Butternut Squash and Mushroom Risotto; Asilah

First I apologize for the photo. I was playing with the settings on my camera when I noticed that my anti-glare filter was a scratched-up disaster. I won’t bore you with the details, but my continued messing around resulted in a bunch of blurry photos.

And it was time to eat the risotto…. so we did.

The risotto was wonderful – a perfect fall dish. Trust me.

I should warn you that there will be a lot of butternut squash recipes this year. I ended up with 35 of them. I had the same number of plants as last year but twice the number of squash.

I have no idea what I will do with them all. We’ve just started eating them as we had 25 acorn squash to eat – plus 10 delicata Neither are good for long term storage, so they get eaten first.

At some point we’ll have to deal with the 8 big gray-blue Crown Prince pumpkins and 4 spaghetti squash.

It was a productive year for the winter squash.

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Butternut Squash and Mushroom Risotto

Print Recipe

Do not believe bloggers and chefs that tell you risotto is hard – or that you have to ‘stir constantly’. Neither are true. It’s one of the easiest dishes I make and the occasional brisk stir (and the right rice)  are all it needs to be creamy and luscious.

• Author: Katie Zeller
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 25 minutes
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 2 servings 1x
• Category: Risotto

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2/3 cup (4.2oz, 125gr) Arborio rice (or other rice specifically for risotto – Carnaroli or Vialone Nano)
• 1/2 cup (4oz, 120ml) dry, white wine
• 2 1/4 cups (18oz, 540ml) chicken stock
• 1 onion, chopped, divided
• 1 tbs butter or olive oil
• 3/4 cup (3oz, 90gr) Parmesan cheese – freshly grated 
• Condimenti:
• 2 cups (8oz, 240gr) butternut squash, cut into small pieces
• 4oz (120gr) mushroom, trimmed, roughly chopped or sliced
• 1 tbs parsley, chopped
• 1 tbs olive oil 

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Instructions

• Heat chicken stock and keep hot over low heat.
• In medium sauce pan heat butter / oil; add 1/2 of the onion and sauté until transparent.
• Add rice and sauté, stirring, for 1 – 2 minutes until rice has white center.
• Add white wine and stir. 
• Start condimenti. 
• When rice has almost absorbed all the wine add a 1/3 cup of stock, stir. (No need to stir constantly but do stir from time to time.)
•  When stock is almost absorbed add another 1/3 cup and continue adding 1/3 cup at a time and stirring. 
• Before you add the last 1/3 cup taste a few kernels of rice. They should be just ‘al dente’ – slightly resistant to the tooth but fully cooked. If more stock is needed add it a few tbs at a time and waiting until almost completely absorbed. 
• At this point risotto will be thick but not stiff – there will still be visible liquid and it will not hold its shape on a plate. 
• Add the Parmesan and the condimenti, stir well, pour into a bowl or risotto platter and serve immediately. It will continue to absorb liquid and the leftovers (if any) will be very stiff. 
• Condimenti:
• Heat olive oil in nonstick skillet. Add 1/2 onion and sauté until starting to get tender.
• Add mushrooms and sauté until starting to brown. 
• Add butternut squash and sauté until cooked through. You may have to cover skillet for 5 minutes to get the squash cooked.
• Add parsley, cover and keep warm until needed. 

Notes

For a vegetarian version use vegetable broth in place of the chicken stock.
For a heartier risotto add 6oz (180gr) chicken breast, sausage or ham, cut into small pieces and cooked with Condimenti

Keywords: risotto, butternut squash, mushrooms

Our first day trip out of Tangier was to Asilah and Lixus.

Asilah is on the Atlantic coast of Morocco.

It’s a pretty town – narrow streets, beautiful views and lots and lots of art.

Every year the locals paint all of the walls and buildings in the city white.

Then they invite artists to come and paint. They have a mural painting festival.

The art is on display until the repainting the next year.

It ranges from surreal to whimsical to portraits.

And in case you want to memorialize your visit:

There is help for that with instructions on how to take the selfie and upload it to Instagram with the correct hashtag.

We were all impressed and pleased to see a rainbow flag proudly flying on this narrow street.

Of course there was a mosque.

Next – a visit to the Phoenician ruins in Lixus.