Brassicas aside, the root vegetables are the best of the winter vegetables: firm carrots and parsnips, the odd knobbly Jerusalem artichoke and, of course, maincrop potatoes. They turn up as mounds of mash or sautéed with olive oil and thyme, but also roast, their edges crisp and their insides sweet and fondant. Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. Trim and scrub 800g of mixed root vegetables – carrots, parsnips, Jerusalem artichokes – slice them in half and put them in a large roasting tin or baking dish. Toss them with 4 tbsp of vegetable or olive oil, season with a little salt and roast for 40 minutes or until tender, turning the vegetables over halfway through. Grind to a powder ½tsp each of coriander, cumin, nigella and black mustard seeds and set aside. Crumble 200g of paneer into small pieces. Remove the vegetables from the oven, turn them once more, scatter the ground spice and paneer over the vegetables and return to the oven for 8 minutes. Make a yoghurt sauce with 120g of natural yoghurt, 2 tbsp of fresh mint leaves finely chopped and a dash of white wine vinegar. Serves 2 I sometimes make a version of this using feta cheese instead of the paneer, and chopped rosemary and garlic and a little dried oregano instead of the spices. Turning the vegetables once or twice as they roast will encourage them to brown evenly. You can also include potatoes in this. Unless they are very small, I would steam for 10 minutes first then add them with the other vegetables.