Recipe of the Week: Pumpkin Risotto with Parsley-Walnut Oil

It's pumpkin time...and I loooove this vegetable. It is so versatile and can be used in all sorts of variations: As mash, fried, roasted, as soup, in a cake....or as here in a super delicious format, in a risotto dish!

My absolute favourite of the week and done in 40 minutes - here we go:

What you need:

• 1 onion
• 400 g Hokkaido pumpkin
• 150 g of risotto rice
• Butter or ghee
• 600 – 800 ml of veggie broth
• 100 ml of white wine
• 5 stems of parsley
• 4 spoons of olive (olive or walnut or mix them)
• Salt, pepper
• 50 g parmesan (grated)
• 2 spoons of walnuts

How to prepare it:

• Peel the onion and dice it
• Take the seeds out of the pumpkin and cut it into 1,5 cm big pieces (don’t forget to measure ;-) ). If you use Hokkaido pumpkin, this does not have be peeled!
• Measure the wine and prepare the broth (has to hot/warm for preparing the dish)
  Heat 1-2 spoons of butter or ghee in a wide pot, put the onions in and braise them until glassy
• Add the pumpkin and rice and braise for another 2 minutes
• Put the wine in and let it evaporate completely (takes 2-3 minutes max)
• Then add so much broth that the rice/pumpkin is covered, set the timer to 25 minutes and let it simmer at medium heat WITHOUT a top…this is a dish where you have to pay a bit attention, so that means you have to stir on a regular basis so that the rice does not stick to the bottom
• While the first portion of broth is being taken up by the rice chop the parsley and walnuts and mix them with 4 spoons of oil – if you have walnut oil, replace 2 spoons of the olive oil with the walnut oil
• Regularly add some broth to the pumpkin rice, the rice should always be rather moist, until the broth is used up or the rice is soft enough
• Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve up with the walnut parsley oil on top.
   

My verdict: In this risotto the pumpkin is showing its best side and forms a wonderful combination with creamy rice – the parsley walnut oil immediately turns that into a gourmet dish, simply delicious and so easy to prepare!

Extra Tip: If you can’t get Hokkaido pumpkin, other varieties like butternut squash will do too (the latter might get a bit softer than the Hokkaido).