celeriac (around 500g), peeled and cut into 1cm dice
100ml milk
approx. 1.3 litres Chicken or Vegetable Stock
½ bunch of thyme, with 1 tbsp picked leaves, the remainder tied together with string
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely grated
500g carnaroli or Vialone Nano risotto rice
125ml dry white wine
75g grated Parmesan cheese
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil, or hazelnut oil, to serve
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4.
Place the hazelnuts on a baking tray and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil. Season well with sea salt and pepper and bake for 6–8 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool, then finely chop and set aside.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. When hot, add the celeriac and season with sea salt. Cook for 10–15 minutes, stirring, until the celeriac is soft and deep golden brown. Remove half of the celeriac and set aside. Add the milk to the saucepan and bring to a simmer for a few minutes. Scrape the bottom of the pan well then transfer everything to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Wipe out the pan.
Put the stock in a separate saucepan with the string-tied thyme sprigs and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently. Note: the thyme sprigs are to flavour the stock, not to use in the risotto, so discard them when you are getting down to the last few ladlefuls.
Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium heat in the saucepan you cooked the celeriac in. Add the shallots and garlic and cook for a few minutes until the shallots have softened but not coloured. Add the rice and stir for a few minutes until it becomes shiny and translucent. When it starts to make a faint popping sound, add the wine and let it bubble away and reduce, stirring continuously. Add a ladleful of the hot stock and some sea salt and pepper and stir. Simmer and continue stirring until the stock has been absorbed by the rice. Cook the rice for 15–20 minutes, adding the remaining stock a ladleful at a time, stirring continuously until each ladleful has been absorbed before adding the next. The risotto is cooked when the rice grains are a little firm but don’t have any chalky crunch on the outside when bitten into.
Stir in the caramelised celeriac purée and allow the risotto to come to a simmer. Stir in most of the Parmesan, adding any extra stock if required. Finally, add the diced caramelised celeriac and most of the thyme leaves.
Taste, add a little more salt and pepper if you like and serve straight away, sprinkled with the chopped hazelnuts, the remaining Parmesan, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil or hazelnut oil and the remaining thyme leaves.
Makes: approx. 1.5 litres
Preparation time: 20 minutes, plus 24 hours chilling
Cooking time: 10 minutes
2 leeks, chopped
6 carrots, chopped
3 onions, chopped
3 celery sticks, chopped
4 garlic cloves
1 star anise
1 tsp coriander seeds
½ tsp white peppercorns
2 bay leaves
¼ bunch of thyme
Put the leeks, carrots, onions, celery and garlic in a large stock pot and cover with 2 litres of cold water. Bring to the boil over high heat. Skim off any scum, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 8 minutes.
Lightly crush the star anise, coriander seeds and white peppercorns in a pestle and mortar or on a hard surface with the bottom of a heavy pan.
As soon as the 8 minutes are up, add the crushed spices to the stock pot along with the fresh herbs. Simmer for a further 2 minutes, then remove from the heat. Leave to cool, then cover and transfer to the fridge for 24 hours.
Strain the vegetable stock through a fine sieve and discard the vegetables. Keep covered in the fridge and use within 3–4 days. Alternatively, freeze and use within 4 months.
This is such a classic Italian dish. I have lovely memories of eating a great version of this in Italy, at a small, family-run trattoria. The seasoning, texture and flavour were perfect, so this is my attempt at recreating it, outside of Italy!
Serves: 4–6
Preparation time: 30 minutes, plus 1 hour of salting of aubergines
Cooking time: around 2 hours
4 aubergines, cut widthways into 1cm-thick slices
table salt
vegetable oil, for shallow-frying
plain flour, for dusting
3 × 125g balls mozzarella, sliced as thinly as possible
100g grated Parmesan cheese
FOR THE TOMATO SAUCE
50g butter
2 onions, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, finely grated
200ml red wine
800g tomato passata or 2 × 400g tins chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato purée
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
½ bunch of sage, leaves finely chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
FOR THE CRUMB
40g panko breadcrumbs
1 tbsp soft butter
50g grated Parmesan cheese
½ bunch of basil, leaves finely sliced
20g pine nuts, toasted and finely chopped
Sprinkle the aubergine slices, on both sides, with table salt and pack them in a colander. Set the colander over a bowl for 1 hour while the moisture is extracted from the aubergine.
Meanwhile, make the tomato sauce. Heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat and add the onion and garlic. Cook for 10 minutes until golden, then add the red wine and cook until it has reduced to a syrup. Add the remaining sauce ingredients, season with sea salt and pepper, bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer to a blender or use a stick blender to blitz the sauce to a smooth consistency.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6, rinse the aubergine slices under cold running water and pat them dry with kitchen paper.
Pour enough vegetable oil into a large, deep frying pan to come up to approximately 1cm and place over high heat. When hot, dust the aubergine slices with flour then fry them, in batches, until golden, crispy on the outside and slightly soft. Add more oil to the pan as needed. Remove and transfer to sheets of kitchen paper to soak up the excess oil.
Place a layer of half the fried aubergine slices on the base of a deep, large ovenproof dish (approximately 20 × 30cm). Top with a layer of half the tomato sauce, then add a layer of half the mozzarella slices and sprinkle over some of the Parmesan. Repeat the layering again to use up all the aubergine, tomato sauce and cheese.
To