Aug 03 2010
A different style of risotto
I tend to be of the ‘leftovers’ school of risottos, where any lone vegetables, final scrunts of salami or roast meat in the fridge or end-of-bags-of prawns in the freezer find a happy and multicoloured home together. I have been known in the past to make a mushroom risotto but such deviations tend to be short-lived.
I was round at Shona’s the other night and she served this WI tomato-flavoured risotto topped with rocket and roasted butternut squash. I liked it so much I cooked it myself, within the week!
The risotto itself ‘contains’ no vegetables or flavours, it is a simple fried up onion/stock cooked rice affair with tomato purée and bay leaf adding colour and subtle flavours. It is topped with fresh rocket (you can stir it through but I served it just draped on top as this was prettier) and roasted butternut squash. Preparing butternut squash is one of the dreariest jobs in the world and our knives weren’t very sharp at the time so I used half a bag of pre-prepped butternut squash and sweet potato. I always grab these at Waitrose when they are on reduced to clear and sling them in the freezer as for bulking out curry or serving with pasta they are worth their weight in gold in terms of convenience. We didn’t top with toasted pine nuts as Dougal is a) unsure about butternut squash at the best of times and b)not so keen on dishes with scatterings of pine nuts and I felt to combine the two might be a bit mean!
However the rocket on top is not to be omitted- we used lovely locally grown stuff picked up at The Village Store, although this week we’ve been on a bag of Lidl British Grown Unwashed Rocket and it’s pretty powy too. I have friends who grow it in their garden who say it is easy peasy, so why not give it a try yourself?
We are growing some little herbs from seed, including rocket, although I think they are sown too thick at the moment. But they are very pretty!
I was rather impressed with this dish. Easy (and pretty quick, for a risotto!) and tasty with interesting flavours. I think I’ll revisit this.
Gosh that does sound tasty. Lizzie is a bit anti-butternut squash, but after a long day at work, she can be persuaded to eat anything if it smells good. I wonder if pre-prepared Butternut squash is to be had out east.
Sorry about starting your life as a risotto maker in such a parsimonious way… not very proper, but I still find it hard to beat a risotto with bits of Sunday’s roast pork in it!
I would have thought, if it exists, it’ll be in that bad supermarket that we don’t name. But Tesco might have it, and it’s worth checking the frozen veg section too- waitrose do bags of just butternut squash (no sweet potato) although they are rather hefty chunks compared to in the mixed bags. Fairly sure M&S do them too, so perhaps for stocking up on on a trip to town. Or buy a haul of veg, get a knife very sharp and prep a massive load for the freezer.
I am entirely prepared to eat this dish
well, as yet prepared butternut squash has proved elusive. I have not made it to Tesco, but M&S at The Fort don’t do it, and nor does the evil one…. Perhaps I shall have to make a raid on Waitrose next time I’m in town with a car :(
Holy cats does this sound amazing! My risotto always seems to come out gluey at home…but this sounds fabulous. Will try again after reading this.
Gorgeous photos, btw!
Thanks Peaches, very good of you to say so! I seem to be far more capable of taking pics of food than people, perhaps because food does not get freaked out if you take a ton before getting a good one! Did the risotto work out for you or have you not had a chance to try yet?