Rice and Noodle Pilaf

This is a delicious, fluffy Arborio rice pilaf that includes fried vermicelli noodles, toasted pine nuts and artichokes and is flavoured with sweet sautéed onions and saffron. The colours of the ingredients are almost monochromatic so you don’t suspect there are so many varied flavours and textures in the dish until you take a few bites.

It’s very easy to put together, especially if using frozen artichoke hearts which I merely defrosted and chopped, and doesn’t need much attention after the initial sautéing of onions, nuts, noodles and rice. I used vegetable stock instead of water for extra flavour and needed a little more salt than the recipe states.

It makes a huge quantity, perfect for feeding a crowd, but can just as easily be reduced by half for family. If I were to make 1 change, it would be to toast the pine nuts separately and stir them in at the end so that they retain all of their crunch.