I shared a risotto recipe earlier this year — asparagus risotto — but I’m returning to this slow-cooking method in the fall for two reasons. First, in the fall, it’s lovely to have a reason to linger around the stove. Second, I’m making a very different kettle of rice here: butternut squash risotto.
Butternut squash is everywhere at this time of year. Although many of us think of pumpkin orange as the quintessential fall color, to me the perfect autumn color is the more subtle hue of butternut squash. From time to time, I see a house painted in this color. I envy its residents.
A butternut squash can last a single person like me a long time. I tend to vary what I do with it. Sometimes I fry tiny pieces with onions in a sort of hash. Sometimes I roast half of a squash in the oven, scoop out the flesh, and mash.
And then there’s the risotto, best served to guests since it’s hard to make just a little.
I only recently learned that butternut squash, a staple of fall here in New England, was first eaten less than a century ago.
Although Indigenous peoples have eaten various forms of squash on this continent for more than 6,000 years, butternut squash originated here in Massachusetts only in the 1940s. It was the brainchild of Charles Leggett of Stow, in Middlesex County. Leggett was an avid farmer and amateur plant breeder.
He loved squash but wanted to produce a variety that was not too big and not too small. He wanted a gourd that had, his wife Dorothy later remembered, “a compact, regular form and flesh that was easier to prepare.”
If you have ever tried taking the stringy goop and seeds out of a pumpkin only to find very little pumpkin left, you’ll know why he wanted something easier to prepare than that. In contrast, the innards of Leggett’s butternut squash come out easily, leaving lots of lovely edible flesh to work with.
To create his hybrid, Leggett crossbred a gooseneck squash with other varieties until he had a squash he liked. He brought it to the Waltham Field Station of the Massachusetts College of Agriculture, known far and wide as “Mass Aggie,” which is now part of the University of Massachusetts.
He presented his creation to the scientists there under the name “butternut” because it was, in his words, “smooth as butter, sweet as a nut.” In Waltham, Robert F. Young, a professor at the college, tinkered with it and named the variety, “Waltham butternut squash.”
I don’t imagine Leggett was pleased that the station put its name on the squash instead of his, but at least he had the satisfaction of seeing his squash become popular both domestically and abroad. It’s grown as far away as New Zealand.
In this country, it is grown in almost every state, including Florida. The top producer is Michigan. I’m certainly glad it’s still grown here in Massachusetts. It tastes delicious and stores well. And it makes excellent risotto.
So … here is my recipe. I started with a formula given to me years ago by Laurel Ritmiller Lucrezia of Boston. I then added and subtracted ingredients until I was happy.
This recipe calls for tiny pieces of butternut squash so one needs to peel the squash. When I roast it halved, I just scoop out the flesh after cooking; there’s no need to peel before cooking. This can be a little tricky, but it’s not undoable.
First, cut the stem and the bottom off the squash. Cut it in half lengthwise, and scoop out the middle gunk — there’s not a lot of that, thanks to Leggett.
If you have a sharp vegetable peeler, use that to scrape off the skin of the squash. My peeler is quite old and a bit dull so I started with it and then switched to a sharp knife. It didn’t take long to get rid of the outer skin of the squash.
A note about herbs: I tend to think that sage is the ideal herb to accompany this type of squash. However, one of the people I was serving when I made this dish was not a fan of sage. Consequently, I used parsley for flavor and color in the risotto and then had sage available to sprinkle on top. Both were tasty.
Choose the herb that appeals to you most. I should think thyme might be handy, or even rosemary, but I haven’t tried them in the risotto. If you want to experiment, try my method of having them available for sprinkling at the table.
Whatever herb you use, you’ll end up with a colorful risotto. Roasting the squash pieces and adding them at the last minute lends texture and flavor to your meal.
Butternut Squash Risotto
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups squash, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (more or less)
extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper as needed
4 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) sweet butter plus another 2 tablespoons later
2/3 cup chopped onion
1 small red or yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
1-1/4 cups Arborio or long-grain rice
1 cup white wine
2 tablespoons chopped herbs
grated parmesan cheese to taste (start with 1/2 cup)
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the squash pieces in a bowl. Splash a generous drizzle of the oil on top, along with salt and pepper to taste. (I used about 3/4 teaspoon salt and 7 twists of my pepper grinder.) Toss.
Place the oiled and flavored squash on a rimmed cookie sheet. (I lined my sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean up, although some might consider this wasteful.)
Pop the sheet into the oven and roast the squash pieces, stirring every 5 to 10 minutes, until they begin to brown around the edges. This will probably take around a half hour, but timing may vary.
While the squash roasts, start the risotto. Place the stock in a saucepan over low heat.
In a heavy saucepan over moderate heat melt 1/4 cup butter and add the onion and bell pepper. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add the rice. Cook for 1 minute. Toss in a little salt (maybe 1/2 teaspoon).
Add 3/4 cup of the wine and stir. Add 1 cup of stock and keep stirring.
As the mixture cooks and the rice dries up, add the remaining stock a bit at a time. Cooking will take quite a while — somewhere between half an hour and 45 minutes.
In my experience, the only sure-fire way to know whether risotto is done is to taste it from time to time. It’s ready when it is no longer crunchy and sort of creams in your mouth. If you think you need more salt, add it toward the end of cooking after tasting.
If you run out of stock as you stir, add a small amount of water. If you don’t use all the stock, that’s fine, too! Every batch of risotto is slightly different.
Just before serving, stir in the roasted squash, the herbs, the remaining wine, the last bit of butter and the parmesan.
Serves 6.
Tinky Weisblat is an award-winning cookbook author and singer known as the Diva of Deliciousness. Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.