DisasterMan's [pre]posterous

Pörkölt recipe

Gonna have to try this:

http://culinspiration.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/not-goulash/

Quattro zucca i castagna risotto - Four squash and chestnut risotto with crispy sage leaves and toasted seeds

I guess this comes under 'bits and bobs'.

Thinking of what to cook yesterday, it occurred to me that it's squash season - coming up to Halloween my favourite local fruit and veg shop always has the most beautiful selection of squashes. Now butternut squash risotto is hardly a shocking idea, but I was keen to try out some of the other squashes on offer.

I looked up a couple of recipes, and decided to mix some elements of the two, so this recipe uses both mashed roast squash stirred in and diced squash cooked in the rice.
The crispy sage idea I stole from Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall's recipe. The instructions are a cut'n'paste job between the two recipes and my own contributions.

In the shop I found baby butternut, carnival (aka harlequin) and ambercup squashes, and what I take to be a green very round acorn squash. I picked up my purchases, then realised that they would probably have fresh sage too so popped back in. This time I noticed a box of absolutely beautiful big sweet chestnuts 'First of the season' they said. I couldn't turn them down, so picked up a handful of these too. Evolution I call it.

It was only when I got home and was on the laptop I noticed Jamie Oliver's butternut squash and chestnut risotto recipe. Oh well, there's no such thing as originality. Still, my four squash idea is nice, and new to me. Adding some mushroom to add even more woodland flavour makes this an amazing autumnal dish.

By using dairy free parmesan and avoiding butter (which isn't really necessary), this recipe becomes 100% vegan, and thus ideal for a candlelit dinner with my vegan girlfriend.

Ingredients

For the pumpkin risotto

570ml/1 pint vegetable or chicken stock
1 small red onion, finely chopped
3 medium closed cap mushrooms, finely chopped
16 fresh sage leaves, chopped finely
2 garlic cloves, peeled
2 tbsp olive oil
2 large sweet chestnuts
200g arborio (risotto) rice
250g pumpkin or squashes, diced small
250g pumpkin or squashes, larger chunks (skin on optionally)
1 glass white wine
freshly ground sea salt and black pepper
parmesan

For garnish

25g mix of pine nuts and pumpkin seeds - I prefer about 3 to 1 mix roughly
6-8 fresh sage leaves
2 tbsp sunflower oil

Notes:

You can use any mix of squash and pumpkin. I used butternut, carnival (aka harlequin), ambercup and acorn.

Some squashes have much tougher skins, and the underlayer is tougher too - both skin and this 'subcutaneous' layer must be removed, and the flesh can take a little longer to cook. This however, can result in a nice variety of textures in the risotto if done right.

If you don't have any pumpkin seeds, you can use the seeds from the squashes you have just bought - you can throw cleaned seeds into the same dish while roasting the flesh - just coat them in a little of the oil, but be careful of burning them They should take about the same amount of time, but it's best to keep an eye on them, as they can turn quickly.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6

Place squash chunks in a roasting tray.

Finely chop and crush one clove of garlic and add a generous glug of olive oil, half the chopped sage leaves, sea salt and pepper.

Tip into the tray and rub over the butternut squash with your hands.

With a SHARP knife, carefully cut a cross in the rounded top of both chestnuts and place in roasting tray.

Roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the squash is softened and mashable and the chestnuts tops have split open.

Smaller chestnuts may be quicker to cook, so keep an eye on them.

Once the squash has cooked, cool slightly, then scrape the soft flesh away from the skin (if applicable) and into a bowl.

Lightly mash with a fork. Pour/scrape any juices and seasoning left in the roasting tray into the bowl

Peel the chestnuts, and roughly chop, discarding (or nibbling!) any bits of hard flesh, add to the bowl and keep warm while making the risotto.

Heat the stock until almost boiling and then keep over a very low heat.

In a separate heavy-based saucepan sweat the onion in the oil until soft but not browned.

Add the mushroom, garlic and remaining chopped sage and cook for a couple more minutes.

Add the rice and mix well for a few seconds to coat the grains with oil, then pour in the wine and bring to a gentle simmer.

If you have harder squash in your mix, add it with the wine.

Continuously but slowly and gently stir the mixture at all times. You don't want to break the rice grains, but equally, you do not want it to stick.

When the wine is has cooked down, add a good ladle of stock, chopped chestnut and the diced squash and continue to stir.

Cook until almost all the stock is absorbed.

Add a little more stock, and continue to simmer gently until the stock is absorbed.

From then on add more stock a little at a time, until the squash is soft and the rice nicely al dente. You may not need all the stock, but the texture should be loose and creamy. At this point stir in the mashed squash, parmesan and season with salt and pepper.

When the risotto is almost ready, in a small pan, toast the pine nuts. As the pine nuts are starting to brown, add the pumpkin seeds.

Once the seeds are all toasted, set the nuts aside and add the sunflower oil to the pan.

Quickly fry the sage leaves until crispy - it takes a matter of seconds.

Serve up the risotto, garnish with sage leaves and toasted seeds, and finish with grated parmesan.