I’m really surprised to find that I haven’t posted a risotto recipe. It’s kind of my go-to comfort food. And I distinctly remember making a dish really similar to this a couple month ago because one of my coworkers started drooling at the smell of my leftovers at lunch time. It turns out he wasn’t aware that smoked Gouda exists so he thought I was eating some sort of bacon dish. As a certain Cher Horowitz would say, As if!
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Anyway this shit is just too good, guys. Do you ever eat your own cooking and groan “God, I’m good?” Because yeah, I just did that. This recipe does remind me of something that I think is really, really important that a lot of people don’t talk about: you need to match your broth to the dish. So if you’re buying your broths and stocks, you need to take the time to taste all the different brands and pick the right one for a given recipe. For anything with squash or sweet potato, I highly recommend Imagine Organic Vegetable Broth. It just really works well in these recipes. And Amazon has a decent price on it.
Smoky butternut squash risotto
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- One medium onion, diced
- One butternut squash, cubed (or – as you can see – one package of already prepped butternut squash cubes)
- One cup arborio rice
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 4 oz shredded smoked Gouda
Saute the onion and butternut squash in the olive oil for about a minute. Don’t worry about undercooking the vegetables; they’ll have plenty of time to cook while the rice cooks.
Add the rice and stir so that it gets coated in olive oil. Continue stirring for about a minute.
Now here’s somewhere that I will deviate from traditional risotto recipes. The recipes always tell you that you need to have your liquid heating in another pot. I’ve done that and I can’t find a benefit from that. Maybe your risotto will take like two minutes less to cook, but then you’ll have another pot to wash. Haven’t we established already that I’m lazy?!! Anyway, pour in about 1/2 cup broth and stir until it’s dissolved. Keep doing that with the broth, half a cup at a time.
Eventually, you’ll get to this stage where your rice is cooked to perfection.
Now is a point where I often consider my risotto finished. I know that traditionally risotto will have butter and cheese added, but most of the time I just don’t feel like that’s necessary. I’m sick as a dog with a terrible cold though and I really wanted the smokiness from the Gouda. So if you want the cheese, go ahead and stir it in.
And then you eat that shizz.
You know what this risotto doesn’t need? Sour cream and Bacos on top. But a bowl of risotto just doesn’t make a pretty picture. And hell, it’s still not pretty. But damn it’s good!
