Black bean & tomato risotto with cashew 'parmesan' and homemade no-yeast focaccia

Black bean & tomato risotto with cashew ‘parmesan’ and homemade no-yeast focaccia

Serves 4

We seem to have bought a LOT of black beans in the weeks leading up to the lockdown… which is no bad thing, as they’re fantastic and really versatile, we eat them blitzed in burgers, straight from the tin in salads, in casseroles and chillis, and also in risottos like this one.  Still no yeast, so I made a very basic yeast-free focaccia. We've run out of fresh garlic, so I'm using garlic powder in recipes instead.

Risotto:

250g Arborio rice

400g tin chopped tomatoes

400g tin black beans

1 tblsp olive oil

1 red onion, finely chopped

1 large carrot, chopped into 1cm pieces

1 stick celery, chopped into 1cm pieces

1 tblsp dried basil

1 vegetable stock cube, mixed with 1 litre of boiling water

1 tsp chilli flakes

50g finely chopped kale 

 zest of 1 lemon

‘Parmesan’:

50g cashews (ideally unsalted but, at this point, we’re using bags of salted cashews)

1/2 tsp salt (only if you’re using unsalted cashews)

1 tsp nutritional yeast

Focaccia:
240g plain flour
1 tsp salt

½ tsp garlic powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
6 tablespoons olive oil
100ml water, mixed with 50ml soya milk
Dried herbs – thyme, basil, oregano, rosemary – whatever you’ve got!

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy based pan and add chopped onions, cooking until slightly softened, then add celery and carrots. Cook on a low heat for 10 minutes then add rice, stir thoroughly then add a couple of tablespoons of your stock. I’d like to say at this point, that I stand next to the risotto, feeding it tablespoons of stock, but I don’t. I’m way too busy for that – I have Scrabble to play, and box sets to watch…. so, instead I add the herbs, chilli flakes, tomatoes, black beans and a bit more stock, stir and then leave on a low heat, returning every 10 minutes to stir and add more stock until the rice is completely cooked (this usually takes around 30 minutes). Once you’ve got a nice, thick consistency (you may need to add less or more stock than I did, I always add liquid by eye, not by measure), add the kale and stir in, cooking for a further couple of minutes then take off the heat.

While the risotto is cooking, you can make the focaccia. Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees celsius.

Sift the flour, salt, baking powder and garlic powder into a bowl.

Stir in the olive oil then add enough water/milk to make a dough (you may need less than the quantity I used, so don’t add the whole 150ml at once).

Knead gently on a floured board.

Shape into rough round shape and pat onto a flat baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. I’d advise making a large, flattened round, no thicker than 2 inches. You could also make a rectangular shape, to fit into a baking tin. Create the 'dimples' by poking holes all over the dough with your finger. 

Drizzle with a little olive oil, and bake for 15-20 minutes, then drizzle with a little more olive oil and season with salt and pepper and a few more herbs to serve.

While the focaccia is cooking, you can make your cashew ‘parmesan’. I’m afraid you’ll only be able to make this if you have a Nutribullet or similar, as it’s the only way I can find to blitz the cashews to powder. Add cashews, salt and nutritional yeast to the blender, and blitz until powdered. Make sure there’s NO moisture in your blender cup at all, or you’ll end up with large, claggy lumps of mixture.

Spoon risotto into bowls, sprinkle with cashew ‘parmesan’ and lemon zest and serve with a chunk of warm focaccia.