I hope you enjoy my veggie speltotto as much as we all do! You could swap out the veggies for any others you have in the fridge. And if you are not too bothered about making your dish 100% vegan, then add bits of feta or goats cheese. This speltotto recipe is super versatile and full of great flavours and nutrients to keep you going strong this winter!
One Pan veggie Speltotto recipe:
INGREDIENTS (serves 8 – or 4 people with a second meal done)
1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 lt. veggie stock
4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into small dices
500g pearled spelt
1 head of broccoli, broken into florets
300g frozen peas
1 courgette
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt, pepper
Lettuce to serve
Optional toppers for even more flavour:
optional toppings:
200g feta cheese, cut into 1cm cubes (goats cheese works well too)
Or 80g sun-dried tomatoes, cut into small bits
Or a couple of handfuls of chopped walnuts make a beautiful topping too
INSTRUCTIONS for Veggie Speltotto
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes until soft and translucent, then add chopped carrots and cook for another 5 minutes.
Add garlic and mix in pearled spelt and gently combine all ingredients, stirring constantly so the spelt is coated in the hot oil and does not stick to the pan.
Reduce heat to a low simmer and begin to add some stock. Pour over big glugs of stock, stir, let the liquid absorb and carry on doing so for about 15 minutes, until the spelt starts to become tender and all the stock has been absorbed. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle over lemon juice. Start with 1/2 a lemon first but add more if you like it tangy.
In the meantime blanch your broccoli: Bring a pan of water to boil, put in your broccoli florets and boil for 2 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.
Add your broccoli, courgette and peas to your speltotto, stir and pour over a little more boiling water if needed. The vegetables only need a few minutes to cook. Once the spelt is nice and soft you can add any of the toppings you desire. (either add cubes of feta or bits of sun-dried tomatoes, stirring so that all the ingredients are evenly distributed.)
Serve with simple crunchy lettuce dressed in a little lemon juice.
Tips:
- This makes a lovely lunch for the next day. Making leftovers on purpose feels super rewarding.
- You can turn off the heat as soon as the veggies have cooked for a couple of minutes, put a lid on your pan and just let your speltotto rest. The flavours will soak up nicely, the veggies carry on cooking in the hot spelt.
- There’s very little washing up with this one-pan dish and it makes life easier when family members eat at different times.
Dani Binnington is a cook and wellness warrior – and founder of www.healthywholeme.com, which is bursting with delicious, healthy recipes. See here for Dani’s Black rice salad recipe
You might also like my post on tips for cooking with onions
