• Rutabaga, Celery, Dill, & Smoked Chicken Soup
  • Matcha Whoopie Pies with Sakura Buttercream Filling
  • Chicken with Oyster Mushrooms, Portobellos, & Napa Cabbage
  • Mushroom Chicken Pie
  • Pistachio Wasabi Beets
  • Sichuan Chili Oil, and variety of cold-chicken-based lunches
  • Lemony Pea and Radish Salad with Mint
  • The Fort Greene
  • East African Sweet Pea Soup
  • Lazy, Rustic, Haphazard, and Amazing Sour Cherry Pies
  • Malaysian Chicken Satay
  • The Wildman’s iPhone App
  • Welsh Cakes with Dried Apricots and Candied Ginger
  • Farmhouse Pork with Black Beans and Green Peppers (and Trotter Gear)
  • Black Pepper Tofu with Pork
  • Peposo
  • Toasted Hazelnut Chai
  • Kentucky Coffee Spread
  • Banana Guacamole
  • Spicy Shrimp with Wine Rice
  • Double Ginger Chocolate Chunk Scones
  • Artichoke and Blood Orange Salad (with frisee, parsley, and cardamom)
  • Chevre Truffles
  • Clementine Sassafras Ice Cream
  • Jack is Closed (but you can vote for our pie on Sunday)
  • Our Wedding
  • Pecan Mole
  • Son-in-Law Eggs
  • Saffron Turmeric Cake with Meyer Lemon Sorbet, Argan Oil Whipped Cream, Almond Brittle, and Thyme
  • My Triumphant Return, with a Book Giveaway!

« | Main | »

Butternut Squash Risotto

Okay, this is probably the last post I’ll be making to clear out my old photos taken with my Canon PowerShot S400. (I want to post only better photos taken with my new 30D from now on.)

When we were visiting Dave’s mother, Barbara, she suggested that we make some butternut squash risotto, having been inspired when she saw my link to the Frankenstein’s Butternut Squash Risotto posted on Scrumptious Street a while back.

But we didn’t really have any computer access at her place, so we had to throw together our own recipe. It came out very different than I imagine Stephanie’s must have been, but also very delicious.

After we went home and made it again several days later, I knew I had to share the recipe with you.

If you are already familiar with making risotto, a few things about my recipe may jump out at you as, oh, wrong. Around here I prefer to call them different. My understanding is that in a traditional risotto, the onions are never browned, because the color would be inappropriate. But I think browned onions are tastier, the darker the better, so I do them that way. As you can see, they melted into the risotto and didn’t stand out as weird-looking anyways.

Also, most risotto recipes call for it to be finished with some sort of cheese. As Dave does not eat cheese, this step was edited out. I considered finishing it with cream instead, but the extra bit of stock at the end, along with that last bit of butter, really did the trick.

Butternut Squash Risotto
Approximately 5 C chicken stock
A splash of white wine
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/3 C finely minced onion
1 large shallot, finely minced
1 1/2 C arborio rice
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp finely minced fresh parsley
3/4 C roasted butternut squash puree
1 C butternut squash 1″ cubes, roasted
Salt and pepper to taste

Peel and seed the squash, then cut it into 1″ cubes, and roast it until it is dark and sweet. This seems to take a different amount of time every time I do it, so just check in on it once in a while and take it out when you’re happy with it. It can go a long time before it burns, so don’t worry too much. Keep 1 C of the cubes, and create 3/4 C puree.

Bring the stock to a simmer and keep it warm.

Melt 1 tbsp butter until it starts to sizzle, then add the onion and shallot and brown them nice and dark. Risotto recipes typically ask that you saute your onions until they are soft but not browned, but if you listen to me and brown them, you’ll add great depth of flavor. They end up melting into the risotto and don’t even stand out unappealingly, as you can see from the photo.

Once they are browned, add another 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp oil, along with some salt and black pepper to taste. When the butter has melted, add the rice, and stir to coat.

Add a splash of white wine and stir until it is absorbed.

Start adding the stock a ladleful at a time, stirring after each ladleful until it is absorbed before adding more. Once the rice reaches a texture you like (yes, taste it as you go!), turn off the heat. Stir in the squash, lemon juice, and parsley, then add another small ladleful of the stock. Finish the risotto by stirring in that last 1 tbsp butter.

Post a comment

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

12 Responses to “Butternut Squash Risotto”

  1. Rachel says:

    Butternut Squash is one of my absolute favorites! This sounds absolutely delicious and I will definately be putting this up on my menu for February.

    Rachel

  2. Vanessa says:

    On Thursday night I was putting together a dish similar to this in my head. I planned on caramelizing the onions, roasting the chunks of squash, and adding pancetta. I didn’t make it yet but when I do I’ll be sure to refer to your recipe for guidance. Thanks for reading my mind.

  3. Brilynn says:

    You kill me, even your “old camera” photos are super good, makes me want to make some nice creamy risotto.

  4. cindy says:

    this looks and sounds really good. i love squash, and my daughter is lactose intolerant, so she can even eat this one. i too, thought your photos were awesome as is!

  5. Risotto is my favorite food in the whole wide world!

    I always like to try new risotto recipes – I’ll certainly try yours, Danielle.

  6. Wow, new camera! That’s awesome Danielle…I can’t wait to see your new pictures…I am afraid I will drool even more on my PC when your new pictures come out. The Canon SD has a lot of limitation, I have a SD450 and can only take pictures at certain angles!

  7. Susan says:

    Doh! I was getting ready to post my butternut squash risotto recipe on my new blog when I read this post. Yours is well written and looks and sounds delicious. I’ll have to try it, as one can never eat too much risotto or butternut squash. I’ve got one with rosemary and blue cheese. Maybe I’ll post it in a couple of weeks. I’ll look forward to coming back here soon. Great photos!
    Susan
    Food “Blogga”

  8. Stephanie says:

    Danielle,
    So glad you took my recipe and launched it somewhere else. Isn’t that fun? Sounds great!

  9. mmm…i have a butternut squash from this fall waiting in the basement….maybe i’ll not red curry that one. i seem to be on a squash curry kick (kabocha–would that work well in this risotto recipe?)

  10. Danielle says:

    Rachel, Patricia – Let me know how it turns out!

    Vanessa – The pancetta sounds like a great addition to this sort of risotto.

    Brilynn – But oh, the added control of the new camera, it is so exciting!

    cindy – Great! And thank you.

    RM – There are a few of the new ones up already. This is utterly my new obsessive hobby, playing with this camera.

    Susan – Yours sounds interesting and very different. Let’s see it.

    Stephanie – Sure is! (Fun and great, really.)

    EH – Sure, I bet kabocha would be real good in this.

  11. MeltingWok says:

    oh, the butter squash cooked nicely, they looked tender and the gravy sits wonderfully on the risotto :)

Leave a Reply

January 2007
S M T W T F S
« Dec   Feb »
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031  

Metadata

Credits