Queen squash risotto

I haven't made a normal risotto for a while, I've made more pearled spelt risottos lately. Yesterday I however made a really autumnal risotto by using queen squash as the main ingredient. Queen squash is a new acquaintance for me this autumn and I instantly liked it very much. I took a slightly different approach to how to add the squash to the risotto, as this time I first roasted the squash cubes in the oven, and then mashed half of them and stirred it into the rice. That ensured quite a creamy risotto with an intense squash taste, a bit sweet yet still savoury through the vegetable stock, sage and porcini mushrooms. Perfect for this season I would say!

Here is my queen squash risotto recipe.

Ingredients

1 queen squash

2 shallots

2 garlic cloves

1 l vegetable stock

A few dried porcini mushrooms

200 g arborio rice

Olive oil

1 dl white wine

20 g butter

Sage

Salt

Ground black pepper

Method

Peel the squash, remove the seeds and cut it into about 2x2cm pieces. Save the seeds and toast them in the oven. They are really nice in salads, and can also be sprinkled on top of the risotto for serving.

Roast the squash cubes brushed with olive oil until they are soft. Mash one half of them and set the other half to side.

Prepare the vegetable stock and warm it up. Add the crushed porcini to the stock.

Chop the shallots and garlic finely. Heat olive oil in a pan and cook the shallots and garlic soft.

Add the butter to the pan and once it has melted, the arborio rice.

Once the rice is translucent after a few minutes, add the wine and let it absorb and evaporate almost fully.

Add a couple of ladles of the warm vegetable stock and let the risotto simmer under the lid. 

Stir often and keep adding vegetable stock whenever needed. The risotto must not cook dry.

Add the squash mash to the risotto once the rice is almost cooked and simmer a while together until the rice is al dente.

Season with sage, salt and ground black pepper to taste.

Serve with the roasted squash cubes on the top.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog