The Big Green Roasting Tin by Rukmini Iyer (Square Peg £16.99)

Here at the Little Apple we spend a lot of time chatting about food. We all like cooking from scratch but feel in constant need of inspiration.

One book that has become a firm favourite among our staff is The Big Green Roasting Tin.

We discuss the recipes we have tried and intend to try. At a time when most people are trying to cut down on their meat consumption, this book gives some amazingly tasty and incredibly easy recipes with a wide variety of hearty veg.

Another thing I love about it is: you do your prep, pop the stuff in the tin and leave it to cook, maybe going back once to add other ingredients – yes it really is that simple.

And then the family sits round and eats delicious food and thinks you have spent hours in the kitchen when in fact you spent half an hour catching up on some reading!

So far we have eaten Roasted Cauliflower with Chickpeas and Spring Greens, Lemon and Tahini (which was so tasty I immediately wanted to cook it again) and Three Bean Chilli which uses mushrooms to give the whole thing a bit of bite and doesn’t lose its flavour because it all slow cooks in the oven.

Then we have had Groundnut Stew (sweet potato in a peanut and tomato sauce) which was another taste sensation, and Beetroot, Chickpea and Coconut Curry.

If you get beetroot in your veg box you will want to make this all the time. This is the book I will be giving the most this Christmas. Oh and if you want meat options, from the same author is: ‘The Roasting Tin: simple one dish dinners.’

Reviewed by Philippa Morris