Pumpkin & Mushroom Risotto (recipe)

Hey guys :) 

Today, I went to Langham Hotel with Farn and his family for a lunch buffet - it was really really good! But more on that later... Because I'm teaching you guys how to make Pumpkin & Mushroom Risotto tonight :D 

To serve two very hungry/three normal people:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

2. Chop up a quarter of a pumpkin, lots of mushrooms and broccoli 

3. Dice 1.5 large/2 small onions and place in a separate bowl. 

4. Place the chopped pumpkin and mushroom on a tray and season them with salt, pepper, herbs (eg - thyme, rosemary) and olive oil. Roast for about 20 minutes until golden and tender but make sure it does not turn soft and mushy because you will be cooking it again with the risotto in the end. 

5. To prepare the actual risotto, heat up ~750mL of vegetable stock (and water) in a saucepan until it boils. Make sure you keep this warm throughout the entire process and you can always heat up more as you go. 

6.  Meanwhile, pour some oil and a knob of butter in a large pot. Sweat the diced onions in it and then add a few sploshes of good quality red or white wine and keep stirring until you cook the alcohol off (optional).

7. Now pour one cup of arborio rice and coat it in the oil for 30 seconds before adding one ladle of heated stock. 

 

Notice how grainy the rice appears at first in the picture above. Let the mixture simmer on low heat and make sure you always stir it.



When the rice has absorbed the stock and water, pour in another ladle and repeat this for around 25 minutes until you can see and feel the rice getting plumper and all the starch oozing out.

 

8. Taste the risotto as you go and season with salt if needed. When the rice grains are nearly cooked, add the chopped broccoli in. 

We also added in some lemon zest and juice to lift up the risotto but this is optional (don't let any lemon seeds fall in...yuck)

9. Keep adding stock if needed and now add in the roasted pumpkin and mushrooms.    

10. Grate some parmesan cheese and serve up the risotto immediately :)

If you have any questions, just ask Laura or me :) 

Enjoy :)