This pumpkin and mushroom risotto recipe is rich and creamy, and makes the perfect comfort food on days when you need a little extra love.
A homemade mushroom risotto is always worth the effort, but today I fancied adding a little bit extra to bump up the flavour and the nutritional content.
And with a small pumpkin from my organic veg box in desperate need of using up, this delightful recipe was created!
How to make a pumpkin and mushroom risotto
In this recipe I’m using a small orange pumpkin, but you could use the innards of your Halloween carved pumpkin, or even a butternut squash.
1/ how to roast your pumpkin
Preheat the oven to 200C (400F)
Start by carefully slicing the skin off your pumpkin . Then chop it into small pieces about the size of a regular playing dice.
Lay them out on a baking sheet.
Add the garlic cloves to the tray. You don’t need to peel the garlic first, just keep them in their papery skins and they’ll roast perfectly.
Pour over the oil, then toss the veggies until they’re well coated.
Season with salt and pepper, and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
2/ how to make an easy mushroom stock
Measure out the boiling water into a heatproof jug.
Add in the dried mushrooms.
Next, add in the stock cube and stir well.
I’m using a vegetable stock cube, but you could use any flavour you fancy.
If you have homemade stock in the freezer, please use that instead! Simply bring the stock to a boil and add the dried mushrooms directly to that.
After 5 minutes or so, the mushrooms will be rehydrated.
At this point you can remove them from the stock and finely chop them.
Keep the jug of stock warm as you move on to make the risotto.
It’s worth noting that dried mushrooms often contain little pieces of grit in between the gills. This is nothing to worry about, and as you stir the mushrooms as they’re soaking any grit will fall to the bottom of the jug.
For this reason, when you pour the stock out into the risotto, always aim to leave a little liquid (and therefore any grit) in the bottom of the jug.
3/ how to make a risotto base
Start off with a nice big pan. I’m using a Samuel Groves sauté pan which is wide yet shallow, and perfect for making a risotto in.
Add the butter and the olive oil and place over a medium heat.
Finely chop the onions, then gently fry in the oil for 4 or 5 minutes or until soft.
Add in the rice and stir to coat each rice grain in the oil.
Let this cook for 2 or 3 minutes.
Add a ladle of stock (or pour a small amount directly from your jug) to the pan. Stir well and let gently bubble until the rice once again looks dry.
Repeat with the rest of the stock, adding a little at a time.
When it comes to stirring the risotto, I was always taught to stir it with a spatula, not a wooden spoon.
The theory is that it keeps the rice grains intact during this phase of the cooking (although I have no idea if it makes a difference, as I’ve never tried it any other way!)
4/ flavour your risotto with mushroom and pumpkin
Half way through adding the stock to the risotto base, I like to add in my rehydrated mushrooms, and stir them through well.
This gives them time to cook through without becoming too soft and disintegrating.
At this point the pumpkin and garlic was cooked too.
Once roasted, garlic is really easy to remove from the papery skin. The soft roast garlic clove inside than gets chopped and added to the risotto pan.
And the roast pieces of pumpkin also get added to the risotto too.
Then continue with adding the stock until it’s almost all used up.
5/ when is a risotto cooked?
When you have nearly used up all the stock in the jug, taste a little risotto rice grain and make sure it’s ’al dente’. There should be a tiny little bit of bite left in the grain as it will continue cooking off the heat, but you don’t want it to be soft and mushy.
As the pan I’m using is very wide and shallow, more moisture escaped the pan in the form of steam. So my risotto actually called for more stock than I’d made.
So I simple boiled the kettle and added the last few tablespoons directly from the kettle. (Don‘t worry if you have to do the same, as all the flavour from the stock is already in the pan!)
6/ how to finish a risotto and make it extra creamy
When you’ve added the last splash of stock to the pan, stir until it is almost soaked up, then add the last knob of butter and Parmesan cheese.
Replace the spatula with a wooden spoon at this point, and stir the risotto really fast to soften those rice grains and incorporate the fat from the butter and cheese into a rich and creamy sauce.
Taste the risotto and season with salt and pepper if necessary.
Finally, serve the risotto in individual bowls topped with an extra grating of Parmesan cheese.
Devour with a great big grin on your face :)
A quick note…
The pan I used in this recipe was my English made Sauté pan from Samuel Groves. It’s WONDERFUL, and the quality, finish, size and shape of this pan means it’s reached for many, many times in my kitchen.
If supporting British is important to you too, please visit the page below to find out more info on them, their products and to find a special discount code they’re kindly offering to my readers too.
Visit here for info on Samuel Groves cookware.
And now on to the recipe…
This pumpkin and mushroom risotto recipe is rich and creamy, and makes the perfect comfort food on days when you need a little extra love.
- 250 g pumpkin – diced into small pieces
- 3 garlic cloves – unpeeled
- 2 tsp oil
- salt and pepper
- 15 g dried mushrooms – mine were a mix of shiitake, oyster and porcini mushrooms, but any will do
- 600 ml water – boiling, straight from the kettle
- 1 stock cube – I used a vegetable stock cube, but any will do
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion – finely diced
- 150 g arborio rice
- 100 g Parmesan cheese – grated
Preheat the oven to 200C (400F)
Place the pumpkin and unpeeled garlic cloves into a baking dish and coat with the oil.
Toss together well to coat each piece evenly in the oil and season with salt and pepper.
Roast for 15 minutes.
Pour the boiling water into a jug.
Add the dried mushrooms and the stock cube and stir well.
Set a timer for 5 minutes, at which point remove the mushrooms with a slotted spoon, squeeze the water back into the jug and roughly chop the mushrooms.
In a saute pan or large frying pan, add half the butter and the olive oil and melt over a medium heat.
Add the onion and gently fry for a few minutes until soft. Don’t allow the onions to get crispy or too dark.
Add in the rice, and toss to coat well in the remaining oil. If your pan is dry, feel free to add a little more oil at this point.
Fry for around 2 minutes.
Pour in, or use a ladle to add a little of your stock. Use a spatula to stir the stock through the risotto as it gently simmers.
When the stock has been absorbed, and the rice is starting to look a little dry again, add another small amount of stock.
Stir and repeat until half of the stock has been used.
At this point, stir through the mushrooms, the roast pumpkin and the roast garlic cloves (that you’ve removed from the papery skin).
Continue adding the stock until there is one measure left in the jug.
Taste a rice grain, and at this point they should be ‘al dente’ or have a little bit of bite left in them as they will continue to cook off the heat.
If they taste too hard, boil the kettle again and add little splashes/stir until the rice is al dente.
To finish your risotto, add in the rest of the butter and half of the grated Parmesan. Also add in the last of the stock (being sure to leave a little bit in the bottom of the jug to capture any grit that was in the mushrooms.)
Swap the spatula for a wooden spoon and stir the risotto really fast. This will melt the butter and cheese and make a wonderful, creamy sauce.
Serve between two bowls and scatter with the rest of the Parmesan.
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