Pancetta and Roasted Squash Risotto
Continuing the risotto theme, I made a fantastic risotto (epicurious, of course) and I felt I should post the recipe here. I paired it with black bean chicken with asiago and asparagus (i.e. contents of fridge).
Some comments:
- Some of the commenters suggested roasting the squash first. This is a very good idea. I used two acorn squashes (ended up with a half left over), scooped out the seeds, drizzled some olive oil, and baked it at 400F for an hour or so. It made the squash soften, which helped it cook more easily, and I think it added some great flavour. I think next time I’ll just go with one large butternut, though.
- Another brilliant commenter suggestion is to forego adding the butter at the end. It really doesn’t need it. You might be able to use veggie stock and forego the pancetta if you wanted to make it vegan. The squash and wine make it pretty flavourful. The pancetta is delightful, though.
- I used red wine (hence the colour), simply because I didn’t want to open the white and my red was almost gone. I thought the red wine and red meat worked well together, but I’ll leave that call to the oenophiles of the family (everyone but me). 🙂
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!