In the Kitchen with Katy: Warm Winter Risotto
Hungry? We've whipped up the latest batch of our yummy monthly series,"In the Kitchen with Katy," bringing you the freshest of ideas for clean, healthy eating. Enjoy...
Now that winter is finally upon us, I find myself craving comfort foods. Warm, rich, hearty dishes that will stick to my bones (as my grandma would say) and keep me full for hours. But that kind of eating often comes with a high fat count. Fortunately, there's always risotto.
This particular recipe was inspired by the dark, earthy tastes of winter. Fortified with a mushroom veggie broth and plenty of baby bellas, there is a certain meatiness to each forkful—despite the fact that this meal is totally vegetarian! You could also make it vegan by omitting the goat cheese, but I happen to like the tangy, creamy taste of melted chevre. And while many chefs use white rice for their risotto, I actually used short grain brown rice. Not only does it give the dish a nutty depth, but it also makes the dish ever-so-slightly healthier.
Winter Risotto with Butternut Squash & Mushrooms
- Two cups of short grain brown rice
- One medium-sized yellow onion, diced
- One package of baby bellas, sliced
- One package of dried shitake, oyster, or other mixed mushrooms
- One butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- Goat cheese (optional)
- Four cups of veggie broth
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
- Salt & pepper to taste
1. Toss the cubes of butternut squash with olive oil, garlic salt, and pepper. Place them on a baking pan inside a preheated over at 350 degrees. They will need to roast for about a half hour (but use your fork to test if they're cooked through after 20 minutes).
2. Pour the broth into a small saucepan and set it to boiling. Add the dried mushrooms and let them stew.
3. Throw the onion into a hot pan and saute until slightly translucent. Add the baby bellas and the rice. Saute for 30 seconds on medium-high heat before adding one cup of the hot veggie broth. Stir until the rice is entirely coated, and let the mixture sit for several minutes until all water has been absorbed.
4. Add the fresh thyme, reserving some for garnish. Continue to add a half a cup of liquid at a time, stirring the mixture until just before the rice begins to stick to the pan (should be the consistency of oatmeal) before adding another half cup of broth. Continue until all the broth has been added.
5. Add the reconstituted mushrooms to the mixture. Stir and check your rice. It should be soft on the outside, with a slight firmness toward the center of each grain. By now, the rice should have made a creamy sauce, which you can thicken by adding goat cheese to the mixture, stirring until it is completely integrated.
6. You should now have a brown rice and mushroom risotto with a rich, thick cheese taste. But you still need to add the squash! Take the roasted veggies out of the oven and heap them on top of your dish. Sprinkle the colorful meal with a few leaves of thyme and (if you like) a dash of Parmesan.
That's it. This meal should take about forty minutes from start to finish. The only real trick is watching the rice to make sure it doesn't stick to the pan. Everything else is a breeze. Bon appetit!
About Katy
Katy Kelleher is a writer, editor, and obsessive reader of all kinds of fiction who currently lives in the beautiful state of Maine. When she's not in her kitchen cooking up new ways to consume kale (the greatest veggie to come out of her tiny urban garden), she can be found floating in any nearby body of water, running with her dog Deja, or hunting through racks of vintage threads. Up until September, she served as the global editor of Milkshake, and before that she worked at NBC and MSN. Her work has appeared in The Huffington Post, Boston Magazine and The Improper Bostonian. She's also the managing editor of Dispatch Magazine, a lifestyle and events publication based out of Portland, Maine.