Plenty: Vibrant Recipes from London's Ottolenghi
Tags: vegetarian tomatoes paella peppers cooking with alcohol fennel vegan artichokes short grain rice vegan recipe
Recipe Review
Zosia from Toronto, ON
Vibrant in both appearance and flavour, this recipe epitomizes for me what this book is all about....presenting vegetables in innovative, appealing and delicious ways.
The rice (I used Arborio) is simmered slowly with sauteed onions, peppers and fennel, saffron and smoked paprika in a vegetable stock. Marinated artichokes, fresh tomatoes and fava beans (I forgot to look for frozen so used edamame) are then added to the rice and steamed. The dish is finished with olives, parsley and lemon.
The rice was perfectly cooked except for the bottom crust....there wasn't one. I was a little disappointed since everything about the cooking technique (do not stir!) was pointing in that direction so I'll try a different pan next time.
Every bite offered a different blend of flavours....sweet, smoky, earthy, hot (not too hot), salty, tangy....definitely a party in your mouth. When even the committed carnivore in the family enjoys it, you know the recipe's a winner!
This serves 3-4 as a main course.
Comments
friederike - 13th April 2013
I think it's part cooking technique, part material used. Traditionally they use steel or iron, and they cook it on a fire. This has actually lead me to wonder if I could use my (old, cheap, crust-building) rice cooker to do the job - but it probably wouldn't cook long enough. Wikipedia has a good advice how to get the crust if everything else fails...
Zosia - 14th April 2013
Since making this recipe, I’ve discovered that one of my old non-stick skillets produces a great paella crust but doesn’t cook the rest of the ingredients that well. After reading about the technique in the link you provided (thank you for that), I’ll try again with the skillet I used originally which is much better at conducting and retaining heat etc…
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