All this talk of horse meat has made me want to eat more vegetarian dishes. This is an adaptable, simple one-pot recipe. It made a great vegetarian dinner main course, but would also be ideal as a side dish served with roast chicken.

It’s a flexible recipe because you could substitute the sprouting broccoli with swiss chard, savoy cabbage, regular broccoli or kale. Similarly the Gorgonzola could be swapped for any other blue cheese or goats cheese. The buckwheat could be changed for rice, pearl barley or giant couscous. However toasted buckwheat is available from most Eastern European shops and is generally referred to as kasha. It has a distinctive, strong nutty flavour. It’s gluten-free and has nutritional benefits for people with diabetes and high blood pressure.

From our shopping trip to the Organic Lea stall at Bakers Arms we came away with fresh little stalks of seasonal purple sprouting broccoli. Add to this a lump of blue cheese lurking round the fridge from last weekend’s cheeseboard and some store cupboard bits and pieces and we came up with this:

Broccoli, Gorgonzola & Buckwheat Pilaf

Serves 2 as a main, 4 as a side

You need:

• 300g purple sprouting broccoli
• 3-4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 100g Gorgonzola (the Spar in the Village has a good cheese selection)
• 1 tsp Turkish chilli pepper flakes
• 1 litre of vegetable stock
• 100g (1 boil in the bag pack) buckwheat roasted groats
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Heat a little oil in a large frying pan, add the garlic and onion and fry until softened. (All my recipes seem to start this way). Wash and finely slice the thicker stalks of the broccoli. Add to the pan and continue to cook for a few minutes. Next shred the leafy heads of the broccoli and add to the mix. Sprinkle the buckwheat over the greens and add the chilli flakes. Pour enough stock to cover the groats. Give the pan a little shake, then cover and reduce the heat to a simmer.

Leave it to gently cook away until the buckwheat is tender but still has a little bite. Remove the lid and add the cheese. Let it melt through, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with grated parmesan and a dollop of yoghurt laced with garlic and Turkish chilli pepper flakes.