One of my favourite risottos, this can easily be adapted to a vegetarian recipe by leaving out the pancetta. The measurements are fairly vague as I usually do this by feel and I’ve made it so many times now I just sort of know what’s going right… but I’ll try to give some clues.
Making a good risotto is rather like riding a bicycle: It takes a little bit of practice to begin with, and a certain amount of concentration thereafter.
There’s some preparation to do first so take a good sized butternut squash and cut it into quarters, scoop out the seeds and pith, and cut grooves across and down each quarter (so that once cooked you can easily scoop out cubes of squash. Season with salt, peper, olive oil and a good sprinkling of sage, I also usually add 2 chopped cloves of garlic too. Now put in a hot over (190C) and cook for about 40 minutes. Whilst it’s cooking you can also dry fry some pine nuts to add at the last minute.
Once the squash is cooked, you can start on the risotto itself. If you want to add the pancetta, and maybe convince any carnivores that this is a “proper” dish, start off by frying the pancetta cubes – no need to add oil as they will release their own fat which will flavour the rest of the dish.
Once the pancetta has browned and crisped, add a large onion, finely chopped – i like to use white onions as they add a nice sweetness as they cook. Cook the onion until it turns translucent, and then a little longer, allowing it to absorb the flavouring from the pancetta. Whilst this is cooking, prepare some good vegetable stock, about 1 1/2 pints should do – once made, keep it hot but not boiling.
Once the onions have sweated nicely, pour in around half a pack of risotto rice – I use Arborio but any will do – for 2 people I do about 225g, but usually to leave some left overs for the next day when it still tastes great. Fry the rice with the onion and pancetta, it will begin to soak up whatever moisture is left, do this until the edges of the rice grains begin to turn translucent. Once this happens, turn the heat up high and pour in a good glug of vermouth, it will fizzle a bit, but you want to cook off the alcohol so that all the flavour is absorbed but any alcohol content has evaporated.
Once the vermouth evaporates begin to add the stock, a ladle at a time, each time letting it cook in, absorbed by the rice. Watch the rice absorb the stock and begin to swell up. This whole process will take about 20 by which time the rice will be al-dente (check this by trying a grain).
Now things start to come together quite quickly. Add the butternut squash which you will have scooped from its skin after it was cooked. Stir it through, trying not to break up the cubes too much. One good tip is to take half the squash and break it up with a fork, stirring it into the rice, and then adding the cubes afterwards and being much more gentle. Add the pine nuts too, and a large tablespoon of creme fraiche (or two, depending how creamy you like it). Season with salt and pepper to your taste, and grate in some parmesan cheese.
The creme fraiche can be used to loosen the risotto, so you should end up with a risotto that gives way under its own weight, not a clumpy stodge of rice that sits as a lump in the middle of the plate.
Serve hot, with a salad of rocket leaves, and a glass of white wine. Cheers!
