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Deliciously Ella’s Mushroom and Cauliflower Risotto Recipe

When we’re catering for guests who may be a little sceptical of a vegan meal we tend to go with dishes that feel familiar and accessible, like a risotto. Here we swapped the traditional butter and cheese for almond milk and nutritional yeast, which I know sounds weird but it works. Cooking the rice in almond milk makes it super creamy and I really recommend trying it in all your risottos, if you’re wanting to make them plant-based.

Ingredients

½ medium butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into cubes no larger than 1cm
olive oil
25g dried porcini mushrooms (or any other dried mushrooms you can find)
400ml boiling water
1 large onion, chopped into
pieces no larger than 0.5cm
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped into pieces no larger than 0.5cm
200g chestnut mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
250g Arborio rice
1 mushroom stock cube or 1 tablespoon vegetable bouillon powder
1–2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
½ cauliflower head, grated or processed using a food processor into a breadcrumb texture
600ml almond milk, plus a little extra if necessary
salt and pepper
handful of parsley, roughly chopped, or micro herbs, to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 200ºC (fan 180ºC).

Place the butternut squash in a baking tray with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and roast in the oven for 35–40 minutes, until soft. Soak the dried mushrooms in the boiling water for 15–20 minutes, until soft, then drain, reserving the soaking liquid.

Place a deep pan over a medium heat and add about a tablespoon of olive oil. Once the oil is warm, add the onion, garlic, celery and some salt and pepper and cook for 10 minutes, until soft. Add the chestnut mushrooms and rosemary and cook for 2 minutes before adding the rice. Let this mix with the veg for 30 seconds or so, before adding the stock cube (or bouillon powder), nutritional yeast, soaked mushrooms and cauliflower. Add about 200ml of the almond milk and 200ml of the reserved mushroom water. Bring to the boil, before reducing to a low–medium heat and leaving it to simmer for 15 minutes, adding the rest of the almond milk and mushroom water slowly, and stirring every few minutes to help make it creamy and ensure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

Once the squash is ready, add it to the risotto and cook for a further 5–10 minutes, adding more almond milk a splash at a time, if needed, until the rice is cooked through and the risotto is thick and creamy. Serve with a sprinkle of parsley or micro herbs.

TIP
To make this dish an even simpler one-pot wonder you can leave out the butternut squash and stir in some spinach instead. When we’re catering for guests who may be a little sceptical of a vegan meal we tend to go with dishes that feel familiar and accessible, like a risotto. Here we swapped the traditional butter and cheese for almond milk and nutritional yeast, which I know sounds weird but it works. Cooking the rice in almond milk makes it super creamy and I really recommend trying it in all your risottos, if you’re wanting to make them plant-based.

Recipe extracted from Deliciously Ella The Plant-Based Cookbook, published by Yellow Kite, £25
Photography by Nassima Rothacker