I've always loved risotto. It's one of those meals that always seems very fancy and special, but is actually incredibly easy to make. It's a little time consuming, but well worth it. It's a classic comfort food. Some recipes I've seen over the years say that it takes about 25 or so minutes to make risotto. That's a lie. It doesnt. It'll take you a while to make risotto, but the majority of the time all you need to do is stir it every couple minutes and add more stock to the pan. That's it. It's not a meal to make when you cant spend some time in the kitchen and plan on being outside of the kitchen the whole time, but you don't need to stand over it the entire time. But you will need to stir the risotto; there's no way around it. Just accept it and move on. Risotto becomes delicious and creamy when the starches in the rice are slowly released by the cooking process.
What's great about risotto is that it can be made with almost anything you have on hand. The base recipe itself is very simple: arborio rice, stock, onion, wine, cheese. Then you can add whatever flavors you want to it - favorites we have done are a roasted red pepper risotto, mushroom risotto, spring vegetable risotto (asparagus, peas, mushroom), and a chicken and vegetable risotto. Once you learn the way to make risotto you'll be able to switch up the recipe on your own anytime. This time I used butternut squash since I had some that needed to be used up.
Butternut Squash Risotto
1 butternut squash, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch cubes
olive oil, salt/pepper
2 tbsp butter, divided
1 cup arborio rice
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup dry white wine (something you would drink)
4-6 cups chicken or vegetable stock, preferably homemade
1/2 cup good grated parmigiana cheese
Steps
Toss the diced butternut squash with olive oil, salt and pepper and put on a sheet tray in a single layer. Roast at 375 until the squash is tender, approximately 30 minutes. Toss about half way through to make sure the squash caramelizes evenly. Place the cooked squash in a bowl and set aside until later.
Heat up the chicken or vegetable stock in a sauce pan. Keep it at a light simmer throughout the cooking process.
While the squash is roasting, melt the butter in a large pot over medium high heat (I use a risotto dish made by Mario Batali, but you can use any good quality pot or a small dutch oven). Add the onion and saute until the onion becomes translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add the rice and saute to coat each of the rice grains in butter, about 1-2 minutes. Add the wine and begin to stir the risotto. Lower the heat to between medium and medium low.
The rice will absorb the stock you add. You will continue the process of adding stock to the pan, stirring, and letting the water absorb the stock while continuing to stir it. Generally, a good time to add stock is when you can run you spoon across the bottom of the pan and you can see the bottom of the pan for a second, like this:
Some recipes say this process will finish with three total additions of stock to the risotto - that's a lie! Sometimes it takes about 4 cups, sometimes it takes about 6 cups of stock. If you realize that as you are cooking you might need more liquid than what you have simmering, add more stock or a little water.
Taste the risotto throughout this process - you'll be able to tell when the risotto is done. Risotto rice should have a tiny bite to it still, but should be a creamy texture. It shouldn't be total mush, but it should be much softer than the usual rice you eat. Then again, it's all up to you - if you like a risotto where the rice has more of a bite to it, then cook if for a shorter amount of time.
Once the risotto has reached your desired level of done-ness (for me, that's usually about 45-50 minutes of cooking), turn off the heat. Add all the butternut squash to the pan and stir it around to combine. Add the remaining tablespoon of butter and stir into the risotto. Finally, add the parmigiana cheese and stir to combine.
Serve topped with some cubed butternut squash and more a little more parmigiana cheese on top.
What's great about risotto is that it can be made with almost anything you have on hand. The base recipe itself is very simple: arborio rice, stock, onion, wine, cheese. Then you can add whatever flavors you want to it - favorites we have done are a roasted red pepper risotto, mushroom risotto, spring vegetable risotto (asparagus, peas, mushroom), and a chicken and vegetable risotto. Once you learn the way to make risotto you'll be able to switch up the recipe on your own anytime. This time I used butternut squash since I had some that needed to be used up.
Butternut Squash Risotto
1 butternut squash, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch cubes
olive oil, salt/pepper
2 tbsp butter, divided
1 cup arborio rice
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup dry white wine (something you would drink)
4-6 cups chicken or vegetable stock, preferably homemade
1/2 cup good grated parmigiana cheese
Steps
Toss the diced butternut squash with olive oil, salt and pepper and put on a sheet tray in a single layer. Roast at 375 until the squash is tender, approximately 30 minutes. Toss about half way through to make sure the squash caramelizes evenly. Place the cooked squash in a bowl and set aside until later.
Heat up the chicken or vegetable stock in a sauce pan. Keep it at a light simmer throughout the cooking process.
While the squash is roasting, melt the butter in a large pot over medium high heat (I use a risotto dish made by Mario Batali, but you can use any good quality pot or a small dutch oven). Add the onion and saute until the onion becomes translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add the rice and saute to coat each of the rice grains in butter, about 1-2 minutes. Add the wine and begin to stir the risotto. Lower the heat to between medium and medium low.
Stir the rice every minute or so a few times around the pan. Once the rice absorbs almost all the wine, add 2 ladle fulls of warm stock into the pan. Continue to stir the risotto every minute or so. If while you stir it seems like the rice is sticking to the pot, you need to lower the temperature and keep a closer eye on the risotto, stirring it more.
The rice will absorb the stock you add. You will continue the process of adding stock to the pan, stirring, and letting the water absorb the stock while continuing to stir it. Generally, a good time to add stock is when you can run you spoon across the bottom of the pan and you can see the bottom of the pan for a second, like this:
Some recipes say this process will finish with three total additions of stock to the risotto - that's a lie! Sometimes it takes about 4 cups, sometimes it takes about 6 cups of stock. If you realize that as you are cooking you might need more liquid than what you have simmering, add more stock or a little water.
Taste the risotto throughout this process - you'll be able to tell when the risotto is done. Risotto rice should have a tiny bite to it still, but should be a creamy texture. It shouldn't be total mush, but it should be much softer than the usual rice you eat. Then again, it's all up to you - if you like a risotto where the rice has more of a bite to it, then cook if for a shorter amount of time.
Once the risotto has reached your desired level of done-ness (for me, that's usually about 45-50 minutes of cooking), turn off the heat. Add all the butternut squash to the pan and stir it around to combine. Add the remaining tablespoon of butter and stir into the risotto. Finally, add the parmigiana cheese and stir to combine.
Serve topped with some cubed butternut squash and more a little more parmigiana cheese on top.
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