A Great Fall Recipe

It was great being home from fall break (aside from having to have my four wisdom teeth removed).  I really enjoyed seeing my family and having a break from life at Colgate, which can be very overwhelming during mid-terms. Since I got home a day early, I had got to spend some time in my own kitchen!

My mom had told me that she had bought butternut squash from the market a few days prior to my arrival and hadn't had time to cook it yet.  Luckily I was able to step in with a great recipe I'd been really excited to try out; Butternut Squash Risotto!

The flavor was delicious, and being able to enjoy butternut squash again made me really happy that my favorite season has come around once again.  Although, it was a bit unfortunate that my rice came out a little undercooked.  Next time I have to account for substituting brown rice for risotto rice since it takes a bit longer to cook.  

The Recipe:

1 Butternut Squash

1/2 Vidalia Onion

4 1/2 cups Vegetable Broth (or chicken broth...if you're into that)

2 cups Brown Rice

1 cup Parmesan Cheese

Olive  or Vegetable Oil (I used avocado oil)

2 1/2 tbsp Butter

Cayenne Pepper

Garlic Powder

Salt 

Pepper

Turmeric Powder

Directions:

To prepare the butternut squash, first peel it and slice it into 1/2 inch cubes.  On the stovetop, add vegetable oil and heat sauté pan.  Add in butternut squash, seasoning with garlic powder, cayenne pepper, turmeric powder, salt, and pepper.  Add 1/2 tbsp of butter and cook the squash on medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 10-12 minutes or until tender.  Remove from pan and set aside.

  

 

Next, in the same pan used to prepare the squash (we want the flavor of the squash and all those spices), saute onions until slightly translucent. Add the rice and butter and stir to slightly toast the rice.  Add in vegetable broth to just cover the rice.  

Allow rice to simmer until most of the liquid has been absorbed, stirring occasionally.  Add in more broth to cover the rice and let simmer, again stirring occasionally. 

Continue adding broth until the rice is just slightly undercooked, then with the last addition of broth, add in the sautéed butternut squash that was set aside earlier.  Simmer until most of the liquid has been absorbed by the rise.  Stir in Parmesan until it has melted and presto! Butternut Squash Risotto!

This was a really fun dinner to prepare, especially since I usually buy my organic butternut squash pre-peeled and chopped so I had never skinned one myself before.  I even made my own vegetable broth from scratch!

Enjoy!