Description
A simple and delicious spicy pumpkin risotto, adapted from a recipe in Feast, a local St Louis magazine.
Ingredients
- 4 small pumpkins + 3/4 cup pure pumpkin puree*
- 2 tbs + 1 tbs canola or grapeseed oil
- 1 tbs + 1 tbs unsalted butter
- 2 tbs + 1/2 cup finely chopped shallots
- 1/8 tsp allspice
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 whole cloves (or 1/2 tsp cloves)
- 1 tsp ground white pepper
- 6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 2 cups white rice
- 1/3 cup Riesling or white wine
- 1/2 cup parmesan
- 2 tsp chopped sage
Instructions
- Add the allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon stick, cloves, and white pepper to a small pot with the stock.
- Heat until steaming and then reduce heat to low.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Slice off the tops of each pumpkin and hollow them out by scooping out the meat and discarding the seeds.
- Place flesh in a bowl and place the hollowed pumpkins on a baking sheet.
- Pour a teaspoon of oil inside each pumpkin and then use your fingers to rub the inside and outside of each pumpkin with it.
- Sprinkle the insides lightly with truffle or regular salt.
- Bake for 15 minutes and then remove from the oven and let cool.
- Chop the pumpkin flesh into small pieces.
- Bring a large frying pan to medium heat and add 2 tbs oil and 1 tbs butter.
- Cook the pumpkin and 2 tbs of shallots on medium to low heat, until tender… about 7 minutes.
- Season with salt and adjust, according to taste.
- Set aside in a separate bowl.
- Using the same pan, add another tablespoon of oil and the rest of the butter.
- When the butter is melted and bubbly, add the remaining shallots and cook till translucent.
- Add the rice and saute for a few minutes until you hear the rice sizzle and crack.
- When the rice becomes about 70 percent translucent, pour the Riesling into the pan and stir until entirely evaporated.
- Add 1/2 cup of seasoned stock and stir until absorbed.
- Continue to add stock and stir until the rice is cooked through, about 20 minutes total.
- Try not to overcook the rice by tasting occasionally and constantly stir to prevent the rice from burning.
- Once cooked, stir the pureed pumpkin mixture along with the parmesan cheese into the rice.
- Stir in half of the sage.
- Place the finished risotto into the hollowed pumpkins and garnish with sage.
- Serve warm; reheat for 5 minutes in the oven if need be.
Notes
*I didn’t have that much flesh inside the pumpkins so I added extra puree that contained no added sugar*
*If making this without real pumpkins, I would use a whole can of puree*
*You may or may not use the entire stock, I had a little bit left over and only used as much as I needed for the rice to cook through. I also didn’t want my risotto too watery, which is the traditional way (Sorry, Tom!)
*Halfway through cooking, I added ground cinnamon, ground cloves, allspice, nutmeg, and white pepper to the rice to amplify the spices, but that’s up to you.
*Always add hot or warm stock to risotto, or you may result in unevenly cooked rice.
*You can reserve the stock so that if you have leftovers of the risotto and need to reheat it, you may add some stock to keep it from drying out.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins