Butternut Squash Risotto

Mmmm, butternut squash risotto! I've been making this for years, adapted from a recipe I saw in the Williams-Sonoma catalogue.

Start with butternut squash of course. I cooked the squash a few days ago, quartering a whole squash and steaming it. Then I scooped out the flesh and saved it in a bowl. You also need some sort of onion--I'm using shallots here (I've read that it's the Rolls-Royce of the onion family), but I've always happily used plain yellow onions. Risotto rice, olive oil, white wine, sage and thyme, vegetable broth, parmesan cheese, butter, salt and pepper.
Take the cooked squash flesh and blitz in a processor until smooth. You can easily dispense with this step or just mash with a fork.
You get this nice smooth puree.
Take the vegetable stock (reconstituted if necessary) and mix in the squash puree.
You get this beautiful, thick stock. Set it on the stove to warm. Bring it just barely under a simmer.
Chop the onion very finely. You can also do this in a processor. What you don't want is big chunks destroying the smoothness of the risotto.
Melt some butter and olive oil in a large saucepan.
Cook the onions gently until they're soft. Then add the sage and thyme.
Next add the risotto rice and stir in the buttery onions for a few minutes. The rice will turn translucent on the edges.
Add about half a cup of white wine and stir into the rice until it's absorbed.
Now add the hot stock, one ladle full at a time, stirring into the rice until absorbed each time. It should take the risotto half an hour to cook, so set your timer now. Keep adding stock and stirring... for about half an hour!
About halfway through--the rice will still be pretty hard.
After half an hour the rice will still have a bit of bite, but the sauce will be creamy and thick.
When the rice is cooked, add a ton of parmesan cheese, a few more tablespoons of butter and a little bit more liquid.
It's done! Sprinkle with parmesan on top.
Yum!

Roast Veggies, British-Style

Here is a super-carby and super-satisfying side dish. It is essentially a bunch of cut up root vegetables. But, it's British-style, by which I mean it uses a lot of traditional British produce which perhaps wouldn't habitually make it onto an American plate. It's a warm and filling side to eat along with leftover meats or whatever you have.

Use whatever you have around. I had a lot of stuff laying around. I used some new potatoes, a sweet potato, some leftover butternut squash, and a red onion. I also have baby carrots, but usually I like to use whole chantenay carrots, which are gorgeous and make the whole thing look rustic and homey. Another traditional British element is parsnip. I used to hate parsips, now I quite like them. (Try roasting them glazed with maple syrup--yum, they're like candy.) I also have a leek. At first, this seemed kind of strange but trust me on this, they're so good when they're roasted and sweet.
Put a good couple of glugs of olive oil in a sheet pan. Sprinkle it with the seasonings so it's easier to coat things evenly later. Here I have seasoned everything with dried sage and parsley, salt and pepper. Cut all the veggies into roughly evenly sized pieces. Put in the oven at about 350F or 170C for half an hour.
After half an hour, take the pan out, gently turn the veggies and put it back in for another 20 minutes.
By now things will be caramelised and sweet.
I had this as a side dish to some roast chicken thighs.

Roasted Butternut Squash with red onions and goat's cheese

Okay, this is a dish I'm really proud of. It's an adaptation of a mix between a Nigella Lawson recipe and a Valentine Warner recipe I saw on his show. The primary component is butternut squash, that fantastic vegetable (is it a vegetable actually?) that The Economist and I eat over and over again all winter because its delicious, really healthy, really versatile and because at home as children we both ate butternut squash (or sometimes yams or sweet potatoes), cooked, mashed up, slathered with butter and buried in brown sugar. As an adult I've learned to appreciate the natural sweetness of butternut squash. In this recipe it is more savory than sweet though. It's just cubed and roasted with chunks of red onion (which also goes sweet in the oven), seasoned with herbs and dotted with tangy goat's cheese, melting and oozing on the top.

As delicious as butternut squash is, it's actually kind of a pain to get to its flesh. For some recipes you can get by just halving it, but for this recipe I want cubes. Here is how I do it.

I think you're supposed to, but I don't bother to wash the outside. Mistake?

I split the squash (I've used two here) in half lengthwise. This can be difficult because the flesh is so hard. Or it might be because I have the crappiest knives in existence. I don't peel, again, probably because I have the crappiest peeler in existence.

Once they're split, I use a sharp-edged spoon to gouge out the seeds as cleanly as I can. I have moderate success with this.

Then I take each length of squash and cut it into 1-2cm sections.

Then I take each section, and pare off the skin, a small piece at a time, leaving me with a pile of skin slivers. There is a bit of wastage this way, but I find it clean, methodical and satisfying knifework.

...Little more...

Plus you end up with nice even chunks of flesh. The Nigella recipe says to leave the skins on, but I've tried that and it's no good. The skin just doesn't taste very good.

Then I peel some red onions, I used 3 medium ones this time.

Cut them into thick-ish chunks. You want some skinny bits to burn and caramelize and the thicker parts to get soft, sweet and moist.

Once everything is cut up, I spread it out in pans. I've got one medium pan and a second small pan for some over flow. Coat everything in a few spoonfuls of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Add some sage (I used dried) and thyme (I had fresh, so I used that, dried is fine too) and mix it all up to coat. Stick it in the oven; it will take about half an hour.

Before it goes in. It's so pretty!

Once it's roasted and the squash is cooked through, you can divide it between plates (or I guess put it on one big serving platter).

And crumble some goat's cheese on top. The goat's cheese is nice and salty and sharp. The onions are sweet and juicy. The squash is sort of savoury and sweet too. It's good as a whole dinner or a side dish. Bon apetit!

RECIPE PROFILE

Type: Dinner or Side Dish

Classification: Vegetarian