Spicy Squash Risotto with Thyme & Mascarpone

Good

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

Stage 1. Heat the stock. In a separate pan, sweat the onion, celery and a pinch of sea salt with the oil for about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and after another 2 minutes, when the vegetables have softened, add the rice. Turn up the heat now. At this crucial point you can’t leave the pan, and anyway, this is the best bit. While slowly stirring, continuously, you are beginning to fry the rice. You don’t want any colour (so remember, you’re in control, and if the temperature seems too high, turn it down a bit). You must keep the rice moving. After 2 or 3 minutes it will begin to look translucent as it absorbs all the flavours of your base (it may crackle at this point, that’s fine). Add the vermouth or wine, stirring as it hits the pan – it will smell fantastic! It will sizzle around the rice, evaporating any harsh alcohol flavours and leaving the rice with a tasty essence. I must admit I’m a sucker for dry vermouth. When it cooks into the rice it seems to give it a really full but subtle flavour and leaves a wicked sweetness that works perfectly with the rice. White wine is lovely, probably more delicate and fresh. Try both – see what you think. Stage 2. Once the vermouth or wine seems to have cooked into the rice, add your first ladle of hot stock and a pinch of salt (add small amounts of salt to taste while you are adding the stock). Turn down the heat to a highish simmer (the reason we don’t want to boil the hell out of it is because, if we do, the outside of the rice will be cooked and fluffy and the inside will be raw). Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring and allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take about 15 minutes. Taste the rice – is it cooked? Carry on adding stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite. Add a pinch of salt and black pepper to taste. Stage 3. Remove from the heat and add the butter and Parmesan, saving a little of the latter to go on top if you like. Stir gently. Eat it as soon as possible while it retains its oozy texture. Serve on its own or with a crisp green salad and a hunk of crusty bread. Beautiful.

Step 2

Preheat the oven to 200˚C/400˚F/gas 6. Wash the squash, then cut it in half with a large sharp knife (cut off one side and roll the squash on to the cut edge to make this safer and easier). With a large spoon, remove the seeds (try roasting these with a touch of oil and some sea salt and have them with drinks, like peanuts – they’re really nice). Cut the squash lengthways into quarters, then cut the quarters in half – you should have approximately 2.5cm-thick, boat-shaped wedges of squash. Put them into a bowl. Put all the dried herbs and spices into a pestle and mortar and pound them up with a good pinch each of sea salt and black pepper to make a fine powder. Once you’ve done this, add the garlic clove and pound it into the spices. Scrape the contents into the bowl and add the olive oil. Toss the squash thoroughly in this mixture, making sure that all the pieces are well coated. Place the squash pieces in a line, skin side down, on a baking tray. Roast for 30 minutes, or until tender. The spicy flavour will cook into the squash, it will crisp slightly, and the skin will become caramelized and chewy. I use this particular vegetable for so many different things: as a base for a filling in a ravioli, for bread, for risotto and as a vegetable to accompany any roast. When I first showed it to my mum she didn’t like the idea of it, but she actually loved the taste with the spices. We eat it quite a lot at home now. Do try it – it’s really nice, cheap and accessible.

Step 3

First of all roast your squash. When done, divide it in half. Remove the skin from one half and roughly chop the flesh. With the other half, leaving the skin on, chop slightly finer. At Stage 1 add the thyme. At Stage 2 add the batch of squash which has had the skin removed. At Stage 3 add the rest of the squash (the batch with skin on) and the mascarpone.