our take on life: pumpkin and mushroom risotto

hello there!

so today's blog post is a super yummy recipe for pumkin and mushroom risotto :) the great thing about risotto (apart from tasting delicious) is that you can make any kind of risotto once you know how to make your risotto-base :) we chose pumkin and mushroom because we felt like it, plus it really doesn't matter what kind of pumpkins or mushrooms you choose, the most important thing is that YOU like your ingridients ;)

our pumpin and mushroom risotto

list of ingridients
1 kg pumpkin
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp oregano
dried chilli
500g mushrooms
3 spring onions (chopped)
1/2 celery
4 cloves of garlic
400g of risotto rice
100ml white wine (dry)
70g butter
100g parmesan cheese (grated)
1.5 l chicken stock
olive oil, salt

preparation is key

try to get as much work done before you really start cooking your risotto. this is one of those dishes where you have to stay by the stove, stir and make sure everything runs smoothly, so there won't be much time to deal with anything else. I would recommend, finely chopping your spring onions, celery, a handful of parsley, and two cloves of garlic. if your parmesan cheese is not grated yet, then do that. wash your veggies, cut your mushrooms into bite-sized pieces, heat up your chicken stock and get a frying pan, a baking and a nice big pot ready!

the actual recipe

start by preheating your oven to 200°C.then go ahead and wash your pumpkins and cut them into nice thick slices. in a sturdy bowl (we used pestle and mortar) mix your coriander seed, black pepper, salt, chilli and pepper together and crush all the seeds to release the flavour. once your spices are mixed, add a good amount of olive oil and press two cloves of garlic into the mixture. then put your pumpkin slices in your baking pan and coat them with the paste. when you're done, put the pumpkin in the oven for about 30 minutes.

now that the pumpkin is in the oven, we're gonna start on our mushrooms so we can fully concentrate on the risotto later on. this step is easy. just toss the mushrooms in a pan with olive oil, cook for a few minutes, add salt and pepper and some parsley. done!

okay here comes the good stuff. put some olive oil in your pot on medium/high heat. once it's hot add your chopped celery, spring onions and garlic and stir. we don't want the veggies to get any color. risotto is supposed to be a very smooth dish. after a few minutes add the rice and stir for a while before you add the wine. when most of the wine has evaporated you can start adding maybe two to three scoops of your chicken stock. then stir. by the time the liquid has nearly evaporated again, add some more stock and keep on stirring. the trick is not to overdo it with the amount of liquid you add. slowly but surely you'll see how the risotto gets creamier and creamier. keep on adding liquid. after stiring for about 18-20 minutes you should check the rice. if it's just about done (we want the rice grain to have a bit of a crunch in the center) you add your last scoop of stock, cut the pumpkin into pieces (they should be done by now) and add them to the risotto as well as your mushrooms, butter and parmesan cheese and maybe some more salt and/or pepper. give it a good stir (maybe add one final scoop of broth), turn off the heat, put on the lid and let it sit for 5 minutes. after that, your risotto is done!

how do you know you did everything right? well risotto should be creamy and wet. risotto is eaten with a fork! so if you see your risotto and you think it's just a bit too liquidy to eat with a fork, then i'd say it's perfect! :)