butternut squash risotto (and slightly repurposed leftovers).

Well, the other night we were expecting dinner guests, but then our friend got sick, so we made ourselves a fancy dinner instead. We'd planned it in advance, making stock the night before and roasting the squash so it would be ready to go the next day. Butternut squash risotto! This is just a basic risotto recipe, and since I'm not sure offhand what the proportions were, I'm going to quote my previously posted risotto recipe with modifications for how it was made here.

Butternut squash risotto:

3-4 cups homemade vegetable broth (we added a generous pinch of smoked paprika to ours)
about half (use more or less depending on how squash-y you want it to be) of 1 small butternut squash, roasted, peeled, and cubed.
some olive oil
about a tablespoon of butter
1 medium onion, diced
1 small shallot, diced
salt and pepper
3/4 cup (or more) Arborio or Carnaroli rice
1/4 cup (splaaaash) dry white wine
a handful of finely grated parmesan cheese
palmful of finely chopped tarragon leaves
a good sized hunk of gouda, cut into small cubes (surprise!)

1. Bring the broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Reduce the heat to low and keep the broth hot.

2. In a large frying pan (one with high sides would work nicely) saute onion and shallot until glassy. Add the rice and stir, allowing the rice to toast and become translucent. Throw in a splash of white wine.

3. Add a small amount of the cubed squash and stir until a puree forms, then add about a cup of stock. Stir continuously, and add more broth in small increments (about half a cup or so) as the rice absorbs the broth. You want most of the broth to be absorbed before you add more stock.

4. When you are down to the last few ladles full of broth, throw in a large handful of parmesan, the cubed squash (you want to have chunks in the finished risotto) and stir in more broth. Season with salt and pepper, chopped tarragon, and remove from heat when the last of the broth is absorbed.

5. Before serving, stir in cubed gouda and sprinkle with a little more parmesan.



Holy crapola, I think it must have been the chunks of gouda that did it for me. We made a huge batch of this (like, probably double the proportions shown above), because I was calling around to see if anyone else wanted to come by and share with us, but it was late and everyone had already eaten or was about to eat. We had a large bowl of leftovers, and what you see here in the pictures isn't actually the dinner we had, but the next day, when I formed the cold leftovers into patties and FRIED THEM. Because the only thing that makes risotto more delicious is FRYING IT. I didn't have any eggs or bread crumbs, or else I'd have stirred in some beaten egg and dipped them in crumbs to make them even more decadent. As it was, the small amount of crisp on the outside of the patties was more than enough to make my lunch delicious.

I posted this recipe based on watching my husband cook from the other room, so I'll check with him and make sure I didn't miss anything, but if you know how to make risotto already, it's as simple as changing around the ingredients. I like to do asparagus risotto, broccoli risotto, anything green, really. It was a nice change to have something so subtle and sweet to pair with the rice, and the hunks of gouda hidden in there were really pleasant.