I love to make risotto, and I happen to make it often. It follows in line with quiche as far as ingredients are concerned with anything goes! The base is simple: sauté shallots in a little olive oil, then add in the dried risotto to quickly coat and toast, then slowly stir in your desired flavor of broth, whether it’s beef, chicken, seafood or vegetable broth. This is the winning base for risotto.
The rest is up to you, whatever combination you come up with, no doubt your risotto will be delicious. I usually make risotto when the veggies in the crisper aren’t quite as fresh. Then, I like to add some sort of protein, usually grilled chicken or shrimp, and mix in with sugar snap peas, green beans, or even peas themselves straight from the freezer. Sometimes I even make a grilled corn risotto and add lots of parmesan cheese.
Today is all about using butternut squash and asparagus risotto!
Such a delicious combination for risotto and makes for the most perfect fall comfort food. To keep this recipe even easier, I recommend buying the precut butternut squash. The cubes are just the right size and saves you the hassle of cutting off the skin and taking out all of those seeds! To add depth of flavor, and because butternut squash takes a little longer to cook and to add more depth of flavor, my recipe calls for roasting in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the squash is fork tender.
The asparagus gets added the last few minutes to cook through and take in all of the flavors. If you would like to take the extra step of roasting or grilling the asparagus, that would bring a delicious nutty flavor to the risotto.
Table of Contents
Top Recommended Cookware For Risotto
I do recommend cooking risotto in a designated risotto pan. I use a copper risotto pan because it distributes the heat and cooks the risotto evenly. Most heavy bottom frying pans will work just fine, however I do highly recommend the copper risotto pan that I’ve cooked with for years. As a side note, I DO NOT recommend cooking risotto with a cast iron pan. Click on the photo to view and buy.
Butternut Squash And Asparagus Risotto Recipe
Butternut Squash & Asparagus Risotto
Ingredients
- 1 cup butternut squash cut into 1/2 inch chunks
- 1/2 cup asparagus cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 cup arborio rice risotto
- 5 cups vegetable stock
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 shallot diced
- pinch saffron
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat over to 350 degrees
- On a baking sheet, place butternut squash, and drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast until fork tender, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.
- In a saucepan, pour in vegetable stock and warm over medium low heat.
- In a large high-sided sauté pan, pour remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Add diced shallots and sauté over medium heat until translucent, about 2 minutes.
- Add the rice to the shallots and stir to cover with the olive oil.
- Ladle 1-2 cups of vegetable stock into the rice and stir continuously in steady even strokes.
- Once rice has absorbed most of the stock, add the wine. Keep stirring continuously until the rice has absorbed most of the liquid.
- Continue the process of adding the stock until all of the stock as been added.
- On the last ladle of stock, add the asparagus to the risotto, along with the pinch of saffron. Let it cook, absorbing the liquid with the risotto.
- Add butternut squash and warm through, about 2 minutes.
- Take risotto off heat and add parmesan cheese. Stir to combine.
- Serve hot.
Notes
The Best Grilled Corn Recipe!
Delicious on its own, this grilled corn makes for tasty leftovers, especially when cut off the cob and added to risotto! Super easy to grill up and will no doubt be some of the best grilled corn you’ve ever made!
You can find the recipe HERE!!
Svet says
Hello ! Have you tried adding chicken to this recipe ? If so how did you go about doing that. Thank you !
Brooke Fedigan says
I have not tried adding chicken to the recipe, but I think it would be delicious. I would just add cooked chicken that is cut into cubes or torn into bit size pieces, at the end to worm it through, then serve.
Best,
Brooke