Nigel Slater’s Jerusalem artichoke hotpot recipe (2024)

I honestly don’t mind the rain when there is something in the oven. A roasting pumpkin, perhaps, with a dark and bosky stuffing, or a hotpot of root vegetables in a sauce with a deep whiff of smoked garlic.

The weather has been rather soggy in the run up to Christmas and it has taken every golden vegetable – parsnips, onions, swedes and carrots – to fill this kitchen with joy. The onions have been peeled, boiled and buttered and left to roast until caramelised; the roots have been baked in pies or roasted with thyme and garlic, filling the house with a scent of festive but frugal bonhomie.

This is very much the season of the Jerusalem artichoke, fried as bubble and squeak at home; starring as a filling for crisp pakoras at Kricket in Soho, and eaten with pickled walnuts and raw beef at Noble Rot in Bloomsbury. The gnarly tubers, roasted with thyme and lemon, made into cups of deepest ivory soup, or cut as thin as a butterfly’s wing, kept me warm throughout last month’s trip to Finland.

This week I peeled and shaved them, gave a brief dip in boiling water, then baked them as a crust for a soul warming root vegetable pie.

The pumpkin is always a beacon of warmth on the Christmas table, buttered and roasted, mashed with bacon fat and rosemary, grilled and dressed with dukkah spices and pomegranate seeds and, this week, hollowed and filled with mushrooms and toasted seeds. An overflowing, luminous orb, glowing benignly from the oven to welcome me home.

Jerusalem artichoke hotpot

It is the rich, mushroomy, smoky stock that gives this hotpot its deep, mellow flavour. The smoked garlic could be used afterwards, mixed with butter and slathered on bread.

Serves 4
water 1 litre
porcini 10g, dried
smoked garlic 1 head
root vegetables 500g (carrots, parsnips)
olive oil 3 tbsp
leeks 2, medium
Jerusalem artichokes 300g
plain flour 40g
lemon thyme 1 tbsp
rosemary leaves 1 tbsp (plus a couple of whole sprigs)
butter 50g

Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. Put the water into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the porcini and whole head of garlic to the water, lower the heat, partially cover with a lid and leave to simmer for 30 minutes.

Trim the carrots and parsnips, halving them if they are small, cutting them into bite-sized chunks if not. Warm the olive oil in a shallow pan or flame-proof casserole. Add the prepared carrots and parsnips and let them brown lightly all over. Meanwhile wash and trim the leeks, then cut them into short pieces, about 2cm in length.

Stir the leeks into the carrots and parsnips letting them soften without colour. Put a small pan of water on to boil. Peel the Jerusalem artichokes and slice very thinly, then add them to the boiling water, let them cook for 5 minutes until approaching tenderness, then drain.

Add the flour to the leeks and root vegetables and let it cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring regularly. Remove the head of garlic from the stock (it has done its work) then pour 750ml of the stock, including the porcini, over the vegetables. Bring to the boil, stirring regularly. Finely chop the thyme and rosemary leaves, then add half to the filling, seasoning as you go. Transfer to an ovenproof casserole.

Melt the butter in a small pan and remove from the heat. Add the remaining chopped rosemary and thyme and a little salt, then add the artichoke slices. Toss gently together then place on top of the filling in a single layer. Place a couple of whole rosemary sprigs on top and bake for 35-40 minutes until the hotpot is bubbling.

Pumpkin with mushrooms and toasted seeds

As much as I like putting a little pumpkin in front of each individual diner, you could use one large one instead, cutting it into wedges at the table. They will take longer to cook so I’d roast the hollowed out pumpkin for about 45 minutes before filling and returning it to the oven.

Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. Slice the tops from the pumpkins. Using a spoon, scoop the fibres and seeds from inside the pumpkin and discard. Rub the insides with a little oil, season with salt, place in a roasting tin with their lids, then bake for 25 minutes.

Finely chop the onions, then cook until translucent in the olive oil over a moderate heat. Thinly slice the mushrooms and stir them into the onions, leaving them to cook until they start to colour. Pour in the marsala, leave to bubble for a couple of minutes, then remove from the heat.

In a dry pan, toast the pumpkin and sunflower seeds until fragrant then fold into the mushrooms and onions.

Remove the pumpkins from the oven and fill with the mushroom and seed stuffing. Return to the oven for 35 minutes until the pumpkins are fully tender. Mix the hemp seeds, mint and parsley together. Remove the pumpkins from the oven and scatter with the seed and herb mixture, and serve.

Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @NigelSlater