It really has been too long since I made a good risotto. The last time I made it was a few months ago when I cooked up a sublime cheese, tomato and basil risotto which has since made me doubt a better risotto recipe exists. However, since I recently made a delicious pasta dish with butternut squash I strived to find something else that I could make with it.
The original incarnation of this risotto is a purely vegetarian affair. There was the option of adding some cheese and bacon to supplement this dish, although it does mean an increase in calories. Whilst I am a big fan of bacon (or pancetta) I could not justify the expense for the sake of a few ounces of bacon so I instead cooked up some leftover pork from Sunday lunch which therefore meant I could have slightly more control over the fat… just a little bit.
Ingredients (serves 3):
- 2 tbsps olive oil
- 3 cups butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut into small cubes
- A pinch of dried sage
- 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 onions, finely chopped
- 1 3/4 cups vegetable stock
- 3/4 cup risotto rice
- 1/8 cup Marsala
- 3 tbsps pine nuts
- 3 tbsps parmesan, grated
- 2 oz crisply cooked pork
Heat half of the olive oil in a large lidded saucepan on a high flame. Add the squash with a sprinkling of salt and allow to cook for 5 minutes so that it browns (keep it moving to prevent the squash from sticking). Add in the sage then cook for a further 8 minutes so that is nice a tender before removing it from the pan and setting aside.
Heat the remaining oil in the same pan and then add in the onions with a pinch of salt. Sauté them for 6 minutes and then cover with a lid and cook on a lower flame for 15-20 minutes until golden brown, stir it every now and then so that the onions do not burn. As the onions brown warm the stock with 1 3/4 cups of water in a separate saucepan and set aside.
Add the rice to the onions and stir them for 4 minutes then pour in the vinegar and Marsala until the liquid has been absorbed. Pour in the stock mixture half a cup at a time and stir until the rice has absorbed the liquid; continue to do so until all the liquid has been used. Stir in the squash along with half of the pine nuts then serve topped with the parmesan, pork and remaining pine nuts.
Adapted from here
Verdict: It was always going to happen that the next time that I made something with squash that it would inevitably be compared with the linguine I made a few weeks ago. The truth of the matter is that this is not the best risotto that I have had the good fortune to make but it was indeed delightful. The sprinkling of pine nuts, parmesan and pork really made the dish and was a great accompaniment to the rather oniony nature of the main risotto, I would struggle to see this dish work as well if not for the cheese and pork.
Calorie Count: 457 per serving
Thin Cooking 