Roasted Butternut Pumpkin and Goat’s Cheese Risotto

From Pure Vegetarian, Paul Gayler, Kyle Cathie Limited, 2008.

I’ll always try a different risotto. This one turned out to be not quite what one would expect. I suppose I should have been more suspicious before I began as while the recipe was called ‘roasted butternut squash’ there was no mention anywhere in the recipe itself about roasting the pumpkin. All it said (and this was in the list of ingredients) was that the pumpkin was to be peeled and cut into large dice. Anyway, taking my cue from the title, I roasted mine.

 A stock was put on to simmer and in was placed a few sage leaves, a cinnamon stick and a bay leaf. They were taken out after a few minutes and the stock left on to simmer very gently.

In a large frying pan I sautéed a finely diced shallot in olive oil until it had softened. I then added Arborio rice and stirred it around until it was well coated with the oil, at which stage the roasted pumpkin was added. White wine went in now and it was cooked until nearly all had been absorbed. Now the stock was added a ladleful at a time until it had been taken up by the rice.

When the rice was cooked a little cream was added along with a slice of butter and some crumbled goat’s cheese. This was folded in and it was ready to serve.

A crumble was made by placing a few amaretti biscuits with a slice of unsalted butter and a little cinnamon into a blender. They were mixed until they formed into crumbly lumps. This was sprinkled over the risotto when it was served in bowls.

This was an odd risotto. The moment the cream was added it suddenly began to look like a rice pudding. And then with the sweet amaretti crumble on top and the sweet butternut pumpkin it started to taste like a rice pudding. The first few mouthfuls were confusing. What was I eating? I adjusted to it after a while but I didn’t really take to it. The author claims it is his favourite risotto recipe; I put it at the bottom of the ones I have eaten.

Taste: ✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔