Herbed Parsnip Risotto

I’ve always had a bit of an antagonistic relationship with Christmas. Throughout December, the festive season and I eye each other with suspicion, circling each other like hawks as I desperately scour the internet attempting to figure out what to buy my loved ones (not for me the anguished Christmas-Eve dash around my local shopping centre. I’m still scarred from the time I did that the world’s worst post-office-Christmas-party-hangover back in 2006.) Then, I finally relent and give into the glow of bad jumpers, unsatisfying mince pies and an unending chorus of ‘Wonderful Christmastime.’ This year, I know the exact time and date I will be filling myself full of Christmas cheer – 12.00pm on Friday when I finish work for two whole glorious weeks. During this period, I intend to do nothing apart from lie on my sofa watching the Darts, pickling myself in good wine and stuffing myself full of the finest pork products. Andy Williams was right – Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year.

Until then, I am frantically trying to use up all the leftover odds and ends in my fridge so I can stuff it full of cheese and cheap Prosecco. Last night, I found two shrivelled looking parsnips huddling together at the bottom of my vegetable box, so decided to use them as part of a tasty risotto. Parsnip risotto may sound a bit odd, but I’ve seen Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall make a dish similar to this, and if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for me. As it is, the parsnips are caramelised in a mixture of butter and olive oil until they turn brown, soft and sweet. Rice is toasted, wine is added, and chicken stock slowly ladled in until you’re left with a large bowl of soft melting comfort, flecked through with tiny green dashes of rosemary and thyme.

This risotto is the perfect thing to make if you’re looking to use up any leftover Christmas vegetables. Yes, it may look a bit pale and wan, but pale food can be interesting too. Besides, (wo)man can’t live on handfuls of Celebrations and turkey sandwiches alone this festive season. Merry Christmas. 

HERBED PARSNIP RISOTTO (Serves Two)

You will need:

• Two medium sized parsnips, peeled and cut into rounds the thickness of a pound coin
• Two shallots (the small round ones, not the banana ones), peeled and diced
• Three cloves of garlic, diced
• 200g Arborio rice
• One glass of Italian white wine
• 1.5 pints of good quality chicken stock, heated
• 1 tsp Rosemary (preferably fresh, but don’t worry if you’ve only got the dried stuff)
• 1/2 tsp Thyme
• Salt and Pepper to season
• A healthy amount of parmesan, to serve

Make It!

1. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter in a heavy bottomed pan. Sauté the parsnips over a gentle heat for three minutes until they are beginning to brown at the edges.
2. Add the chopped shallots and garlic, and cook for another two minutes. Once everything is soft,  add the Arborio rice to the pan, and coat in the mixture. Allow the rice toast lightly for a minute until it begins to turn translucent.
3. Pour in the glass of wine, and stir until fully incorporated. Then, add the hot stock, ladleful by ladleful, until it is all adsorbed and the rice is creamy and tender. Don’t be afraid to keep stirring the pan and tasting the mixture during this process, seasoning where appropriate.
4. Stir in the rosemary, thyme and parmesan cheese. Serve immediately with the rest of the wine.

Lamb Biryani

If procrastination was an Olympic sport, then I would definitely win a gold medal. Whenever I have a deadline dangling in front of my nose, I am immediately gripped with an urge to do a million and one things totally unrelated to the task at hand. “A 500 word feature due by 9am you say? Why, this presents me with the perfect opportunity to alphabetise my record collection!” Of course, I’m not alone in this. The esteemed Mr. Cay once wrote and recorded an entire album while procrastinating from a writing assignment. Putting things off until we absolutely positively have to do them or else appears to be all the rage in my house.

So, seeing as my diary is full of deadlines at the moment – the most important of these being get married – and I have a million and one things to do, it felt like the perfect time to make a dish for dinner which used practically every spice in my cupboards and every saucepan I own. “It will be a good chance for me to relax and de-stress!” I told myself as I inwardly wondered what insults would fly from my other half’s lips when he witnessed the vast amounts of washing up this would inevitably result in.

The recipe this Lamb Biryani is adapted from comes from a Saveur feature called ‘Queen of Spices’. After taking one look at the ingredients list, it’s not difficult to see why. Seeds and brightly coloured powders are sizzled, simmered and sprinkled throughout the cooking process, staining fingers and t-shirts alike. While lamb is the preferred protein here, it’s definitely not the star of the show. That’s left to the morass of different flavours that assault your tastebuds with every bite. Sometimes it’s cinnamon, other times it’s a hint of smoky black cardamom, or the sharp nasal-clearing hit of clove. It’s a dish which will make your kitchen smell like a souk – which is great if you live somewhere like Bootle, where the atmosphere usually smells of rotting grain or dockside tyre fires.

While this is a great dish to serve immediately (topped with a nice blob of natural yoghurt garnished with fresh mint and coriander), I would suggest making more than you need, as this produces some pretty sensational leftovers. As procrastination techniques go, this is the tastiest one I’ve discovered yet.

LAMB BIRYANI (Serves Four)

Adapted from Saveur.com

You will need:

• 4 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 large onions, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp. garam masala
• 1 tsp. dried chilli flakes
• 1⁄2 tsp. turmeric
• 10 black peppercorns
• 6 pods green cardamom
• 3 pods black cardamom
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 tomatoes, chopped
• 4 green chillies, chopped
• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and minced
• 400g lamb shoulder, cut into even sized cubes cut into 2–3″ pieces
• Salt and Pepper, to taste
• 200g plain yogurt
• A fistful of roughly chopped mint leaves
• A fistful of roughly chopped coriander leaves
• A pinch of saffron
• 200g white basmati rice, soaked in cold water for 30 minutes and drained
• 1⁄2 tsp. cumin seeds
• 4 cloves
• 2 dried bay leaves
• Red/orange food color (optional)

Make It!

1. Heat 2 tbsp of vegetable cup in a medium sized saucepan over a high heat. Add the onions and cook slowly, stirring occasionally for 20–25 minutes until they become dark brown and caramelised. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
2. Heat the remaining oil over a high heat in a large, heavy bottomed pot. Add the garam masala, dried chilli flakes, turmeric, 5 of the black peppercorns, 3 green cardamom pods, 1 black cardamom pod and 1 cinnamon stick.  Cook the spices for one minute until they become fragrant.  Add the garlic, tomatoes, green chillies, and ginger; and cook for 2–3 minutes, stirring all the while.
3. Add the cubed lamb, season with salt, and cook for around five minutes until lightly browned. Cover the pot, reduce the heat to medium; and simmer for an hour until the lamb is fork-tender. Add the fried onions, yoghurt, a sprinkle of mint, and a good handful of coriander.  Cook, uncovered, for 15 minutes more and  Set aside.
4. Put the saffron strands into a bowl, cover with 100ml of hot water and set aside. Bring 700ml of water to the boil in a good sized saucepan (alternatively, you can use your rice cooker for this step if you own one). Add the remaining peppercorns, green and black cardamom pods, and cinnamon stick, along with the rice, cumin, cloves, and bay leaves, and season with salt. Cook rice for 5-10 minutes until al dente. When done, drain and set aside.
5. Transfer half the lamb curry to a large pot. Top the lamb curry with half of the rice. Pour half the saffron mixture onto the rice and mix with your fingers (the mixture will be hot, so take care not to burn yourself!) Top with remaining lamb curry and remaining rice, drizzle with the remaining saffron and mix. Steam, covered, for around 10 minutes until the rice is fragrant and tender, about 10 minutes. Garnish with the remaining mint and coriander, and serve.