If you ask me, there just aren’t enough dark ales – or brown ales, for that matter – being made today. I love a crispy lager or a hazy IPA, but as the frost and fog of the wintry months settle in, I start craving something with more richness and depth.
You can imagine how happy I was, then, to get my hands on a can of RedWillow’s Treacle Treat Dark Ale. Don’t let the name fool you: Although this beer is made with treacle, as well as crystal and black malt, it never verges on sticky sweet. It’s not harshly bitter, either. Rather, it occupies a perfectly balanced middle ground between toffee-like and roasty – and at 5.3% ABV, it’s both warming but not so strong that it will kick your legs out from under you.
For my pairing, I decided to go with a savoury dish that had its own balanced sweetness. That thought process led me to this pumpkin, chestnut and chickpea pilaf. (It’s my second savoury pumpkin pairing in a row, but can you blame me when the greengrocer’s shelves are packed with so many gorgeous gourds, in all shapes and hues?)
To begin, slice and fry several onions until golden-brown and crisp. Then, cook cubed pumpkin, chickpeas and chestnuts in spiced brown butter, before mixing in pre-soaked rice and stock. After adding the onions in, the dish is sealed and left to steam until everything is fragrant and cooked-through. To add tang and freshness, labneh (or Greek yoghurt) and parsley are an ideal finishing touch.
The result is a dish that’s homely and cosy enough for a weeknight meal on the sofa, but also suitably impressive for a vegetarian-friendly holiday main dish. And alongside the Treacle Treat – a seamless pairing if ever there were one – it feels like just the right amount of festive for these brooding mid-November days.
Pumpkin, Chestnut, and Chickpea Pilaf
Serves 8-10
For the onions:
Vegetable oil for frying
3 large onions, thinly sliced
Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, to taste
For the pilaf:
400g basmati rice
700g delica pumpkin or onion squash
1 700g jar chickpeas
400g chestnuts
50g salted butter
150g pine nuts
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon chilli powder
900ml vegetable or chicken stock
To serve:
Labneh or Greek yoghurt
Flat-leaf parsley, to garnish
1. First, fry the onions. Add vegetable oil to a large frying pan until it’s roughly ½-inch deep. Once hot, add a piece of onion to test it; it should start sizzling vigorously. Carefully add half of the onion slices. Cook, using tongs to flip and stir the onions, or until they’re deeply golden-brown, roughly 7-10 minutes. You may need to adjust the heat if they’re browning too quickly or not frying vigorously enough.
2. Transfer the onions to a paper-towel-lined bowl and season with flaky sea salt. Repeat with the remaining onions. Once done, remove the pan of oil from the heat and reserve.
3. Next, rinse the rice under cold running water for several minutes, until the water runs clear. Transfer to a large bowl and top with cold water. Leave to soak for between 30 minutes and 1 hour.
4. Meanwhile, prep the other ingredients. Halve the pumpkin, scoop out and discard the seeds and pulp, and slice into wedges; use a peeler to remove the skin. Chop into roughly 1-inch cubes. Next, drain and rinse the chickpeas, and roughly chop the chestnuts.
5. Add the butter to a Dutch oven or other large, lidded pan and place over medium-low heat. As soon as it melts, add the pine nuts. Toast, stirring frequently, for 3-4 minutes, or until the butter is beginning to brown and smell toasty. Turn the heat down to low, add the spices, and stir for 30 seconds.
6. Next, add 2-3 tablespoons of the reserved oil from frying the onions. Tip in the pumpkin cubes and stir to coat in the oil and butter. Raise the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring frequently to avoid sticking, for 10-12 minutes, or until the pumpkin is beginning to soften but is not yet fork-tender.
7. Add the chickpeas and chestnuts, and mix through. Cook for 1-2 minutes more. Next, drain and add the rice, as well as the reserved fried onions. Pour in the vegetable or chicken stock and raise the heat to high.
8. When the mixture begins to boil, wrap the Dutch oven’s lid in a tea towel (this will help absorb excess moisture) and fit it snugly over the pot. Turn the heat down to its lowest setting and leave to cook for 15 minutes.
9. After 15 minutes, remove the Dutch oven from the stove, but keep the lid on. Let the rice steam for 5 minutes more. Then, remove the lid and, using a rubber spatula, gently fluff the rice and mix the pilaf.
10. To serve, divide between plates or bowls and top each with a generous dollop of labneh or Greek yoghurt. Garnish with parsley and serve.
Claire M Bullen is a professional food and travel writer, a beer hound and all-around lover of tasty things. You can follow her at @clairembullen. For more recipes like this, sign up to our HB&B All Killer No Filler beer subscription - you'll receive Claire's recipe and food pairings, plus expert tasting notes, with 10 world-class beers like this one every month.
