Butternut Risotto
Jack
August 31, 2023
Reviews
Ingredients:
Adjust Servings
| 175g arborio rice | |
| 1 small butternut squash | |
| 1 medium red onion | |
| 10g flat-leaf parsley | |
| ½ fresh red chilli | |
| 2 large cloves garlic | |
| 4 rashers streaky bacon | |
| 750ml vegetable stock | |
| 40g parmesan | |
| ½ fresh lemon, grated and zested | |
| 1tbsp butter | |
| Salt, pepper, and olive oil, to taste |
Directions
1.
Mise-en-place
Pre-heat your oven to 200°C (electric fan oven). Peel and halve your butternut squash, and remove the seeds. Chop into small chunks (1cm cubes roughly). Coat in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and spread into a single layer on a baking tray. Roast until nicely soft and caramelised (blackened) at the edges.
Finely dice your onion, chilli (remove the seeds if you're not a fan of too much heat), parsley, garlic (mince), and bacon. Prepare your stock; if it's in cubes or stock pots, make up to 750ml.
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2.
Bacon & aromatics
Heat a splash of olive oil in a large pan (wok or dutch oven, we're making the whole risotto in this). Crisp the bacon for a minute or two, and add the onion. Cook until soft, 3-4 minutes over a medium heat. Stir often.
Add the chilli and garlic and cook for about a minute, Taking a deep sniff of the air at this time is a legal requirement. Add the rice, and stir until the grains shimmer a little and become translucent, 1-2 minutes.
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3.
Risotto O'Clock
Add a ladle of your stock. Now begins the tricky part of risotto. You're going to repeat the same process until your stock is used up: add a ladleful, stir through, cook for a couple of minutes until fully absorbed, then repeat.
You'll get through your stock over the course of about 20 minutes. You'll know when it's done when your rice is plump and cooked through, with a little bit of bite, a nice al dente.
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4.
Retrieve butternut squash in a panic from the oven
When you're almost done with your risotto process, make sure to check on that butternut squash you have roasting away. It should be soft and charred. Once you're happy with the consistency of your rice, add the squash, parmesan, parsley (reserve some to garnish), lemon zest, and butter. Stir to combine.
Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary; add salt, pepper, and lemon juice until it tastes good to youl.
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5.
Serve
Serve in bowls, garnishing with the leftover parsley and some flaky salt. If you have any leftover, there's a recipe for arancini (fried risotto balls) for tomorrow!
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