Green is Elly (Pear) Curshen’s third cookbook. Whilst none of her cookbooks have any meat-based recipes, Elly being a pescatarian, this is her first which is entirely vegetarian and vegan. It isn’t solely aimed at people on plant-based diets though as her aim is to help everyone find ways of introducing more vegetables into their diet and hopefully reduce their meat consumption.

There are two halves to the book: weekday – quick meals for when time is tight – and weekend – for when you can take your time over cooking, batch cook or prepare some elements of meals in advance to help with faster weekday cooking.

In the weekday section, as is Elly’s style, there are base recipes which you can batch prepare, freeze and then serve in a number of suggested ways. Rose harissa chickpeas, braised Puy lentils, dhal and crumble mix, for example. There are also one pan meals and a selection of ready in 20 minutes recipes, which are achievable in around 20 minutes depending on your skill level, unlike many of the other chef and cookbook writer’s quick recipes I’ve attempted! Of course, this ready in 20 minutes section includes her trademark frittata, it wouldn’t be an Elly Pear book without a frittata recipe or two.

I first tried the Puy lentils with chargrilled harissa aubergine and pomegranate molasses (pictured above). Not being vegan and dinner being our main meal of the day, I used natural yoghurt instead of the vegan alternative and, post photo shoot, added feta and a flatbread! Also, from this section, I tried two of the white bean recipes. I couldn’t decide between white beans with purple sprouting broccoli, garlic croutons and Pecorino or the white beans with seasonal mustardy greens and crispy capers, and so ended up with a mash up of the two!

For the weekend, there are some breakfast and brunch suggestions, including jalapeno-brined French toast crumpets. These are on my meal plan for very soon and come recommended by the friend who gifted me this cookbook. As Elly is an advocate of eating seasonally, there are some seasonal suppers; a number of recipes split into spring, summer, autumn and winter. The stuffed spiral filo pie, giant couscous salad with BBQ cauliflower and courgette ribbons and rarebit-baked baby potatoes have all caught my eye and will appear on a meal plan as the right seasons come round. Finally, in this section are some ideas to prep ahead for the week and suggested meal combinations.

Whilst I have all three of Elly’s books, the previous two haven’t really inspired me like this one. I’ll be dipping back into this book when I’m scratching my head for some quick and easy mid-week meat-free meal inspiration.