You can replace potatoes with other root vegetables that contain more vitamins and fibre, without sacrificing any of the comfort or taste element. The recipes below would work well at a Halloween/Bonfire supper or party if you’re planning late autumnal events. Also, I’ve been struck by the number of food delivery bikes in my area over the last few months. Look, I know we’re all busy, but I personally think we’d all be a lot healthier in the long term if we invested a bit of time in learning to cook from scratch, so we know what’s in our food.

Our guest blogger, Dr Susan Aldridge,  freelance writer and editor based in London, with an interest in medicine, health, science and food/nutrition, provides her advice and three scrumptious recipes.

Decided to rebel a bit against the food delivery people (we all know who they are…) and made my first two recipes slightly complicated (for me!) in that they involve stages and sauces.

Fish and mushroom pie with cauliflower mash
Serves four

One onion, finely chopped
One pint full cream milk
One cauliflower, sliced into florets
One 400g tin butter beans, drained
Three hard-boiled eggs, chopped
Two smoked haddock fillets
Two cod fillets
One pack prawns
300g mushrooms, sliced and fried in butter
One tbsp. fish sauce
Chopped parsley
35g butter
Two tbsp. flour
Grated cheese
Sliced tomatoes
One tbsp. mustard

Preheat oven to 200˚C. Heat the onion in the milk with black pepper and herb salt to season. Simmer for 10 minutes and set aside. Measure out about 50ml for the mash. Meanwhile, place the fish in a frying pan, add the rest of the milk, a knob of butter and simmer for a few minutes, turning the fish part way through, until fish is tender. Flake the fish on a plate and set aside.

Now make a sauce by melting the butter, stirring in the flour to make a paste, Then, add the milk from the fish and stir till thick and smooth. Add the fish sauce and the parsley.
Assemble the fish pie by mixing the flaked fish, hard-boiled eggs and mushrooms. Cover with the sauce. Leave to cool while you make the mash.

Boil the cauliflower till tender and mix with the butter beans, reserved milk and mustard. Use a hand masher to make a smooth mixture. Now add the mash to the cooled fish to make a layer, and top with sliced tomatoes and grated cheese. Bake for around 30 mins, till the top is browned. Serve with two green vegetables (we had tender stem broccoli and green beans).

Vegetarian/vegan shepherd’s pie with root veg mash

Turnips, swedes and carrots are all significantly lower in carbs than potatoes and parsnips contain somewhat less carb. So, the mixtures give you a mash that is lower carb and higher fibre than regular mash and also contributes to your fruit and veg intake, which potatoes do not.

Serves three to four
Two onions, chopped
100g lentils
Two 400g tins chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp. tomato puree
1 tbsp. mixed herbs
1 tbsp. cinnamon
Two carrots, chopped
One small turnip, chopped
One small swede, chopped
One parsnip, chopped
Flax seed or olive oil/butter/cream/milk

Make the lentil filling by frying the onions in coconut oil until soft, then add lentils. Heat through and add tomatoes, tomato puree, herbs and cinnamon. Cook until lentils are soft (around 20–30 mins) and, in the meantime prepare the mash.
Boil the root vegetables till tender. Then add oil (for vegan version) or butter/cream/milk (vegetarian version) to add smoothness. Add extra flavour by stirring in mustard and/or marmite.

Cool the lentil mixture for 15 minutes or so, to ensure the mash doesn’t sink into it. Then add a thick layer of the mash, finish with sliced tomatoes (vegan version) and/or grated cheese (vegetarian version). Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes, until the top is brown. Serve with something green (eg stir fried spring greens or cabbage and shredded leek).

Sweet potato and beetroot chips with rosemary and spicy dip
Serves two

Two sweet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into wedges
Two beetroot, sliced into chips
Olive oil
Rosemary, chopped
For the dip
Tub of quark (plain or flavoured – I used tomato and basil)
Tub of fresh chilli pesto

Heat the oven to 180˚C. Add the sweet potato chips to a bowl and toss with the rosemary and olive oil. Place on one half of a baking tray lined with foil in the oven. Meanwhile, toss the beetroot with rosemary and oil and place in the oven on the other half of the tray when the sweet potato has been cooking for around 15 minutes. Cook for a further 15 minutes till browned. Make the dip by mixing the quark and the pesto (multiple other combos are available of course – try cottage cheese, soy sauce and peanut butter, for instance).

Apologies for the length of the first two recipes. November’s recipes will be simpler!
Next month – experiments with coconut