Friday, September 18, 2009

Winter Squash Mock Risotto

The other day Jeremy and I went up to help Mom take care of some of the gardens. The winter squash was ready to be picked, and I was itching to use one of them in a dish of some sort.
Dinner last night was Winter Squash Mock Risotto. I didn't have arborio rice, so I just used the long grain white rice I had at home. It has starches, they do develop, but not in the same was a aroborio. It was an almost exclusively local dish as we grew the squash, the garlic, and the shallots, and the collards that we put in were grown locally.

Winter Squash Mock Risotto

1 winter squash (I used Buttercup)
2 1/4 cups rice
2 bouillon cubes
5 cloves of garlic
1 large shallot
8 cups of water
Olive Oil
Butter
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Ground Clove
Italian seasoning
Salt and Pepper
Parmesean Cheese
Peel and cube the winter squash, cook until soft. Mince the garlic and the shallot and saute with olive oil till soft and fragrant. Disolve the bouillion cubes in hot water. Add the italian seasoning and some salt and pepper, pour in the rice. Once everything is heated through, add 1-2 cups of the liquid and simmer until absorbed. Follow this process until the rice is cooked. Use only enough liquid to cook the rice through, if you have left over its ok, if you need more, go ahead and grab it.
Mix the squash with the cinnamon, nutmeg, ground clove, and butter. Once the rice is cooked, mix the squash into the rice.
Saute the greens with a touch of olive oil, then mix into the rice as well.
Season with salt and pepper to taste, serve with Parmesean Cheese.

2 comments:

cecile said...

So, how was it? Matt made risotto a couple of weeks ago and it was fabulous. I love the idea of collards and squash as well! I always look forward to the time in early fall when cooking begins to change from usual light summer fare.

Unknown said...

It was awesome considering it wasn't arborio. I can't wait to make it the right way though. We have plenty of squash to do so!