Vegetarian mains
Roast squash & wild garlic risotto
Walking through the woods near the farm during wild garlic season, the aroma is heady with it. This risotto makes the most of these glossy, pungent spring leaves, pairing them with sweet roasted squash. Make sure the wild garlic is washed well, as it’s grown and picked where the wild things are! If you like, keep the skin on the squash; it’s so thin you can eat it as it softens well as it roasts.
Ingredients
- 1 onion
- 50g butter
- ½ tbsp bouillon powder
- ½ small butternut squash
- 175g risotto rice
- 100ml white wine
- 100g wild garlic
- 2 tbsp green pesto
- 50g whole toasted hazelnuts
- 40g Italian style hard cheese, grated
Method
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Step 1
Preheat your oven to 180C/Gas mark 5. Peel and finely dice the onion. Melt ½ the butter in a large saucepan with a splash of oil. Gently fry the onion, stirring often (you don’t want it to colour), for 8 mins, while you continue.
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Step 2
Put the bouillon in a medium saucepan with 1 litre of water. Heat it to a bare simmer, while you continue. Using the narrower, neck end of the squash, peel and chop it into 2cm discs, then into half-moon shapes. Toss in a roasting tin in oil to coat and season. Set aside.
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Step 3
Stir the risotto rice into the onion for 2-3 mins (turn the heat up slightly), until the grains look slightly translucent. Pop the squash in the oven to roast at this stage, for approx. 25 mins, until tender. Toss halfway through, so it roasts evenly.
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Step 4
Meanwhile, stir the wine into the rice. Let it bubble and absorb. Then, add ladles of the bouillon stock, stirring each one in as the previous one is almost all absorbed. Continue
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Step 5
until the rice is tender with a little bite; approx. 20-25 mins.
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Step 6
While the rice cooks, boil a kettle. Wash the wild garlic. Fill a heatproof bowl with boiled water. Dunk the garlic in for 1 min, then drain and refresh in cold water. Squeeze out excess liquid, then coarsely chop the leaves.
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Step 7
Mix the pesto with a little olive oil to thin it down to a more pourable consistency. Roughly chop the hazelnuts.
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Step 8
Remove the roasted squash from the oven. Stir the wild garlic, remaining butter and ½ the Italian cheese into the risotto. Leave it for 2 mins. Check the seasoning.
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Step 9
Serve the risotto topped with the squash, drizzled with pesto and sprinkled with remaining cheese and hazelnuts.