This month we’re making the most of our Farm’s delicious Autumnal veg with a warming Pumpkin Risotto. You can find all of the ingredients we’ve used in our farm shop- including our own Organic & Biodynamic Pumpkins and Squash, Onions, Cavolo Nero & fresh Sage and Rosemary. We also used our favourite Two Fields Olive Oil and delicious Feta cheese from Book & Bucket Cheese Company to finish our dish (you could leave out the cheese to make this vegan!). This recipe serves 4-5.
You will need:
1 Vegetable Stock Cube
300g Arborio Risotto Rice
2 White Onions
1.5kg Pumpkin (or Squash)
A handful of Cavolo Nero (or Kale), thinly sliced.
1 block of Feta cheese
Half a head of Garlic
A hand full of fresh Sage leaves
3 sprigs of fresh Rosemary
Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Sea Salt & ground Black Pepper
You will also need a baking tray, a large pan, a measuring jug and a food processor/ blender!
How to:
Step 1 Pre heat the oven to 170 degrees. Peel your pumpkin or squash, removing the seeds as you go. Chop into cubes and place on a baking tray- add some olive oil, the sage leaves & crushed garlic cloves, plus season with a little salt and pepper.
Step 2 Place the tray of pumpkin in the oven and roast for 45 minutes- turning the pieces and adding extra olive oil half way through.
Step 3 Whilst the pumpkin is cooking, we can make a start on the risotto rice. Finely chop the onion and lightly fry in a large pan with a little oil (& your sprigs of rosemary) until golden. Make up 1 litre of stock using the vegetable stock cube.
Step 4 Once golden, remove half of the onion from the pan & set aside (we’ll add this too the roasted pumpkin when we blend into a puree!). To the remaining onion, add your risotto rice- then begin slowly adding the vegetable stock a little at a time, waiting for the rice to absorb the water as it’s added.
Step 5 After 45 minutes, remove the tray of roasted Pumpkin from the oven and let cool. Ensure each piece is thoroughly cooked- it should be soft to the touch and fall off of fork when poked. Once cooled, add the pumpkin to a food processor/ blender- along with the cloves of garlic and sage which were in the roasting tray too! You can also add the half of the cooked onion we set aside earlier. Blend this until smooth. (Keep an eye on your rice during this step- continuing to stir and add stock as you go.)
Step 6 Once the rice has absorbed all of the liquid from the stock, remove the sprigs of rosemary and begin to stir in you pumpkin puree a little at a time! When this is all added, throw in the sliced Cavolo Nero and simmer for a few more minutes to ensure the rice and greens are perfect cooked- season with salt and pepper to taste & then we’re ready to serve!
Step 7 To serve, we drizzled over some of our favourite extra virgin olive oil & crumbled some delicious, locally made Feta on top. Season with a little Sea Salt & fresh Black Pepper & enjoy!