pilaf… sort of.

over the years as a student & regular broke person rice has been life saver. I've done everything with it including, in my more poverty stricken days, pairing plain basmati with baked beans, mushy peas and a battered fish steak (the cupboard was really really bare that day). Scarily enough i actually enjoyed it and it became a cheap regular meal as i kidded myself that the beans & mushy peas counted towards my 5 a day.
Lucky for you that is not what I'm writing about today. What I'm talking about is a yummy vegetable pilaf that I've made a few times which, although its been different every time due to it consisting of whatever been left in my fridge, is always delicious.
Pilaf is slightly different and much lighter than risotto which with the butter and cream can be quite heavy. its also cooked differently with instead of the constant stirring and gradual addition of stock you just bung it all in turn it on a low heat and allow it to bubble quietly.
one of my favourite variations included sweet potato, frozen peas & sweet onion paired with the slightly salty Bouillon vegetable stock cooked rice. Bouillon is by far my favourite stock to use and great to add into any recipe if like me you don’t like using salt as you get the intense veg flavour as well as seasoning.
I’m not going to write a recipe down for this. because I don’t have one. It literally is something that I just throw together with whatever veg i have and if the meaty mood takes me I'll either chuck in some chicken or cook off a pork chop. just follow the basic rules below and you can’t really go wrong.
1. vegetables – What Grows Together, Goes Together. seasonal veg will always mix well and similar tastes will compliment each other.
2. Unlike risotto don’t stir too much. Over stirring releases the starch and creates a stodginess you don’t want. Just keep it at a gentle heat and let it be.
3. Keep it simple. too many different flavours just kill off any clean tastes you’re looking for. less is more.
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Roasted Butternut Squash & Leek Risotto

I make risotto’s all the time. or at least i make my versions of risottos all the time (more about that at a later date) but i had a real urge here to make a proper dish from scratch but wasn’t sure about how to use the ingredients. I’ve never cooked with squash before and my only leek recipe so far is a lamb and leek hotpot (again you’ll hear about that at some point I'm sure) so when i spotted a little 100g ready prepared pack of squash in Tesco (prepared as in peeled cored and cut not seasoned and cooked) i jumped at the chance to use it. and also great as it cuts down prep time and wastage (you couldn’t use a whole squash for just one person!)

Ingredients:

100g butternut squash diced
1 medium onion sliced
1 leek sliced
1/2 cup Arborio rice
Chicken stock (approx 500mls)
Thyme or Sage (2tbsp)
Oil/butter (whatever your preference for frying is)

Optional:
frozen peas (fresh would be amazing but who keeps them as a store item?) or Frozen mixed vegetables as i used (i had a veg’ craving)
Garlic 2cloves finely chopped
1/2 Glass Of White Wine (dry)
1/2 Cup Cream

Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius roast the squash slices for 10 – 15 mins or until just starting to colour then dice them ready for the risotto. whilst the squash was roasting sauté the onions and leeks (and garlic if used) in the butter until soft and shimmering but not brown, you don’t want any colour in this risotto other than the green and orange of the veg’. Add the rice and continue to stir until it starts become opaque at the edges. start adding the warm stock a ladle at a time, stirring gently & waiting until the liquid is absorbed before adding more.

now if you’re using white wine you would add it in before the stock. the only reason I'm not using it myself is that i don’t have any and didn’t want to go to the shops to get some just for one 1/2 cup. you may need more or less stock depending on if you use the wine/cream.

Once the stock is fully absorbed add the squash, herbs, peas and cream and allow the veg’ to be reheated and the cream to be absorbed. Another tip if the herbs are dried you may want to add them a little earlier so that they can rehydrate a bit in the stock. Once the peas are cooked that's the Risotto complete. Because i didn’t have any cream i stirred another knob of butter (well… flora actually) through just to give a bit a shine. Dish up, top with parmesan and chopped parsley if you have some and serve.

Remember to taste as you go along to make sure its well seasoned and more importantly, tastes nice. as for seasoning i haven’t needed to use any as i used a Knorr chicken stock pot and stock cubes/pots tend to have salt in them anyway and I'm not a big salt fan.

The result was yummy, very clean and fresh and the sweetness of the squash worked really well but this was my first try so i’ll probably tweak it a bit to perfect the recipe. I’ll try it with the wine, cream and garlic next time just to see what difference it makes. This serves 2 very decent portions so if you’re on your own then simply pop the rest into a Tupperware box (those plastic microwave safe tubs Chinese's use are great if you don’t want to buy Tupperware) and either keep in the fridge for the next day or freeze.

Enjoy!

A hungry traveller stops at a monastery and is taken to the kitchens. A brother is frying chips. 'Are you the friar?' he asks. 'No. I'm the chip monk,' he replies.
St Crispun - Southampton UK