This is one of my favourite autumn dishes, I served it at as the cooked dish at our October Botelet Breakfast Club. I love this recipe - the sweet aniseed of the roasted fennel that make a firm-to-bite boat on which to place in the oozy risotto.
Vegan risotto has been a revelation for me, I couldn’t believe that you could take out all of the butter and cheese and still be left with something so creamy and delicious. This recipe can so easily be adapted to accommodate whichever vegetables are in season. I sourced the pumpkin and fennel from this dish from the fabulous Ollofruit based just a couple of miles from us here at Botelet, growing beautiful organic vegetables.
I do hope you enjoy - and would love to know your feedback
Tia x
Vegan Pumpkin Risotto on Roasted Fennel
Serves 6
Ingredients:
1 medium sized pumpkin, skin peeled, seeds taken out (these can be dried toasted to use another time)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Dried thyme - approx 6 tsp in total
3 fennel bulbs
1 large onion, peeled & finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled & finely chopped
Leftover fennel that isn’t used in fennel ‘boats’ - chopped
1/2 head celery, chopped
400g risotto rice
1 tsp cayenne pepper
Juice of 2 lemons
2 pints vegetable stock
2 tins coconut milk
Method:
Preheat oven to 200 C.
To prepare the fennel bulbs - cut off the stalks that come out of the bulb (I like to leave a couple of cm on) and the leaves - put aside to use later and cut the fennel bulb in half length ways. Slice a little off the hard end of the fennel. With a small paring knife, scoop out the inside of the fennel, reserving it for use in the risotto. Leave a couple of layers of fennel, creating a boat shape. Turn the boat on its side and cut a small slice off the bottom so that the boat will stand up without tipping over.
Boil a kettle of water, pour into a baking tray that has high sides and add a few good pinches of salt. Place the baking tray over heat on a hob. Carefully lower each of the fennel boats into the baking tray, making sure they are submerged in the water. Simmer gently for 5 minutes then remove from heat and carefully pour away the water.
Once you have discarded the hot water, use the same baking tray and place the fennel boats in it, drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper and dried thyme. Bake in oven for 30 minutes, checking regularly. Aim for the fennel to be pliable and starting to brown - but not withering. Remove from heat or keep in the oven for longer if needed. If the fennel have cooked before the rest of the meal is ready, you can keep them warmed in an oven set at a very low heat.
Prepare the pumpkin - peel off skin, remove seeds and chop into small chunks. Place on baking tray making sure they aren’t piled up (if they are, use a second baking tray), drizzle with olive oil, season with salt, pepper and the cinnamon, give a good mix together. Place in oven for 30 minutes, checking and turning a couple of times.
To make the risotto - put 4 tbsp olive oil in large pan, add chopped onion, garlic, celery and leftover fennel to the pan and cook slowly for about 15 minutes until they soften.
When the vegetables have softened, add the rice and turn up the heat a little. Keep stirring, when the rice starts to go translucent in colour add the herbs (3 tsp dried thyme & 1 tsp cayenne pepper) and turn the heat back down a little, continue cooking for another couple of minutes.
Prepare the stock. Add 1 or 2 ladlefuls at a time, keep stirring as the rice absorbs the stock. Add a good pinch of salt and pepper. Keep adding the stock and stirring until nearly absorbed, then add the coconut milk in a similar way.
After approx 15 minutes, when there is still a little liquid left around the rice and it’s almost cooked but with a slight bite, take off the heat, add the lemon juice, stir in the pumpkin from the baking tray and place a lid on the pan, give it a good stir and leave to sit for 5 minutes.
Chop the fennel leaves to use as a garnish.
To assemble - place roasted fennel boat on plate, spoon over risotto, garnish with a dash of olive oil, some cracked pepper and a sprinkle of fennel leaves.
Note - depending upon the size of the fennel bulbs, you may have quite a lot of risotto per boat! You may wish to serve a suitable size for the fennel boat, then offer those you are cooking for to come back for more if they wish!