Made a new food I can eat the other day. Again, pumpkin is prominently featured. This is because it’s one of the few vitamin-rich vegetables I can eat, and a fiber I can tolerate. And I like it. So why not?
As usually, I did not write down any of this while cooking. I just made it up as I went. So assume the quantities and times below are approximations. Ah, and I didn’t use fancy arborio rice, just plain old long grain white rice.
- scant 1 tsp of butter or oil, divided (as in 1/2 teaspoon, then another 1/2 teaspoon…not a single 1 teaspoon sized pat).
- A pint of white mushrooms, cleaned and coarsely chopped.
- 1 and 1/2 cups white rice
- 5 to 6 cups of chicken stock
- about 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree
- 2 cloves of garlic
- seasoning to taste (I used salt, ground black pepper, ground rosemary, sage, and thyme)
In a large saucepan, bring broth plus one clove of garlic and seasoning to a simmer. While that’s brewing, add 1/2 teaspoon of butter or oil to a large non-stick dutch oven or deep skillet, sautee mushrooms and second clove of garlic until the mushrooms are tender. Add seasoning as you sautee. Remove mushrooms, add second 1/2 teaspoon of butter or oil to pain, and sautee rice. I never really know when it’s done, but I tend to go with “until it starts to smell nutty”. Decrease heat on rice, turn off simmering broth, and slowly (and carefully) add about a cup and a half of the broth to the rice. Return to a medium/high heat and stir until the liquid is absorbed. Add in mushrooms and continue adding broth, about a halfcup at a time*. With the last cup, stir pumpkin puree into the rice mix. Cook (stirring constantly) until liquid is absorbed.
* Ok, so here’s where the EDS takes over. With real risotto, you just keep adding and stirring, adding and stirring a little at a time, you know, until all the liquid is gone or you pass out. Unless you’ve got a really kick ass kitchen set up with stools and stuff, this standing at the stove and non-stop stirring is hell on people with orthostatic intolerance and arthralgia. So, after about 2 rounds, I stop with the “add and stir” crap. At that point, I just add in ALL of the rest of the broth and the pumpkin (gotta stir that in good), stir, and turn way down, cover, and leave it alone for about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and checking to see if the liquid has absorbed and the rice is tender. This is one big advantage of using regular rice…it’s not as starchy so it’s less likely to stick and burn at the bottom of the pan if it is neglected a little.
It was super yummy, that with a rotisserie chicken from the local “fancy” store = 3 days of dinner. If you want to lower the fat more, use less butter/oil and a low(er) fat broth.
