One thing that you will never ever ever hear in any household in the world.......

"Mum! Can we have cracked wheat risotto tonight? Puleeeeease?" Or "Ohhh mum, you never make that great cracked wheat risotto anymore." 


And do you know why you'll never ever hear that in any household ever? Because cracked wheat risotto sucks. In fact pretty much anything with cracked wheat in it sucks. And how do I know this? Because today I made a cracked wheat risotto. 


Why? Why would I do such a stupid thing? Really, I don't know, for some reason I thought it would be a good idea. But actually, all it did was make me feel really un- masculine. In fact I've never felt more feminine in my life. It culminated in a moment at dinner when I found myself saying "man those dudes need to harden up, hey anyone want some more cracked wheat courgette risotto?" 


The thing about cracked wheat is not that there is anything wrong with it, it's just that it doesn't excel at anything, I mean you can always replace it with something that does a better job; cous cous, rice, wallpaper glue. It's like most of us really, we're ok at most stuff, but not necessarily the best at anything. So from now on always remember that when your child comes running into the kitchen and says "mum can we have cracked wheat risotto tonight?" Be brave enough to say, "first of all put some God damn pants on Petey, you're 16 now," and then once the anger passes "don't you think rice would be much nicer?" There, that feels good, doesn't it.


So now that I've got my rant out of the way,  "Muuuum, can we have cracked wheat salad for dinner tonight?"


Salad of cracked wheat, goat's cheese, broad bean, roast tomato and artichokes

serves 4

300g cracked wheat, soaked for 2 hours or more in cold water
6 vine tomatoes, halved
3 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
200g broad beans podded
4 spring onions, finely sliced
4 confit artichokes in oil
Small bunch of mint and a handful of flat parsley, both chopped
Juice of 2 lemons and zest of 1
200g soft, crumbly goat's cheese
100g toasted whole almonds
olive oil


Preheat oven to 140c


Line a roasting tray with baking paper. Place halved tomatoes cut side up and place a slice of garlic or 2 on each one. Sprinkle all of them lightly with a little sugar, then follow up with twist of salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and a trickle of balsamic vinegar. Roast in oven for 2 to 3 hours or until semi dried.

Drain wheat and place into a pan of boiling salted water. Cook for about 20 minutes, until the wheat is soft but still slightly al dente. Drain really well and set aside. You don't want any water hanging around making it soggy. Once drained, give it a good glug of olive oil and toss so it doesn't stick together.

While the wheat is cooking, cook the broad beans in another pan of boiling water for 5 minutes. Refresh under cold water, then pop them out of their skins. 


Place the wheat into a bowl, add broad beans,  spring onions, herbs and almonds. Break up the artichokes and crumble the goat's cheese and drop them both in. Sprinkle over the zest and toss gently together. Squeeze in the lemon juice, add another good slug of olive oil and season to taste. Finally fold in the tomatoes and check for seasoning. 


Transfer to a large plate and allow some time for the flavours to develop.

For cracked wheat, this salad is actually pretty good. We served it with a BBQ coil of italian luganica sausages, but it can be served with any meat or fish. It's also great with roast chicken and garlic yoghurt.