Neeps are traditionally served with haggis and champit tatties to complete the trio of foodstuffs served at a traditional Burns Night supper, along with a dram of whisky, of course.  They’re also known as swede and rutabaga in other parts of the world.

Bashed neeps are easy to make – nothing could be simpler. Peel it, chop it, boil it, drain it, add plenty of butter and freshly ground black pepper, mash it, and serve.

In previous years abroad sometimes it was too difficult for us to find neeps or they were prohibitively expensive even if they could be found. I came up with a substitute by using pumpkin. It was good, but it wasn’t the real thing. So this year for Burns Night I bit the bullet and forked out about five quid for a wee neep.  Gyad sakes! We feed ’em tae the kye at hame.

After spending such a lot on a small root vegetable, I decided to make the most of it and photographed it at every stage of the process.  Though I say it myself, the result was magnificent!  There again, after not having real neeps for way more than a decade it was a luxurious and exotic treat. Oh, and the taste and smell were delicious. Never again will I mess about with substitutes if there’s any way to avoid it. Without further ado, here are my photos of the wonderful wee neep.

The whole neep – ready for action! As I said above, first we peel it…

…then we chop it…

…then we boil it…

…then we drain it…

…then we put it back in the pan and add butter and pepper…

…and mash it. Easy!

If you’re planning on celebrating Burns Night this year and can’t get hold of a haggis, you can try my delicious vegetarian haggis recipe. Most of the ingredients are reasonably easy to come by wherever you are.

This is so quick and easy you’d hardly believe it. The trick is in making the presentation look nice. You could copy my idea and serve it in shot glasses on a heart-shaped plate for Valentine’s Day. If you don’t have those, then use something else for decoration – perhaps a red flower on a round white plate?

You don’t have to make them as small as I did either, especially if it’s intended to be a proper dessert. We don’t eat a lot of desserts and the shot glass each was enough for us.

Are you ready for the recipe? Wash and chop the strawberries into slices. Dollop on some double cream. Mix well, and spoon into the dishes or glass. And that’s it!

You could add a small sprinkling of sugar or a squeeze of lime juice to the mix if you want, before spooning into the dishes, but it’s not necessary. Strawberries and cream are delicious on their own. It’s nice to save back some slices for decorating the top. A mint leaf would have been an attractive garnish for the top as well, but I didn’t have any.

You could use this “recipe” for a dinner party too, especially if the guests are likely to be full after a substantial meal. It’s very, very simple to make but if you take care of the presentation it looks good as well as being delicious.

I used to get pomegranate salads sometimes when I lived in the Middle East. I hadn’t seen a pomegranate for a long time, so when I found some in a supermarket recently I was keen to try making a pomegranate salad myself.

I found a recipe on the BBC Good Food site which looked quite tasty so, having looked at the picture, I just went ahead and made it. Here’s a link for those who like proper recipes. I’ve no idea if their recipe works as I just did my own thing.

First cook the quinoa according to the instructions on the pack. Mine said one cup of quinoa to two cups of water. It cooks up pretty much the same way as steamed rice. When it’s cooked it has a lovely nutty taste and a slightly chewy texture. You could substitute bulgar wheat or couscous if you don’t have quinoa.

Prepare the pomegranate.

Toast some pine nuts.

Now mix your ingredients in a bowl. As well as the quinoa, pomegranate seeds, and pine nuts, I also used some rocket leaves. I would have liked to add fresh mint leaves but I didn’t have any so I used a couple of teaspoons of mint sauce from a jar.

Finally, season with some olive oil and lime juice, mix well, and that’s it! Very easy, very tasty.