Start by preparing the vegetable broth with the vegetable stock on the side. Start with 1l of broth although it’s not an exact science as it depends on the rice that you are using. Cute the butternut squash in small pieces and cook them in a pan with butter and sage
For the risotto you will need to be in the kitchen present the whole time so make sure that you can be there. Start by melting on low heat butter and some oil in a pan covering most of the pan surface. Add onions and cook on low heat. I add a bit of salt to make the onion sweat. When it turns to golden (not brown) add the rice and steer gently and increase the heat to low/medium
When the rice seems to stick add the wine and continue to stir it gently until all the wine has evaporated. It will take a few minutes
Now start to add the stock to the rice. You can start with a couple of ladle but you will need to add less at the time as time goes by. Keep the process going by adding a ladle of broth and gently stir the rice until the liquid is disappearing and add some more. Rice tends to take around 20 min to cook although check the one you bought.
When you are close to cooking point add the butternut squash from to the pan and finish with the broth
Now what makes the ‘creamy’ part of the risotto is not cream is broth mixed with Parmesan and butter. So when your rice is ready (keep it on the al dente side) your rice should still have some liquid in it and that’s when you turn off the heat add butter and Parmesan and cover with a lid. Leave it for a couple of minutes
Remove the lid, stir gently and serve. You can use pancetta that you have fried in a pan until crispy on the side, coppa or also walnuts on top for decoration
