Meat is rarely at the top of my shopping list, and I often go for days without it. It isn't that I really think about not eating it, it is simply that I think about other things first, such as vegetables, fruit, beans and invariably fish. This month I have collected a handful of meatless recipes that I have enjoyed at home in the last few weeks and thought you might like them too. There's a salad with Spanish judion beans and piquant blue cheese, a dish of salty sweet peppers, roast aubergines with a nutty tahini dressing and a pile of crisp spring rolls filled with bean shoots and mint. The only thing missing is a bone to chew.

Roast squash with thyme
serves 4

small to medium squash - 4 (one per person)
25g butter
a tablespoon olive oil
fresh thyme leaves

Set the oven at 185 c/gas 4. Cut the squashes in half and scoop out the fibre and seeds from the centre. Lay the squashes on a baking sheet. Cut the butter into thin slices and put a slice in the centre of each squash together with a little olive oil, a scattering of thyme leaves, a grinding of salt and plenty of black pepper.

Bake for an hour, checking them occasionally to see how they are doing. You want them to be sweet smelling and the flesh to be totally tender when you pierce it with a knife.

Pan roast peppers
serves 4 with drinks

small, sweet Spanish (padron) peppers - 200g
olive oil
sea salt

Rinse the peppers and dry them. Warm a shallow pool of olive oil in a frying pan then cook the peppers over a gentle heat till they have softened. They will puff up and the skin will blister slightly. Drain on kitchen paper and salt generously. I find the slower they cook the better, so I tend to keep the heat quite low.

Alternatively you can roast them, in a baking dish with a little oil.

Salad of judion beans and picos
serves 4

judion beans - 250g (or butter beans)
young chard - 200g
picos or other blue cheese - 300g

for the dressing:
olive oil - 3 tbs
sherry vinegar - 1 tbs
grain mustard - 1 tsp
garlic - a single, small clove

Soak the beans overnight in cold water. (You really cannot bypass this.) The next day drain the beans and bring them to the boil in a pan of deep, unsalted water. Let them simmer until they are tender, which will be a good 40 minutes, depending on the age of the beans. An old batch will take longer. Check the beans as they are cooking to make sure that they are not overcooking - they are prone to turning to a purée without warning. Salt them about 15 minutes before the end of cooking.

Wash the chard and cook it in a little water for a few minutes. It should take three or four minutes to cook. Drain thoroughly. Drain the beans and let them cool to hand heat. Pop each bean from its skin. I know this seems like an endless task, but it is actually quite quick to do and the difference it makes is worth every second of your time. Make the dressing by mixing the oil, sherry vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper and the crushed garlic. Toss with the warm beans.

Divide the chard and beans between four plates, then add the cheese cut into thin slices, tucking it in among the salad.

Vegetable soup with lime & mint
serves 2

a very small clove of garlic (or half a larger one)
vegetable stock - a litre
lemon grass - 2 stalks
ginger - a thumb sized lump
lime leaves - 4
juice of a ripe lime
mushrooms - a large handful
small hot chillies - 2
sugar - a pinch
mint leaves - 16
coriander leaves - a small handful
a little groundnut oil

Smash the garlic to a pulp and simmer it with the stock, the bashed lemon grass stems, the ginger peeled and sliced into coins and the lime leaves whole, but scrunched up. After 7 or 8 minutes add the juice of the lime, the mushrooms, cut into quarters and the thinly sliced and seeded chillies. Fish out the lemon grass and lime leaves and season the soup with a good pinch of sugar, the mint and coriander leaves and, if you wish, more lime.

Roast aubergines with tahini
serves 4 as a side dish or 2 as main dish served with brown basmati rice

aubergines - 2 medium sized
olive oil - 120 mls
ground cardamom

for the dressing:
natural yoghurt - 2 tbs
tahini paste - 1 tbs
olive oil - 1 tbs
thyme leaves - a tsp
toasted pine kernels - 25g
lemon juice to taste

Set the oven at 200 c/Gas 6. Remove the leaves from the top of the aubergine then cut the fruit into four lengthways. Cut each piece into three short, fat lengths.

Toss the aubergine with the olive oil and tip into a roasting dish. Season with salt, black pepper and a little freshly ground cardamom. Roast for 40-45 minutes until the aubergines are soft and toasted.

Make the dressing by mixing the yoghurt, tahini paste and olive oil in a blender or with a small whisk. Season with salt and black pepper, most of the thyme leaves and check the flavour. You may want to add a squeeze of lemon juice.

Tip the warm aubergine into the dressing and toss until lightly covered. Spoon on to a plate and scatter with the toasted pine nuts the reserved thyme leaves.

Spring rolls with glass noodles and mint
makes 6

rice (cellophane) noodles - 40g
spring onions - 5
carrots - 2
bean shoots - 2 large handfuls
garlic - 2 cloves
18 mint leaves
6 large spring roll wrappers

Soak the rice noodles in warm water for five minutes or so until they have softened. Discard most of the green bits of the spring onions, then finely shred the white. Peel the carrots and shred them into matchstick pieces and mix them with the beanshoots. Peel the garlic and shred into very fine slivers. Tear the mint leaves into small pieces. Toss together.

Lay a spring roll wrapper on work surface, put a sixth of the filling onto the wrapper and roll up like a fat sausage. Wet the edges of the wrapper, press to seal. Repeat with other wrappers and the rest of the mixture. Heat oil in a deep pan, leaving plenty of space for the oil to bubble up. Fry the rolls until crisp; 2-3 minutes , turning once or twice. Drain on kitchen paper. Eat hot with the dipping sauce.

Nuoc cham

This is a vegetarian version of the classic Vietnamese dipping sauce. It is normal to put shredded carrots in it too. Sometimes I do, sometimes not. If you want a pleasing crunch in your sauce then finely shred a medium sized carrot into thick shreds and stir it into the sauce as it cools.

Makes a small dish

small, hot red chillies - 2
dark soy sauce - 1 tbs
water - 6 tbs
rice vinegar - 3 tbs
caster sugar - 4 tbs
juice of a large lime
small bunch coriander leaves

Slice the chillies in half, remove stalks then chop them as finely as wet tea leaves. Put the sauce, water, rice vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan and bring almost to the boil. A good stir should dissolve the sugar before the water boils. Remove pan from heat - leave to cool. Juice the lime, chop the coriander leaves then add both with the chilli and seeds to the cool sauce. Leave for an hour or so before using. OFM