CAVOLO NERO & HAZELNUT PESTO

Cavolo nero and hazelnut pesto

200g cavolo nero, trimmed of thick stems, washed and chopped

3 tbsp toasted hazelnuts

3 anchovies in oil

1 fat garlic clove

good handful of watercress leaves

juice and zest of 1/2 lemon

25g parmesan, grated

100ml olive oil

salt and pepper

Whiz all but the olive oil in a food processor then, still whizzing, gradually pour in the olive oil until you have a thick pesto. Season generously.

Stir through pasta, scoop up with crisps, dollop onto soup.

AUTUMN COLESLAW

I adore this dish. The colour kicks us straight into autumn - bright pink and vibrant. It keeps to all the promises of a perfectly constructed salad: sweet crunch from the roots, creaminess from the yoghurt, citrus to cut through, a light nuttiness and a well-balanced freshness from the herbs.

It works wonderfully well alongside meat, hot or cold - a classic pulled pork, leftover roast ham or crispy chicken wings - or seasonal fruits - pears, apples or plums.

I could eat this for every meal. Even breakfast.

BEETROOT, CELERIAC & CABBAGE COLESLAW

serves 8

ingredients

1/2 white cabbage

1/2 celeriac, peeled and grated

3 small beetroot, peeled and grated

finely grated zest and juice 1 large lemon

2 tbsps greek yoghurt

sesame seeds to garnish, optional

large handful mint, finely shredded

large handful coriander, finely chopped

olive oil to dress

Add the grated beetroot to a large bowl (not the one you are going to serve the coleslaw from). Finely shred the white cabbage, discarding the tough core and slicing up any large pieces, and add to the beetroot with the celeriac. Add the lemon zest and juice, and lightly toss - you want to avoid over tossing the beetroot at this stage as it will stain the other vegetables.

Keep covered in the fridge until you are ready to eat it. Just before serving, stir through the yoghurt so that it is evenly distributed. Move to a clean bowl, then dress with the sesame seeds, mint and coriander. Drizzle, generously, with olive oil.

* If you are not going to eat all of the coleslaw, leave aside some of the salad after adding the lemon juice. Any leftovers can keep for up to three days or can be cooked up as an autumn gratin. Butter an oven-proof dish and pour in the lemony root vegetable mix. Pour over cream, season, grate with parmesan and bake for 25 minutes in a hot oven (200°C/fan180°C/gas 6). Heaven.

FRANKFURTERS AND RADICCHIO

Precooked, reconstituted, over-processed pork. What's not to love? There's something about the oh-so-slippery frankfurter - the pop as you bite, the flop as you pick up, the salt as you chew, and the eight more after that - that rocks my boat. Once in a while (and, frankly, not often enough) they hit it. Bop.

Hell, why not wrap one up in a pancake for breakfast tomorrow?

FRANKFURTERS with CREAMY RADICCHIO and NEW POTATO HASH

eaten in utter joy with co-frank-lover Clara

serves 2

4 small new potatoes

knob butter

1 clove garlic, chopped and crushed

1 head of radicchio, shredded

100ml double cream

salt and pepper

6 frankfurters

Bring a small pan of water to the boil. When boiling, drop in the potatoes and turn to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes until softer than you'd usually cook them. Take off the heat and leave in the water.

Meanwhile, fry the butter over a medium heat in a saucepan and, simultaneously, add the garlic and shredded radicchio. Stir through and cook until the radicchio is slightly wilted. Now push the radicchio aside and add the frankfurters. Cook until the skin is browned and they are hot through.

Remove the sausages to a piece of kitchen towel. Drain the potatoes and add to the radicchio. Crush them slightly with the back of the wooden spoon.

Add the cream to the radicchio mix and bring to a simmer for 1 minute. Season and serve alongside the frankfurters. Fabulous with Annie Bell's mustardy Savoy coleslaw (as seen in photo).

Pure unadulterated - apart from the meat - heaven.

KOHLRABI

What do you know, kohlrabi is a cabbage. So just like that, I love it.

It is a sweet vegetable, fresh and cooling. It sides perfectly to spices and sour souses. It can be shaved, grated and eaten raw. It can be steamed or stir fried or souped. Sweet sweet kohlrabi, be mine.

COOL KOHLRABI SALAD
for soused mackerel and hot curries

SERVES 3-4 as a side

1 kohlrabi, peeled and de-stemmed
1 tbsp natural yoghurt
juice half a lemon
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp fennel leaves, roughly chopped
salt and pepper

Shave the kohlrabi with a vegetable peeler into a large bowl and stir the yoghurt and lemon juice.

Meanwhile, toast the coriander seeds over a medium heat until they are warm enough to let off an aroma. Roughly crush the seeds in a pestle and mortar and throw over the kohlrabi. Toss through with the fennel leaves and season.

Simple simple.

Try these kohlrabi combinations too:

Caraway and cucumber
Apple, ginger and fennel
Carrot and cumin
Beetroot and fresh coriander leaves

CABBAGE PICKLE

This week, I joined the fight to bring cabbage - spiky, rubbery, bobbled, leafy, white, red, beautiful cabbage - back onto the table. Brassica backlash.

My recipe for cabbage pickle deserves very little thought but it is full of wahummph. It takes all of 20 minutes to prepare and can sit pretty in jars for up to a month. Go nuts with your burger, side it to a hot pork pie or go full force with a fork straight into the jar.

WHITE CABBAGE PICKLE

Serves 8-10

ingredients

1 white cabbage (approx. 700g) shredded

1 tbsp olive oil

2 shallots, finely sliced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tbsp fennel seeds

thumb-sized knob ginger, grated or crushed

pinch nutmeg

100ml cider vinegar

200g caster sugar

bunch of tarragon

1 green apple, thinly sliced

1 large jar with lid, sterilised

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add the cabbage. Summer for 2-3 minutes so the cabbage is lightly blanched. You still want there to be a slight crunch and the colour to remain. Drain and dry off in a tea towel.

Heat the oil in a small pan and fry the shallots until soft. Add garlic, ginger and spices. Set aside.

Meanwhile, heat up the cider vinegar with the sugar do that the sugar dissolves. Simmer for a few minutes to reduce the pickle syrup. The result should look clear and have a sweet and sharp flavour. Mix the cider vinegar with the shallots and let cool.

Chop the tarragon.

Transfer half of the cabbage into the sterilised glass jar and add a layer of sliced apple, tarragon, and half the pickle syrup. Repeat Give the jar a turn - making sure it is sealed fast - so that the cabbage is doused in syrup and the shallots, ginger, apple and tarragon are spread evenly.

You can eat the pickle straight away or leave it for up to 1 month in the glass jar.

Try the pickle with other varieties of cabbage and experiment with vinegars and spice such as red cabbage with red wine vinegar, juniper berries and cloves.

Catch my recipe on Great British Food Revival as Jason Atherton showcases the best of British cabbage: j.mp/utg2aL