Jottage from Lancaster - Leek Risotto with Chestnuts

I love leeks, and I love chestnuts, so this was bound to be a recipe to catch my attention. Firstly I had to cook the leeks until they were 'silky'. I wasn't sure what silky leeks were but guessed that maybe it was when they were cooked down until they were at their meltingly, buttery best.

Silky or not???

One of the nice things about vegetarian cookery is that you don't have to bother with defrosting meat. And things seem to come in nice packets all ready measured out. I needed 200g of vacuum packed chestnuts and it was simplicity in itself to find the right packet on the shelf of the right size. No need to find you have 343g of mince when you need 500g, or a chicken breast from the butcher (enough to easily feed 3) instead of the packs of 8 that you buy where an individual one can be minute. 


I had to fry the chestnuts and add salt - which sounded rather good. Meanwhile the risotto was cooking down nicely and I added to chestnuts at the end and it looked vaguely like the one in the book.

But on eating it, it wasn't such an amazing combination. The leek risotto was wonderful - just what you wanted it to be with a delicate flavour and soft texture. The chestnuts simply didn't go with that at all. John (who doesn't like chestnuts as much as I do), kept wanting them to be nice bits of sausage. And indeed the leek risotto with maybe sausage or a few chunky pieces of ham would make a great meal. For myself, I think that cashew nuts may be a better bet than the chestnuts. So it was a qualified success. If you weren't bothered with that extra bit of protein, the leek risotto makes a great (and cheap) meal. And I would save the chestnuts for soup or to tart up brussel sprouts.