Jerusalem Artichoke & Shallot Risotto
and My Week in Food #2
I hope this e-mail finds you well. It’s a long one so I suggest you grab a cuppa, get comfy and let’s begin.
Today I’ve got a brand new, substack exclusive recipe for you together with second instalment of My Week in Food and some personal ramblings too.
Last week was an eventful one in terms of food as I made few new recipes exclusively for substack, one of which, I’m sharing with you today.
I have been without working oven since Thursday last week (tragic disaster for almost daily bread baker) and even “baked” my sourdough in the air fryer (I hope I will never have to do that again, amen). Still, better than resulting to anything supermarket bought (I’m a terrible bread snob) and unfortunately I don’t have a decent bakery where I live.
As for non-foodie events, we finally got out into the garden to tidy up around our veg beds by creating proper paths using bark mulch and also removing the sides on our long beds to hopefully help us reduce slug/snail problem.
We also have three smaller raised beds and as paths around them get really taken over by grass and weeds we’ve covered them with some cardboard (to help suppress any weeds) and then spread some shingle we moved from the long border at the back of the garden. It looks much tidier now and again we hope it will help limit hiding places for slugs.
Last but not least, we want to transform our shingle and sad pot plants covered border along the fence at the back of the garden into proper flower bed/border. No shingle and pots in sight and instead lots of colourful and bee friendly flowers and perhaps some shrubs too so if you’ve got any suggestions or pics with inspiration, do let me know.
And now onto this week’s recipe - Jerusalem Artichoke and Shallot Risotto.
Both Jerusalem artichokes aka sunchokes or (informally) fartichokes and shallots are still in season (just) here in the UK and make a delicious pair in this wintery risotto.
If you can’t get hold of artichokes, you could use same amount of swede or perhaps celeriac instead. Both would do just fine, just make sure to peel them first and then cut into pretty small chunks.
If you are using Jerusalem artichokes, however, forget about peeling them. I suspect it would take you ages and you would be left with very little to cook with. All they need is a good brush with vegetable brush and you are good to go. It will take you a few minutes but it will be worth it.
Did you know that Jerusalem artichokes have nothing to do either with Jerusalem or artichokes for that matter and are in fact a species of sunflower!
I sometimes feel risotto has been (and unnecessarily) demonised a bit in the culinary world as tricky to cook. Dish that needs to be done just right and be of certain level of creaminess with rice tender but with certain amount of bite still to it etc. Cook it right or don’t cook it at all!
Honestly, headache.
Don’t let the quest for perfect risotto keep you from cooking it at all, as it’s such an easy mid-week meal that can be made with very basic cupboard ingredients and perhaps whatever bits you’ve got in your fridge.
I don’t claim I can make perfect risotto every time but I can definitely make a delicious bowl of creamy rice, packed full of flavour and seasonal veg that nourishes our bodies and souls a little bit too.
I hope you try it and like it as much as we do!
Jerusalem Artichoke & Shallot Risotto
Serves: 4 generously
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
400g Jerusalem artichokes (scrubbed well and cut into small chunks)
400g shallots (peeled and thickly sliced)
50g vegan block butter (salted or unsalted)
2 tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves (peeled and grated, finely chopped or minced)
1 tsp pul biber chilli flakes (they add very gentle, smokey spice, not too much but you can leave them out)
350g risotto rice (arborio or carnaroli)
1.2 l veggie stock (from cube is fine)
1 400g(14oz) tin of chickpeas (drained and rinsed) equivalent of 240g cooked chickpeas (if you cook your own at home)
Couple handfuls of kale (leaves only, pretty finely chopped), chard or spinach (whatever greens need using up)
30g fresh dill (finely chopped)
100 ml soya cream
Juice of half a lemon or to taste
Couple handful of chopped walnuts + tablespoon of olive oil
Salt and pepper
Optional extras to serve: vegan parmesan (shop bough or my homemade vegan parm 2 ways or cubes of vegan feta (I like Nurishh Greek Style Plant Based Cubes) + either some extra dill or spring onions sprinkled on top.
Instructions:
Start by preparing artichokes and shallots as per instructions above.
Place large shallow casserole type dish on a medium heat and add butter and olive oil, stirring them together as butter melts.
Add prepared artichokes and shallots (with good pinch of salt) and stir them in so that they are mixed together and nicely coated in butter/oil mixture.
Lower the heat slightly and cook the veg nice and slow, stirring from time to time for good 10-15 minutes, adding garlic for the last couple of minutes. You want shallots nicely soft and translucent and artichoke chunks substantially softened too.
Add rice, chickpeas and chilli flakes (if using) and give them a good stir. You want them to be nicely mixed in with the veggies.
Pour in couple ladlefuls of stock and stir it in until it’s all absorbed.
***QUICK TIP*** You could use white wine here (about 200ml). I used stock as I don’t drink white wine.Keep adding more stock, a ladleful at a time stirring until absorbed and until the rice is tender but still with a bit of bite to it.
***Quick Tip***You might need a bit more stock you might not. Go with rice tenderness that works for you. I like my rice with a bit of a bit but you might like yours softer so will need more stock. Don’t be hang up on what risotto consistency should be but instead how you like it.When risotto is almost ready stir in your greens of choice. They will cook mostly in residual heat.
As you are stirring your risotto and are at the hob anyway, you can multitask a bit by quickly pan frying some walnuts in a little bit of olive oil. Do in on a low heat so that you don’t accidentally burn the walnuts. You want them to get nice and crunchy.
Once you are happy with consistency of your risotto, stir in soya cream and chopped dill. Taste and adjust seasoning with more salt, pepper and lemon juice.
Stir in pan fried walnuts or alternatively you can use them as a little sprinkle on top.
Serve with some extra dill or green onions and other topping of choice (see ⬆️).
Enjoy!
My Week in Food #2
It’s a new weekly feature where I share our meals from the previous week in the hope they might inspire you when meal planning etc.
Monday:
We started the week as we intended to go on with a bowl of nourishing Golden Udon Noodle Bowl. Super simple and nourishing recipe that is great for using up odds and ends from the veggie drawer. This recipe will be available to all paid subscribers next week.
Tuesday:
This one is a proper oldie but such a goodie from my blog - Celeriac Veggie Loaf.
It’s a really delicious veggie loaf with celeriac being main star of the show although other root veggies are present as well. If celeriac is not your thing, you can always change ratios of veg you use to suit your taste but we love it just as is.
It is a bit time consuming so I did some prep the night before and baked it the following morning and then we reheated it for dinner and enjoyed with some homemade potato wedges and sautéed greens.
Wednesday:
Quick Fennel and Broad Bean pasta dish thrown together after boys’ swimming which turned out so delicious I will share it with you soon as well.
Thursday:
On Thursday we had the very Jerusalem Artichoke and Shallot Risotto I’m sharing with you today. ⬆️
It was also the day my oven stopped cooperating and as not to waste my proved sourdough I had to bake it in the air fryer, fun fact being that I’ve got two drawer Ninja thing (this one) one and my sourdough was round.
Well, it did work somehow and the loaf went with the flow and moulded itself into the air fryer drawer as it baked but the crumb was pretty dense (more like soda bread), no lovely air pockets. It was still really tasty and crisis as to what to make for school lunch was averted so can’t complain.
Speaking of Soda Bread, I’ve got two great recipes on the blog if you’d like to check them out, one veggie and one vegan: Irish Soda Bread with Yogurt and Vegan Soda Bread (No Buttermilk)
Friday:
On Friday I cheated a bit as I got a recipe box from Riverford (organic veg delivery in the UK) for Whole Roast Cauliflower with Persian Celery. The main reason I ordered it was the name and description of the dish itself and I wanted to try it.
I roasted cauliflower whole (it wasn’t big) in my air fryer in case you were wondering as oven was still out of order.
I order recipe boxes very occasionally and more as a treat as they’re quite pricey and only feed 2 so not really very affordable for us. Don’t worry my kids did get their dinner that night lol. They were super happy with some leftover fennel and broad bean pasta with garlic bread.
Saturday:
It was Fajita Night in our house. I tend to make tofu or rehydrated soya/pea strips fajitas with lots of peppers, onions and kidney beans thrown in for good measure.
Sunday:
As oven was still kaput, and after spending most of the day working in the garden the energy was running low, we had easy air fryer dinner consisting of homemade chickpea nuggets, sautéed potato cubes with loads and loads of veg. Easy peasy!
I really need to write nuggets recipe up as they’re so quick and easy, nasties free and we all love them.
So, that’s My Week in Food done for this week. I hope you found some value in my ramblings and I hope to see you here again soon.
