New Recipe – Rice with Herbs and with Christmas Roast Chicory

Mangold (Swiss chard) and spinach are our favourite vegetables. That is why we are very happy that there is Mangold´s, a vegetarian restaurant in Graz, where you can find “Mangold” almost everywhere: from spring to autumn in high beds, in pots and luckily very often on the daily menu. It is a place where we have been spending many lunch hours. There is a table in a calm alcove one could call “ours” 😉 …

When I asked owner Julia Pengg* if there was a special recipe with chicory to follow, she reacted promptly (I am a brave cook but have to confess that I never had cooked chicory, I take it always when it is on the menu there). Only some days later I got the recipe from the chef cook!!! It is Mangold´s Christmas Gift to me and to you, dear readers!

*She is one of the most creative and active business women I know. Last year she opened another vegetarian restaurant near the university, and only some weeks ago she started a very new business – an online shop where you can buy organic plant-based cosmetics, food, mugs, plates and accessories. The idea behind = “Zero Waste”. Great!

• 

• Ingredients (serves 4 hungry)

• 4 pieces of chicory
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds
• pepper grains
• 1 Tbsp fennel herbs
• olive oil
• 250 g whole grain rice
• 1 onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 Tbsp ginger
• 4 Tbsp mixed and chopped herbs
• 750 ml vegetable stock
• oil, salt

Halve the chicory lengthwise. Roast fennel seeds in a pan until it smells nicely. Grind pepper grains and salt in a mortar. Add 1 Tbsp fennel herb and rub between the fennel leaves. Pour olive oil over it and roast at 180° C in the oven. Make it more Christmassy and add at the end of the cooking time 3 – 5 Tbsp white wine and vegetable stock. Stir well.

Nativity scene by Gerald Gerhardter

Cut onion, garlic clove and ginger in fine pieces and roast in oil. Add herbs and let it cook for a short time. Pour the vegetable stock in and the rice, boil and let it simmer for 25 min.

Decorate, serve and enjoy with family and friends. Merry Christmas and special Christmas wishes to everyone at Mangold´s! The Roast Chicory recipe is the best Christmas Gift to me and to all the Medici&More-readers. It will of course be on our Christmas Dinner Table.