Pumpkin risotto is many an Italian’s favourite silky sweet comfort food when Jack Frost begins his night-time antics; it’s also the easiest way to warm small tummies up after a successful Trick or Treat session or as we say in Italian Dolcetto o scherzetto.
Unlike Milanese Risotto, Pumpkin Risotto is 100% vegetarian so it’s a superb and easy dish to roll out if you’re entertaining. You can of course cheat and use a stock cube but we recommend making your own vegetable stock from boiling a carrot, a stick of celery and a small white onion together until the water has absorbed both the colour and flavours from your vegetables.
If you have any left over our tip is to roll it into small balls and make Arancini, super sweet they’re always a hit.
- 400 g of Arborio or Ribe Rice
- 400 g of Pumpkin Pulp
- 1 Onion coarsely chopped
- Italian Flat Leaf Parsley finely chopped
- 120 ml White Wine
- 1 l Vegetable Stock
- 100 g Butter
- 100 g Parmesan Cheese
- Salt & pepper according to taste
- Remove the pumpkin flesh from the skin, wash and discard the seeds and cut into cubes
- In a large deep-sided frying pan melt the butter and saute the coarsely chopped onion
- When it’s soft and golden mix in your cubed pumpkin
- Cook with a little of your vegetable stock for about 10 minutes, during the cooking the pumpkin will soften and become cream like
- When the stock has evaporated add the rice, mixing well with your pumpkin and onion cream, bring up to a high heat and pour over the white wine which will quickly be absorbed by the rice
- Slowly add the stock a little at a time to the rice mixture and keep stirring
- It will take approximately 15 minutes for your rice to cook.
- Remove from the heat and mix in the grated parmesan, season with salt and pepper according to your personal taste.
- Serve sprinkled with the chopped Italian parsley
Learn the traditional Italian ways of cooking as part of a cookery holiday with Italia Sweet Italia
