Autumn with its first chilly days, trees changing colours, the morning fog and dew call you to go inward, reach for warming foods and generally slow down with cooking in the kitchen- especially during the weekend. And since autumn for me has also been the pumpkin season, I am incorporating more dishes with pumpkin, butternut into our menu.
Today I made some butternut squash and portobello mushroom risotto, which does take a little bit of time to prepare but is well worth the effort.
Butternut squash and mushroom risotto
For 5 people
Ingredients
1 medium butternut squash
2 big garlic cloves
1.5 cup of risotto rice
1l of chicken bone broth
4 medium sized portobello mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp of tamari sauce (this is a gluten free version of soy sauce)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 branch of rosemary finely chopped
150g of pecorino cheese, grated
Salt and pepper to taste
Chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
Heat the oven to 180C degrees (356F). I use the roasting function of the oven.
Cut the butternut into 1 cm slices and then half them. I don't peel them before cooking as the peeling is rather difficult. But you can do that if you want to. I peel the butternut after cooking and remove the seeds before the cooking. Put the butternut pieces on the oven pan and also put the two gloves with the peel on. Sprinkle a little bit of olive oil and sea salt on the butternut pieces and mix with your hands. Spread the pieces out on the pan and put in the oven to bake for 25 minutes.
At the same time fry the finely chopped onion with ghee or butter on the pan until golden, then add the risotto rice and cook for 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth to the rice and cook on a medium heat, stirring from time to time.
In a separate pan add a little bit of ghee and fry the portobello mushrooms. Add tamari sauce and a little bit of salt and pepper to taste.
Once the butternut is ready, take it out from the oven. Cool it down and then remove the skin from the butternut pieces and chop into smaller pieces. Mix into the rice. Also, remove the garlic from the peel and mix the soft garlic pieces into the risotto. Then add the grated pecorino cheese, finely chopped rosemary and grind some fresh pepper and sea salt into the risotto.
Scoop the risotto into bowls, garnish with parsley and serve.
Enjoy!