Meatless Monday: Butternut Squash Risotto
For dinner, a simple risotto with butternut squash, fresh basil and thyme and Parmesan cheese. Would have been vegan, but there is about 3 tablespoons of butter in it!
I really like risotto — it’s simple, but requires quite a bit of manual labor.
This is a standard risotto, using leeks instead of onions. Sauteed them in butter here with the thyme.
Risotto basically works this way — saute onions and garlic in butter (and/or olive oil), when they’re soft and fragrant, then add the risotto. Stir until all the grains are covered with the fat, then turn up the heat so when you add the white wine, it sizzles when it hits the pan. You stir until it’s all absorbed, turn down the heat a little, then start to add the hot broth — I used vegetable broth in this case — a little at a time, stirring until the liquid is absorbed. You basically do this until you’re out of broth or the risotto is as tender as you want it.
You add all the other stuff closer to the end of cooking. When it’s finished, you remove it from the heat, add the basil, butter, cheese, salt and pepper to taste and stir the hell out of it until it’s creamy. And it’s yummy. It doesn’t keep well, though, so make enough for that one meal. If you don’t eat it all, use it for rice balls the next night. Check out my fried rice balls post on the blog.
