Butternut Pumpkin Risotto

Butternut Pumpkin Risotto with Chorizo flakes

So in lieu of actually writing a new post, I’m resorting to the quintessential one I prepared earlier… this was dinner from a few nights ago… however the recipe is a little ripper that I pulled together last year, formerly Double Pumpkin Risotto, but now refactored into single pumpkin (downsizing is inevitable these days).

Butternut Pumpkin Risotto

  • Risotto rice (Aborio, or even better Carnaroli)
  • Half a butternut pumpkin
  • Leek
  • Onion
  • Garlic
  • Cream
  • Chicken stock
  • White wine (I used unwooded chardonnay, but i don’t think that’s significant, I just wanted to let you know)
  • fresh grated Parmesan cheese
  • salt and pepper

How I Made Mine

This one will again be pretty short on specifics because I’ve made so many risottos that writing out the specific technique in detail again is like running my nails down a black board.

So suffice to say you make a risotto like you normally would. Fry the onions/leek/garlic in some butter or olive oil and then add the rice. Coat the rice in the veges and then add the wine, maybe a cup or so. Once the wine has absorbed, start adding the chicken stock (which has been simmering on the stove nearby) a ladle full at a time.

The different thing about this dish though, is the pumpkin purée. I made mine by chopping up the pumpkin into little chunks and putting it into a pot of salted water to boil until soft but not falling apart. When the boiled pumpkin is done, drain it, and put it into a blender along with some thickened cream, salt and pepper, and purée until it’s a nice smooth texture throughout. Seasoning or adding more cream until you get the consistency you’re after… which should be a thick liquid.

So once the risotto is about half way cooked, add the pumpkin purée and stir it through well. The moisture in the purée will continue to be absorbed by the rice, so let it simmer for a while and soften up, before finishing off with a good handful of grated parmesan. I also sprinkled chopped chorizo flakes over the top, which had been quickly fried til slightly crispy.

A delicious winter warmer if ever there was one…

15 thoughts on “Butternut Pumpkin Risotto”

  1. hey matt,
    how many times have I made pumpkin risotto and not thought to puree the pumpkin through first…love your work. great idea

  2. Hey Jules, glad I could impart a small change of technique which hopefully works for you… I need to stop posting risotto though… and chorizo… people will think it’s all I eat.

  3. chorizo flakes!?? *drools* for a second there i started to envisage a new range in breakfast cereals for us fans of the savoury breakfast. Can you imagine!? Your risotto looks delish, and the colour makes it almost looks like there’s saffron in there.

  4. oh man that looks heavenly! i only recently started getting into risotto and this,… this MMMMM. and chorizo flakes, ahem DROOL.

  5. Hi Matt,

    My fiance Nat and I met you at the Wine and Food Festival Saturday afternoon. I haven’t washed my hand since.

    This recipe sounds fantastic, but any chance you could point me in the right direction re the quantities you used?

    Again, love the website.

  6. Serenity, now you’re onto something… it’d definitely be one way to make sure I get my daily dose of chorizo… keeping my pork and garlic levels at their normal healthy level :) The colour is purely from the pumpkin this time around…

    Aria, what better dish is there to get into… the versatility and sexiness of a well made risotto is worth spending ridiculous amounts of effort to perfect it.

    Brad, you are far too kind, and I would definitely be washing my hand now if I were you… you have no idea where I’ve been… in terms of quantities… I’d say roughly…

    – 400 gm of rice (I’m not too sure about this because I just pour it in til I think there’s enough)
    – 1 whole onion
    – 1/2 a medium leek
    – 4 cloves garlic
    – 1 litre of chicken stock (or 500 ml stock, 500 ml water, depends on how much rice you have)
    – 1 large cup (I like em big) of white wine
    – 150 ml of cream
    – a good handful of parmesan

    Hope that helps :)

    Deborah, clearly a Northern Hemisphere reader, but I won’t hold that against you… put it in the recipe file for when the thermostat drops a few bars and it will serve you well :)

  7. Matt, I would wash it, but an unwashed hand fetches so much more on ebay.

    Thanks for the quantities.

    Do I get to claim it as my own if I change chorizo flakes to cacciatore flakes?

  8. Is that hand severed or unsevered ? I know a few black markets that might be interested in the former…

    And you can definitely claim it as your own if you remove the chorizo, because it will no longer have the elegance and charm of the one true sausage. Plus I do it all the time… this was originally Gordon Ramsey’s recipe, but he’s not getting it back.

  9. Hey Matt

    I have to agree, a beautifully made risotto is indeed a very alluring offering indeed !
    Speaking of chorizo… Did I spy a photos of the Slow Food crowd preparing some last weekend! How was it? Meat lover’s heaven by the look of it!

    BTW My lovingly nutured brood of kipfler’s are not far off… Have told them that Uncle Matt is going to adopt a few of them ;-) In the mean time I have been dealing with an xs of oranges which I have eaten, squeezed and turned into vast quantities of marmalade… Alas, my garden is much like my kitchen… either feast of famine!

    Lorraine

  10. Hey Lorraine, you do indeed spy photos from the latest slow food event, which was the Italian sausage making workshop with Vincent Vitrelli. It was a great day, and I’ll have a proper post up about it shortly… ish :)

  11. Matt,

    I made this last night and it turned out brilliantly, which is astounding considering I am a risotto virgin. I was seduced by the creaminess of the pumpkin, what can I say?

    I did a couple of things differently though, one of which was roasting the pumpkin pieces first, which meant I had to use more cream due to dehydration issues. I also added a few peas. For those that don’t like this idea, I strongly suggest you give peas a chance…

    P.S. Please don’t take this the wrong way, but how do I unsubscribe to comments? I just think we might be moving a little too fast.

  12. Hey Brad,

    Glad it turned out great… but I think you’ve reached your pun and innuendo quota on that comment… I did like giving peas a chance though… but that’s all I’m saying.

    I think there should be a link in the emails to unsubscribe yourself from updates to this post. Just remember to come back for the next one :)

  13. Hey Matt. I’m about to make pumpkin risotto using your recipe. But my partner keeps on demanding MEAT inside the risotto, so I might make it with free-range chicken and fennel. This is actually the very first risotto experience for me… you see Matt, I’m too used to having white blunt rice for meal(being Asian)!!! I can’t find nice chorizo (i can’t be bothered making traditional Salvadorian style chorizo too..) so I thought chicken might go well since I’m using chicken stock. Hopefully I can flickr it up and show you the results!!!

    Maybelline from Bribane

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