Thursday night is veggie night!

I hope that by now you get the gist of what I'm trying to do – save you time, effort, stress and oh yes – money too. You should find that you shop less and because you know, in advance, what's for supper you don't deviate because you don't need to!

Tonight's meal may not go down a storm, mainly because “meat-free” isn't very popular – anyway lets see where it takes us – as always rules are made to be broken.

Orzotto with leftover

roasted vegetables topped

with balsamic mushrooms

Serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped finely

260g orzo pasta

500ml chicken stock (or vegetable)

juice of 1 lemon

200g frozen petit pois

2 tbsp fresh pesto

bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped

extra pesto and slices of lemon to serve

salt and black pepper

Leftover veggies small diced and of a similar size

Heat the oil in a large frying pan on a medium heat and fry the onion for 2/3 minutes. Stir in orzo and cook for 1-2 minutes and then add the stock all at once. Simmer and stir occasionally for 7/8 minutes until nearly cooked. Stir in the lemon juice and the frozen peas. Add the leftover veggies. Simmer for 2/3 minutes until the peas are cooked then add the pesto and the parsley. Season to taste and serve with extra pesto and a squeeze of lemon.

“As always, rules are meant to be broken” :

Add cubes of diced chorizo with the onion at the beginning of the recipe.

Sprinkle with bacon bits and parmesan – if you serve the bacon bits in a separate bowl then everyone can help themselves so you can serve vegetarians and meat eaters too.

For your bacon bits place rashers of back bacon (I'd use smoked) on foil on a large baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes on 200c/180fan/Gas 6. Turn and repeat – the bacon will be crispy and will break up into pieces – box it and use it as a garnish.

For the additional vegetarian topping :

Mushrooms in Balsamic

4 tbsp rapeseed oil or similar

500g chestnut mushrooms, quartered

4 cloves garlic, crushed

pinch of salt

4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp brown sugar

60g parmesan shavings

Heat the oil, add the mushrooms and garlic and a pinch of salt. Cook on high for 5 minutes until browned and the liquid produced by the mushrooms has been absorbed. Mix the vinegar with the sugar and pour over the mushrooms.

Stir until syrupy – 1-2 minutes and serve as a topping on the Orzotto - garnish with shavings of parmesan – would not recommend using grated parmesan.

If you are a lover of risotto, we all know it's a labour of love – emphasis on the word “labour” - I don't care how organised you are, no-one has that sort of time during the week – orzotto is nearly as good and certainly better time-wise.

You could substitute 250ml of the stock with dry white wine. If you do then add the wine when you've fried the onions, then add the orzo and the remaining 250ml of stock.

Hopefully the inclusion of chorizo or bacon will keep the meat eaters happy!