Roasted butternut squash and sage risotto with pinenuts

I love squash but finding things to do with them apart from soup can be tricky. So I was pleased to find this recipe; even better when I tried it and it worked! You could probably also do this a pumpking, though I've not tried that - yet!

Ingredients

• 1 small butternut squash (or half a big one)
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• 7 or 8 sage leaves, chopped
• flaked sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Large knob of butter
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 200g arborio or other Italian risotto rice
• 1 glass white wine
• 500ml hot vegetable stock
• handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus extra to serve
• 30g pinenuts, to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
2. Cut the butternut squash into 4 pieces, remove the seeds and place in a roasting tray. Pound or chop the garlic and add a generous glug of olive oil, half the sage leaves, sea salt and pepper. Tip into the tray and rub over the butternut squash with your hands. Roast in the oven for 40-50 minutes until softened and becoming golden in colour.
3. Once the squash has cooked, cool slightly, then scrape the soft flesh away from the skin into a bowl. Lightly mash with a fork or potato masher until it is fairly chunky in texture. Scrape any sticky juices left in the roasting tray into the bowl and keep warm while making the risotto.
4. Heat the olive oil and a good knob of butter in a deep, heavy-based frying pan or saute pan. Gently fry the onion until softened. Add the rice and stir for about a minute until the grains are coated with the oil and butter. Pour in the wine and stir continuously until it has cooked into the rice. Add a good ladle of hot stock and the remaining sage and season well with salt and pepper. Turn the heat down so the stock is simmering gently. Keep adding ladles of stock as it cooks into the rice, stirring and moving the rice around in the pan. After about 15-20 minutes the rice should be soft but still have a bit of bite left in it. The texture of the risotto should be thick and creamy, but not too loose. Add extra stock if necessary.
5. Remove the pan from the heat and gently stir the roasted butternut squash into the risotto with the parmesan, the remaining butter and seasoning to taste. Add any extra stock if the risotto seems particularly thick. Cover with a lid for a couple of minutes as this will give the risotto an even creamier texture.
6. During this time, place the pinenuts in a fairly hot frying pan and toss around until golden. Spoon the risotto into warmed bowls and scatter with the pinenuts and extra parmesan.

Tip: For carnivores, you can fry a couple of slices of smoked bacon til crispy and scatter over the risotto with the pinenuts.

Serves 2

Recipe from the BBC website