Autumn Minestrone Soup

In a mortar and pestle crush up a couple of cloves of garlic, a bunch of chopped parsley and a glug of olive oil until it is almost a paste.
In a saucepan add a good glug of olive oil and lightly fry the garlic and parsley paste for a few mins being careful not to burn or colour the garlic.
Add finely sliced carrot, celery and onion and soften.
Then add diced turnip, you can use any season veg available at this stage, and soften.
Add a good squeeze of tomato puree and stir in, then add a piece of parmesan rind, if you have any (this will add a real depth of flavour as it cooks down to nothing), before adding water.
Bring up to a gentle boil the reduce the heat to a low simmer.
When the turnips and other veg have cooked through add sliced mushrooms (wild if you can get them), some shredded cavolo nero and curly kale (again any autumnal veg is good) and a couple of handfuls of pasta (I used broken up linguine, but any will do) and simmer until cooked.
Serve.

Classic French Vinaigrette.

Firstly dry some herbs - I used Rosemary and Thyme but you can use any you wish, its better to use dried as the vinaigrette will last a lot longer.
In a tall bottle add the herbs, a clove or two of garlic, a few teaspoons of Dijon mustard, a teaspoon of sugar (or honey), a handful of black peppercorns, a good glug of white wine vinegar and then top with extra virgin oilve oil.
Place a stopper in the top of the bottle and shake a few times, then leave to infuse.
When its running low you can just top up with vinegar, more oil, sugar and mustard.
The herbs, garlic pepper corns etc should last a long time before they need changing.
I often use oil from empty jars of artichoke hearts and other veg.
You can also add a dried chilli (not fresh) if you like a little heat.