Made at Home: The food I cook for the people I love. Giorgio Locatelli

preheated oven for about 8 minutes until golden, then remove and chop.

      5 Bring a pan of water to the boil with 70ml white wine vinegar, put in the artichoke quarters and blanch for a couple of minutes until just al dente, then lift out and drain.

      6 Add a chopped stalk of celery to the water and repeat.

      7 Heat a little olive oil in a sauté pan and put in the drained celery. Sauté until golden, then add the drained artichoke pieces along with a finely chopped clove of garlic and a few small fresh mint leaves, season with black pepper and stir for a few minutes.

      8 Mix a tablespoon of sugar with a tablespoon of white wine vinegar in a cup, tip into the pan and bring to the boil, then turn down the heat, add the cubes of potato and the toasted pine nuts and take off the heat.

      9 Cover with clingfilm and leave to cool down, so that the flavours can develop, before eating.

      Winter vegetable stew

      Ciambotta is the name that is often given to this stew of winter vegetables, which is a little more hearty and soupy than the spring vegetable dish of vignarola and makes a meal with chunks of bread or polenta. When Margherita was at school or home from university we would make up big batches of stews like this, using the vegetables that she could eat, then portion them up in bags in the freezer so she always had something she could take out and warm up to eat on its own or to have with some grilled chicken. You can use cabbage or kale instead of cavolo nero if you prefer.

      Serves 6

      dried cannellini beans 250g

      fresh sage leaves 4

      olive oil 3 tablespoons

      white onion 2, cut into large dice

      carrots 2, cut into large dice

      celery 2 stalks

      bay leaves 2

      potatoes 2 large, cut into large dice

      sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

      ripe tomatoes 4 large, chopped

      parsnips 2, cut into large dice

      butternut squash ½, cut into large dice

      cavolo nero 1 bunch, cut into large pieces

      1 Soak the beans in cold water overnight.

      2 When ready to cook, drain the beans from their soaking water and put into a pan with the sage leaves. Cover with 1 litre of water, bring to the boil, then turn down the heat to a simmer for around 1 hour, until the beans are tender but still have a little bite. Take off the heat but leave in the pan.

      3 Heat the olive oil in a large casserole dish, then add the onion, carrots, celery and bay leaves. Put on the lid and cook gently for 5 minutes, then put in the potatoes, season, and continue to cook gently for another 5 minutes.

      4 Add the tomatoes, parsnips, squash and cavolo nero, then pour in half the cooking liquid from the pan of beans. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary, and continue to cook for another 10 minutes.

      5 Discard the sage from the pan of beans, then add them to the casserole along with the rest of the cooking water. Check the seasoning again, simmer for 10 minutes, then serve.

      Grilled Jerusalem artichokes with heritage carrots

      Jerusalem artichokes have an incredible sweet, nutty flavour and when they are griddled until they are crispy they are delicious, though as a child I also remember eating them raw, with my grandad, dipping them into bagna cauda (see here). Originally they were introduced to Italy and the rest of Europe from the New World, and one theory is that their name comes not from Jerusalem, the place, but the Italian word for sunflower, girasole, because they are actually a variety of sunflower. However, when the early explorers first found them, they needed to describe the flavour, which they likened to an artichoke.

      Carrots have their own fascinating history, because the very first ones, which were grown in Afghanistan in around AD7, were purple, and later yellow, not orange at all, and they were long, thin and pointed. It is said that the purple ones began to lose favour around the Middle Ages because, a bit like beetroot, their colour came out into the cooking water and stained the pots. Then, around the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Dutch developed the fatter, orange carrot that we all know today. Unfortunately, over time, for the sake of commercialisation, many varieties have been bred for appearance and resistance to disease, often hydroponically, and the flavour has been compromised, so that they either taste of very little, or they are so intensely sweet that they are barely recognisable as a carrot, which should have a much greater complexity of flavour and a hint of bitterness. It is a puzzle to me how carrots can often look so uniform, as if they were made by machine. I prefer my carrots ugly, but tasty!

      Perhaps that frustration with bland carrots is why so much interest has been shown in heritage varieties, which are again being grown in their original colours and which have so much more flavour. If you can’t find them, try to buy organic carrots, and if they have a bit of mud and greenery attached to them when you buy them, so much the better.

      Serves 6

      Jerusalem artichokes 1kg, large

      sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

      extra virgin olive oil 80ml

      Pinot Grigio or other subtle white wine vinegar 150ml

      golden, white and purple heritage carrots 200g of each

      pea shoots 300g

      1 Cook the artichokes in boiling salted water for about 1 hour (depending on the size), until tender but still firm. Drain under cold water to stop them cooking further, then peel and slice 1cm thick. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, then season and put on a hot griddle pan or barbecue until marked.

      2 Pour the vinegar into a dish, put in the artichokes, cover with clingfilm and leave to marinate for 2 hours, turning them every so often. Lift out of the vinegar (but reserve this).