Butternut Squash Risotto

The weather has turned. This week is chilly, cloudy, and wet. Spring really isn't early. So we're back to warm and hearty food this week - vegetable curry, tomato-basil soup, grilled cheese on homemade bread, and butternut squash risotto. If it's chilly where you are, try this delicious risotto.

Here is what you'll need:

• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 onion diced
• 1 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• about 8 cups chicken or vegetable broth, heated
• about 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• about 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sageHere is what you do:

Heat the oil in a heavy-bottom pan over medium heat. Add onion and squash, salt and pepper (you'll taste and season again later so don't over-season at this time) and cook until the squash begins to soften, about 6 to 8 minutes.

Add rice and stir to coat all the grains with the oil and veggies. Reduce the heat to medium-low and begin adding your stock, 1/2 cup at a time and cook until almost all liquid has evaporated, 1 to 2 minutes. Continue to add remaining broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until liquid is absorbed before adding more, 35 to 40 minutes total.
Stir in Parmesan, sage, salt and pepper to taste. Of course, add more cheese to your own bowl if you like. You know you want to!

Project 261 & 260: Mushroom Risotto Patties

Good thing we like leftovers. Versatile, easy, quick.

You can make anything you can imagine. A favorite use for leftovers is making patties (croquettes, cakes, fritters). I love patties if any kind.

Rice dishes are perfect for this kind of thing. Leftover dal works great too and so do mashed, steamed, boiled, roasted, or baked potatoes. For these risotto patties, I took the left over mushroom risotto S made the night before and added an egg, some homemade whole wheat breadcrumbs, and a shake of this and that for extra flavor. Rice just absorbs flavor into a black hole. After I combined everything, I chilled the mixture so it would be easier to handle. Before forming the patties I rubbed olive oil on my hands. Don't worry, these don't require a great deal of handling. Just pick up a blob of mixture and quickly work to form a patty. Immediately start frying in the pre-heated oil. Brown on both sides to the color you desire. Remember, everything is already cooked. Sure, if you use an egg, you have a raw ingredient. But a fraction of an egg per patty will cook in minutes.

Flip and brown the other side. Then remove form the pan to a cooling rack lined with paper towel. Serve hot.