Root vegetable crumble recipe

Prep time: 25 minutes | Cooking time: 1 hour 25 minutes, plus 10 minutes cooling time

SERVES

Four

INGREDIENTS

• 1 medium onion

• 1 medium swede

• 2 medium carrots

• 1 medium celeriac

• 15g dried ceps

• 6 cherry tomatoes, halved

• 2 sprigs of thyme

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 heaped tsp

• English mustard

• 150ml crème fraîche

For the topping

• 150g pumpkin seeds

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 150g breadcrumbs

• 50g cheddar, grated

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan/Gas 4.

2. First, prep the vegetables, but don’t throw away any of the trimmings – hang on to them, including the skins, for the stock. Peel the onion, swede, carrots and celeriac.

3. Place the trimmings in a saucepan and cover with water – about 1½ litres should do it. Bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer while you cut all the vegetables into ½cm cubes. Set aside.

4. Add the dried mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and a sprig of thyme to the pan.

5. In a large non-stick frying pan, heat the olive oil and sweat the diced vegetables over a medium heat for about 15 minutes, constantly turning to prevent them colouring too much (a bit is OK). Add a little salt after about five minutes to draw out the moisture and to ensure they sweat rather than fry.

6. After 15 minutes, start to add the stock a ladleful at a time (avoiding the solids), allowing it to disappear before you add more, and keep doing this until all of the stock is added, rather like a risotto. The whole process should take around 30-40 minutes and the vegetables should now be fairly soft and the pan almost dry.

7. While still on the heat, add the mustard, the remaining sprig of thyme and crème fraîche. Stir them into the vegetables and check the seasoning – it will probably need more salt.

8. Transfer the vegetables to a baking dish about 15 x 23cm in size.

9. For the topping, gently fry the pumpkin seeds in the oil in a pan, until starting to brown and pop. Season well and allow to cool slightly.

10. Blitz the pumpkin seeds to a rough rubble and add to a bowl with the breadcrumbs and grated cheddar. Toss together and season with freshly ground black pepper.

11. Scatter the topping over the root vegetables and bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.

12. The top should be golden. Leave for 10 minutes to cool and serve with mustard greens or other seasonal green veg.