Roasted Butternut and Gorgonzola Risotto...........mmmmmmmm

This really is one of my favourite risotto's to eat, it is pretty simple to make, does take a little time but them again, what in life that is really decadent and mouth watering doesn't. What i like about this recipe is that it becomes really easy for home cooks to make as it doesn't have any stock in it, i know that some people are going to say but the basis of risotto is stock, but not this one, this one is a little unique, but i am not going to spill the beans yet on why i will rather let you read the recipe through until you get you Eureka moment.

Serves 4
Ingredients
2 Large Butternuts, peeled, seeded and cubed
4 sprigs of thyme
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 TBSP butter
50g Grated Parmesan
240g Gorgonzola (if you buy the fairview cheese buy the Blue Tower not the Blue Rock, the Blue Tower is the creamy gorgonzola styled blue cheese)
2 cups Risotto Rice (i like to use Arborio)
1 medium onion finely diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed and finely sliced
olive oil for cooking
1/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds (optional)
40g Panchetta (optional)
1 cup good chardonnay or good dry white wine
pumpkin seed oil (optional)

Method
First start off by dividing the butternut into 2, one part you are going to boil in some lightly salted water until soft, then puree it, the other half you are going to roast in the oven with the thyme, salt, pepper and drizzled with olive oil, roast for around 25 min at 200˚c, until slightly crispy on the out side and soft on the inside.

Now you can start with the risotto itself, firstly fry off the onion in olive oil until translucent, add the garlic and Arborio rice and carry one frying, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes until the rice is evenly coated with the olive oil, now add in the white wine and let this simmer until it is almost all been absorbed by the rice.
now add in 1/2 cup of hot water and stir until absorbed, you need to repeat this process until you can see the white of the rice is only a tiny little line through the middle, then you need to add in the puree'd butternut, seasoning, butter and Parmesan cheese, stir rapidly until all the cheese has melted (the reason for using Parmesan and Gorgonzola in this recipe, is that the Parmesan holds the risotto together because it is sticky when it melts) Now you can add in 200g of the Gorgonzola and the roasted butternut, stir in, check for seasoning and adjust if needed.

Take out now while there is still a little slit of white in the rice, this will be served "Al Dente" once on the plate/bowl you can garnish with toasted pumpkin seeds, Gorgonzola, panchetta and pumpkin oil like the picture above or you can take some butter and on a medium heat fry some sage leaves until the butter starts to turn golden, and drizzle this over the top of the risotto...yummmmmmy my favourite.

Now for those of you who didn't get the hey presto moment from above, the reason for not using stock in this risotto is because i have used a butternut puree to give it the full flavour that i want it to have, and then the roasted butternut adds in a different dimension into the overall mouth feel and flavour.


Bon Apetit.