It’s National Vegetarian Week and the challenge is on to give up our meaty ways for the week... so we asked two local chefs to share their favourite veggie recipes with us. Why not give them a try at home?

THIS year the Hairy Bikers, TV chefs and presenters Si King and Dave Myers, are getting behind National Vegetarian Week and are set to publish a vegetarian cookbook during the week.
Lynne Elliot, chief executive of the Vegetarian Society, said: “We’re delighted to have The Hairy Bikers on board. 
“We think the endearing duo are the ideal guys to help us encourage more people to give veggie food a go for week.”
The Hairy Bikers said: “As cooks, we’ve always appreciated our veg and they’re a hugely important part of our cooking. 
“And lately, without really thinking about it, we’ve been eating less meat.
“The more we learn about cooking great food, the more we enjoy making use of all the amazing produce that’s on offer and creating dishes where vegetables, pulses and other plant foods are the stars of the show.”
The Hairy Dieters Go Veggie is published by Seven Dials at £8 in paperback, and is the fifth book in the Hairy Dieters series, which has sold over 2.5m copies. 
If you fancy giving veggie food a go, there are plenty of mouth-watering recipes,suh as veggie pad Thai with a satay dressing and Mexican lasagne, at nationalvegetarianweek.org. There are also plenty of tips, advice and resource packs.
To get you started, though, why not try one of the two recipes below, which have been especially created for us by two of our local chefs? Bon appetit!

Tasty veggie wraps with Matt Muncey, chef at Loaded Grill in Cirencester

For the salsa: 8 ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced 1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped ¼ fresh green chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped 1 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped For the guacamole: 2 ripe avocados, peeled and stoned 1 lime, juice only 1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped 3 small tomatoes, seeded and chopped ¼ fresh green chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped 1 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped For the quesadillas: 1 courgette, cut into four slices lengthways 1 red pepper, seeded and cut into quarters, lengthways 1 yellow pepper, seeded and cut into quarters, lengthways 1 packet flour tortillas Coriander leaves, to garnish 1 lime, cut into four wedges to garnish

To make the salsa:

Mix the tomatoes, garlic, onion, chilli and coriander together and leave for about 30 minutes at room temperature to allow the depth of flavour to develop.

To make the guacamole: mash the avocados with the lime juice.

Add the garlic, onion, tomato, chilli and coriander and mix thoroughly to combine.

To make the quesadillas: heat a chargrill pan over a medium to high heat, add the courgette slices and peppers and grill for 10-15 minutes or until softened and chargrilled in places. Remove the griddled vegetables from the pan and cut into strips.

Spread one tablespoon each of guacamole and salsa onto four tortillas.

Divide the vegetables between the four tortillas. Wrap them up and return them to the chargrill pan for one minute on each side.

Open the quesadilla slightly to serve, garnished with coriander leaves and wedge of lime

 

Stuffed courgette flowers (serves 4) with head chef Sam Edwards, of Made By Bob in Cirencester

Ingredients: Four courgette flowers 250g of ricotta Bunch of basil, chopped Small handful of roasted pine nuts and green olives, finely chopped 150g of sundried tomatoes, finely chopped 75g of flour 75g of corn flour 200ml of sparkling water, pinch of salt

Mix the ricotta, basil, pine nuts, green olives and sundried tomatoes into a piping bag.

Gently fill four flowers and twist the end of the flower to seal.

For the batter, mix 75g of flour, 75g of corn flour, 200ml of sparkling water and one pinch of salt until smooth.

Coat the flower in some seasoned flour then into the batter.

Gently place into a fryer at 190C.

Cook until golden and serve with a drizzle of oil