I’m a sucker for a pumpkin. And when I say pumpkin, I’m including the entire gourd and winter squash family. Bumpy decorative gourds, butternut squash, big as your head Halloween pumpkins. If it’s vaguely fall like, and for sale, chances are I will bring it home with me.
We managed to grow 4 edible squashes this year in our garden. They take up so much room, and require so much water, that we were lucky to get even that. But thank goodness my local stores carry them, and my friends gift them to me. So our house is filled to the brim with orange, green, yellow and even gray orbs.
Since this year I’m taking ALL holidays very seriously (what else is there to do?) Halloween was no exception. Especially since this holiday allows me to indulge in both the decorative and edible possibilities of my pumpkin obsession. For decorative purposes I decided we should have a jack’o lantern competition. And so was able to justify four pumpkins coming home with me from the supermarket.
On the edible side of things I picked up some nutella-stuffed pumpkin cookies at the local bakery because why not? But I also used one of the gorgeous Hokkaido squashes that my friends Thomas and Lisbeth gave me. They had originally special ordered 8 of them for a cooking class that got cancelled because of the current lockdown. So I was happy to be the recipient of their gourd overload!
I decided to make risotto with it. I’d been craving risotto and Halloween seemed the perfect excuse. While I used a Hokkaido, which has bright orange flesh, a compact texture and a nutty flavor, you can also use butternut for this recipe. Or any other edible squash you have (I made it with this one here). FYI: While the big orange pumpkins used for jack’o lanterns are in theory edible, they are rarely grown organically and their flesh is pretty tasteless and watery. So avoid those.
This would obviously make a great first course for Thanksgiving, or even main course if you aren’t doing Turkey. If you’re looking for other pumpkin recipes here they are.
Pumpkin Risotto
Yield 5-6
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 5 tablespoons butter
- 1 medium onion
- Salt
- Pepper
- 1 medium size winter squash, peeled and cut into small cubes (you should have about 5 cups of cubed squash)
- 500 grams / 1 pound arborio rice
- 1 glass of white wine
- 4-6 cups vegetable or chicken broth
- 1 cup grated parmigiano reggiano
- 1/2 cup grated mild hard pecorino or goat cheese
Instructions
- Place a large pot over low heat and add 2 tablespoons of butter and olive oil. Once it is melted, add the onion and season with salt and pepper. Let soften for about 6 minutes.
- In the meantime bring broth to a low simmer
- Turn the heat to medium low. Add half of the squash, stir and let cook for about 10 minutes, until the squash starts to soften. Add the rice and stir for about 4 minutes.Add the wine and let that evaporate.
- Add the rest of the squash, stir and add about 4 ladles of hot broth. Stir and keep cooking and adding the broth slowly, as the rice absorbs it. Keep doing this until the rice is almost done. I like mine a bit al dente, but it’s up to personal taste.
- Turn off the heat, and add the remaining butter, stirring to help the butter melt. This also helps to finish cooking the rice. Next add the two cheese, one after the other, stirring.
Would you like to join us in Umbria next year? We’ll be leading Week in Umbria food tours starting in May 2021. Here is the full schedule.
Hello and Happy Thanksgiving. We are soon to be in the midst of big food prep – well, not really that big due to keeping our family “small” this year. Pumpkin Risotto is on the menu! Which lead me to this question, what is the “pumpkin” that is shown in the first picture? I’ve not seen it before nor could I find it in a quick search of squash or pumpkin varieties. It looks wonderful!
It’s called a Hokkaido Pumpkin, also known as Red Kuri.