pumpkin risotto
I love risottos and this one is one of my very favourites particularly since I discovered a variety of pumpkins which is really nice and ideal to cook with. I recently found it at a farmer’s market in Edinburgh and was pleasantly surprised as this is not the season for pumpkins. Perhaps they keep for a long time. Who knows? I had bpought it before at a local organic vegetable shop but unfortunately it is not that easy to get hold of. It’s quite small and it’s a light green colour. The flesh is dark orange and it’s really dense. Completely different from the watery consistency you get with the Halloween type of pumpkins (which are rather tasteless in truth). I gather this would be ideal to use to make the traditional American pumpkin pie, which I have never tried but it’s on my hit list. As the skin of this pumpkin is rather hard and woody and it would be very difficult to peel I decided to gently roast it in the oven first for approx. 40 minutes. Then I scooped the flesh out, chopped it up and used it for my risotto. Delicious! It was so creamy and tasty I decided not to put any butter in it. I have also tried making it with pearl barley ( a pumpkin orzotto in other words) and it was equally nice.
INGREDIENTS (for 4)
400 gr. risotto rice (Arborio or carnaroli)
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 glass white wine
300 gr. pumpkin flesh (cooked and roughly chopped)
1 lt. vegetable stock, boiling
50 butter
100 gr. grated parmesan
a couple of tbspoons olive oil
METHOD
Shallow fry the onion in the olive oil until it’s soft and translucent. Add the rice then add the white wine. Allow to evaporate then add the vegetable stock and the chopped up pumpkin flesh. Stir frequently. Cook for approx. 20 minutes or until the risotto is cooked. Add butter and parmesan at the end. I confess I use my pressure cooker to make it.After the wine has evaporated I add the vegetable stock, close the pressure cooker, bring to pressure point then turn it right down and cook for approx. 11 minutes. Voilà. No need for stirring or faffing about.
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