What's better than this wonderfully adaptable celebration of high harvest on your veg patch?

You won’t need to use any stock as the vegetables add so much flavour of their own.

Apart from the tomatoes and onions, all the headliners can be substituted for whatever you have plenty of.

From late August onwards, you can add whatever fresh beans are about.

Apart from the lovely borlotti, try a few beans plucked from overgrown French or runner bean pods – just give any beans a few minutes’ cooking time before you add the other vegetables.

What you'll need:

Some or all of the following:
3–4 medium carrots, peeled and diced
3–4 medium beetroot, peeled and diced
3–4 medium courgettes, diced
A few handfuls of peas
A fistful of French or runner beans, roughly chopped
A fistful of chard or spinach leaves, finely shredded
A fistful of kale or cabbage leaves, finely shredded

To serve:

Extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle

Serves 4–6:

Heat a little olive oil or butter in a large pan and sweat the onions until softened.

Meanwhile put the tomatoes into a bowl, pour on boiling water to cover and leave
for a minute, then drain and peel off the skins.

Chop roughly and add to the onions.

Cook gently for about 15 minutes until thick and pulpy, then add about 500ml cold water (or light stock) and a good pinch of salt.

Now add the vegetables of your choice, except the leafy veg.

Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Now add the shredded leafy veg and top up with a little more boiling water if necessary.

Simmer for another 5 minutes, stirring regularly, until all the vegetables are tender, but only just.

Taste and adjust the seasoning, then serve immediately, in warm bowls.

Drizzle a little olive oil over each serving.

Variations:

Pretty much any harvest you have available can be swapped for a similar weight of one of the same family: 3–4 medium parsnips instead of 3–4 carrots, for example.
A little olive oil or butter
500g onions, peeled and sliced
½–1kg ripe tomatoes
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• By Mark Diacono, author of the River Cottage Veg Patch Handbook - available signed by the author in the River Cottage online shop.