Seema's Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto..mmmm!

Comfort Food – Roast Butternut Squash Risotto with Red Chilli and Rocket
Makes enough for 4 (ok so on a bad day, I eat enough for all 4)

Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:
1 Butternut squash (about 600 gms)
200 ml – white wine
200 gms – risotto rice
1 ltr – vegetable stock
1 - medium onion, sliced
2 cloves - garlic, finely chopped and crushed
2 cloves - garlic, cut into 4 large pieces each and crushed
1 level tsp - Red chilli flakes
1 tbsp – olive oil or 10 gms butter, as you please
4 tsps, 2 each – fresh herbs, including rosemary and thyme
Handful – fresh rocket, if like me you are fan
To taste - Salt and pepper
To drizzle - Balsamic vinegar
Parmesan cheese (depending on your diet plans)

Procedure:
1. Clean the butternut squash, peel the skin, cut into big pieces and put in a roasting tin. Drizzle some oil, add the large garlic pieces, some salt and pepper and half the herbs to the tin. Toss together till all the squash pieces are covered. Stick the tin in the oven at 200 C for about 40 minutes or till squash is cooked through and slightly mushy. You could also add the balsamic vinegar at this stage to add deeper flavour to the dish.

2. Add olive oil/butter to a large pot on medium heat. When the oil starts to heat, add the remaining herbs – you should get a lovely aroma wafting through. When the herbs go nuclear and start spluttering (which will happen pretty soon if the oil is very hot), add onions and soften for about a minute. Add the garlic and chilli flakes and cook together for a minute.

3. Add the wine so that the alcohol evaporates and there is a very runny sauce. You could experiment with adding white wine vinegar (about 2 tbsps) at this stage if you don’t have any proper wine and let me know how it turns out. After a minute or two of the wine/vinegar cooking, add the rice and fry for 3-4 minutes or till all the liquid has been absorbed. Try not to drink the rest of the wine in the process as being sober will immensely helpful in the next stage.


4. Add all the goodies from the roasting tin and then start adding stock, a large ladleful at a time. Yes, its okay to use ready made stock (some Italian grandma is probably turning in her grave by this time if you have used vinegar, so it doesn’t matter) but the risotto now needs careful supervision so you will need to stand by the cooker. Stir the rice regularly and add stock each time all the liquid in the pot has been absorbed.

5. How do you know if the risotto is done and you can stop adding any unnecessary stock?
-Does the rice look happy and plump?
-Is it covered in a thick, juicy coating but is still vaguely visible?
-Does it feel ‘al dente’ enough without breaking your teeth?
If you said yes to all the questions above, then you should be nearly there.

6. Season the dish well with salt and pepper.

7. If you are a rocket fan, mix in a handful of rocket once you take the pot off the cooker. Spoon out individual portions on plates, add parmesan cheese and drizzle with a splash of balsamic vinegar – I love this as balsamic vinegar really does bring all the flavours together.

8. Happy eating – feel free to add or subtract from this recipe but remember that it is called a ‘roasted’ butternut squash risotto for a reason so try not to change that. Oh, and let me know how it goes with the white wine vinegar!