened to veg since Ottolenghi; for restaurant critic Jay Rayner, who wrote the book’s foreword, “she enables us to see ingredients in new ways”.
Helen started out studying history of art before switching to food and taking the culinary path through various kitchens before making her name as executive chef at the popular Middle Eastern-inspired vegetarian restaurant Bubala.
She grew up in north London and has said that her cooking “comes from a lifetime spent pinballing between the many facets of my Jewish identity – it comes from my eastern European (Ashkenazi) heritage and stretches to the Sephardic lands of Iraq, Spain, North Africa and beyond … and a whole load of travel”.
We picked Helen’s vegan leek skewers to share this week – perfect for the non-meat-eaters at a summer barbecue. An enthusiast for live fire cooking, Helen says the slower you can cook them, the better. “Make sure that the flames have settled before you put the skewers on, and that you put them in a spot that’s only mildly hot, turning regularly, so that the vegetables cook at the same pace as the marinade caramelises.”
Words by Jane Ferguson
Helen’s leek, miso and mango chutney skewers
The joy of vegetable skewers comes from the bits that are jammy and a little caught, caramelised and crisp. What makes all skewers – meat or vegetable – delicious is the variety of textures from areas cooking slightly differently, where smaller bits are crispier than the rest. You will need eight or nine 18cm wooden skewers.
Makes 8-9
Ingredients
1kg leeks, tough green tops discarded, roots trimmed and cut into 2.5cm rounds
Sea salt flakes
Lime halves, to serve
For the miso and mango chutney marinade
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
50g white miso
1 tbsp agave syrup or maple syrup
100g mango chutney
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
70ml vegetable oil
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp nigella seeds
Method
Place your skewers in water to soak for at least 20 mins before using. Soak your leeks in cold water for 10 mins to get rid of any grit.
Bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to the boil. Blanch your leeks for 3 mins, then drain and allow to cool for 15 mins. Some of the leek pieces may come apart during the process. This is totally normal and you can still use these pieces; just thread them in between the whole coins of leek to ensure they don’t burn.
Thread the leeks on to your drained skewers, with the cut sides facing outwards, like a lollipop. You want about 5 rounds of leek for each skewer, depending on size, leaving 2.5cm empty at either end. Place them on a baking sheet lined with foil.
For the marinade, place all the ingredients except the nigella seeds in a small blender and blitz until fully combined and emulsified. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in the nigella seeds.
Use a pastry brush to brush the marinade on to the skewers, ensuring they are all evenly covered.
Preheat your grill to its hottest setting. Grill the skewers for 15 mins, turning once halfway through, until both sides are blistered and golden.
Place on a serving dish and sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt flakes, then serve with the lime halves on the side.
Centrepiece by Helen Graham is published by Hamlyn, £28
Photography by Yuki Sugiura