Pumpkin Risotto Recipe

Risotto is a creamy, traditional Italian dish made with rice. Pumpkin risotto gets its flavor and color from pumpkins, but butternut squash can be used as well.

Carnaroli and Vialone Nano are the best rice to use, and both have their own properties. Carnaroli is harder to overcook, compared to Vialone Nano, but Vialone Nano cooks faster and may absorb the taste of other ingredients better.

There are various ways to make Pumpkin risotto, but the best recipes use fresh pumpkin. If you carefully carve the flesh from the pumpkin, you will be able to use the shell as a serving bowl. Cut out the top of the pumpkin as if you were going to carve it for Halloween. Scoop out the flesh. To get cubes, score the insides of the pumpkin with a knife, making squares with the knife. Use the knife to cut down the inside of the pumpkin, behind the cube lines, and the cubes should pop right out.

Though this is a basic recipe, you can also experiment by adding sherry in place of white wine and beef broth instead of chicken broth depending on what you are serving with the pumpkin risotto.

Pumpkin Risotto Recipe

Ingredients You Will Need:
6 cups chicken broth
½ cup diced onion
4 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon crushed garlic
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin olive oil
¾ cup carnaroli rice
1 butternut squash (one half should be baked in the oven and then pureed; the other half should be peeled, cut into small dice and sauteed in a little oil and butter until tender)
OR
1 cup diced pumpkin and ½ cup pumpkin puree
�" cup white wine
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Melt the butter and extra-virgin olive oil in a thick-bottomed pan (a perfectly seasoned, deep-sided, cast iron pan works perfect).

Add the diced onion and garlic and saute until the onion starts to turn translucent. Add the carnaroli rice, stirring until the rice is thoroughly coated with the oil and butter mixture.

Once the mixture starts to simmer, add about four cups of the chicken broth and the white wine. Do not cover. Add more of the chicken broth, one cup at a time, stirring until the broth is absorbed by the rice. Continue until the rice is soft.

Lower the heat, so the risotto is not simmering. Stir in the pumpkin puree and the cubes. Add butter (use about four tablespoons) and the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and stir until creamy.