Butternut Squash & Sage Risotto

We are days away from Halloween and this neighbourhood is getting pretty spooky.  There’s an alarming number of skeletons draped on front lawns and carved pumpkin faces seem to follow me as I walk past.  This recipe is not spooky in the slightest.  It is Italian comfort food, just right if you’ve had a fright.  Although I’ve made this with butternut squash, feel free to substitute for pumpkin or any other kind of squash that you find available.

Serves 4

olive oil
1 butternut squash
1 handful of fresh sage leaves roughly chopped
large knob of butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic; 2 crushed under a knife  and left in their skins, 1 crushed without skin
400g Arborio risotto rice
1 large glass dry white wine – about 250 mls
1 to 1.5 litres chicken stock
freshly grated parmesan cheese
salt & pepper

Start by peeling and chopping the butternut squash into bite size cubes.  Throw into a roasting tin with a good handful of sage leaves and the garlic cloves.  Drizzle with a good glug of olive oil and roast in the oven at 200c/400F/Gas Mark 6 for about 45 minutes until the squash is soft and easy to poke with a knife.

While the squash is roasting you can get on with the rice.  Melt butter in a large pan and slowly fry off the onion on a low to medium heat.  Don’t brown the onion, just let it go soft and milky.  It should take about 5 minutes, then add the final crushed garlic clove and cook for a further 1-2 minutes.  Add the rice and cook for about 3 minutes, then turn up the heat to medium high and pour in the white wine.  Let this bubble away for a couple of minutes.  Season the rice with salt & pepper and scrape any rice that has stuck.  Once the wine has all but evaporated slowly begin to add the stock – about a ladleful at a time and stir it through.  Leave for a minute or so until almost absorbed and then pour in a little more.    Keep repeating this process until you are almost out of stock.  It should take in total about 20-25 minutes.  You might not need all the stock, so towards the end of the 20 minutes start checking the rice.  You want there to be just a little bit of bite to it when you test a grain.  If it is still a little hard, then cook for longer and use the remaining stock, if you are already there then stop.

Now it’s time to add the squash.  I like to mash up about half of it and stir it through so the risotto gets a yellowy colour to it.  I keep the rest in the chunky cubes, throw those in a lightly stir through so they keep their shape.  Serve with a good grating of fresh parmesan, and garnish with some fresh chopped sage if you wish.  This also calls for a glass of cold dry white wine.