VEGANUARY: Omar's Mushroom, Jerusalem Artichoke and Chesnut paella

We've resurrected Omar's Autumn Paella, for Veganuary, which mixes mushroom, Jerusalem artichokes and chesnuts and is a perfect vegan winter dish. A true Brit-Spanish fusion dish as Omar discovered Jerusalem artichokes when he came to the UK 15 years ago, not a vegetable grown in Spain. As Omar says: "I love integrating the different seasonal ingredients that our local farms grow and the flavor is so close to artichoke flowers that I love using them in my paellas. To make it feel extra special a few shavings of chestnuts will do the trick without spending fortunes on truffles."

by Omar Allibhoy

INGREDIENTS

140ml olive oil
200g Jerusalem artichokes, into chunks
Half an onion, finely chopped
200g wild mushrooms, teared
0.4g saffron
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
440g Spanish rice
1 tomato, grated
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 glass of red wine
2L of mushroom stock
A few sprigs of thyme
Salt to season
Chestnuts to shave on top

Preparation

Infuse the crumbled saffron in the mushrooms stock. Keep warm over the lowest heat.

Place a paella pan over high heat with the olive oil and the large chunks of Jerusalem artichokes and fry it for 5 minutes. Then add the mushrooms and fry for a further 4 minutes. Add the finely chopped onion until a nice brown caramelisation has been achieved in all the ingredients and season with salt.

Add the garlic, closely followed by the pimenton and grated tomatoes, cook for about 2 minutes until the oil starts separating from the tomato paste. Add the rice and stir all together for another couple of minutes, making sure the rice gets coated with the oil and sears.

Carefully add the hot stock to the pan and give it a good stir distributing the rice evenly. Season with pepper and add the sprigs of thyme. Taste the stock and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Cook on a high heat for the first 10 minutes and on medium for the last 9 minutes without stirring. Let it rest off the heat for 5 minutes before shaving the chestnuts with the help of a peeler and eating it. Buen provecho!