Whole Spelt Risotto with Butternut Squash
If you want to add more Mediterranean recipes to your recipe box, Whole Spelt Risotto with Butternut Squash might be a recipe you should try. This recipe serves 2 and costs $3.85 per serving. One serving contains 1062 calories, 38g of protein, and 50g of fat. A couple people really liked this main course. 40 people were glad they tried this recipe. From preparation to the plate, this recipe takes approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes. A mixture of mascarpone, parmesan, olive oil, and a handful of other ingredients are all it takes to make this recipe so scrumptious. It is brought to you by Leites Culinaria. Overall, this recipe earns an outstanding spoonacular score of 84%. If you like this recipe, take a look at these similar recipes: Butternut Squash and Spelt Salad with Goat Cheese and Toasted Almonds, Butternut Squash Risotto, and Butternut Squash Risotto.
Servings: 2
Preparation duration: 45 minutes
Cooking duration: 60 minutes
Ingredients:
2 medium beets, scrubbed
4 tablespoons butter, cut into cubes, cold
1 3/4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 generous tablespoons mascarpone
1 tablespoon canola or olive oil, plus more for drizzling the vegetables
2 ounces Parmesan, grated
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large shallots, finely diced
1 1/2 cups spelt (or substitute pearled barley)
1/2 cup white wine
1 small winter squash, preferably butternut
Equipment:
oven
knife
peeler
cutting board
sauce pan
frying pan
wooden spoon
bowl
ladle
Cooking instruction summary:
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C).2. Steam the beets with the skin on until your knife slides in but there is still a bit of resistance, roughly 20 to 30 minutes. Let the beets cool until you can handle them. Rinse the beets under cool running water and slip off the skins off with your fingertips. Cut each beet into quarters.3. Halve the squash lengthwise. Place it cut-side down on a cutting board and run a vegetable peeler along it to remove the peel. Scrape the seeds and stringy things from the cavity and cut the squash into 1/2- inch chunks. Place the squash and the beet quarters into separate baking dishes and drizzle each with some of the canola or olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat and then place a sprig of rosemary and thyme on top of each. Roast in the oven, stirring once, for 25 to 30 minutes, or until tender.4. Pour the stock into a smallish saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer.5. Heat the tablespoon of oil, shallots, and a pinch of salt in a wide pan over medium heat and cook very gently until soft but not colored, 4 to 5 minutes. 6. When the shallots are soft, add the spelt (or barley) and stir very well to coat each grain. As the pan becomes hot and dry, add the white wine, sprinkling it around the pan in a clockwise direction to help it reduce and evaporate more quickly. Keep stirring gently. You will hear the wine “singing” as some of it reduces in the pan. After about 2 minutes, the grains will look dry again.7. Now is when you can start adding your hot stock, a ladleful at a time. After every ladleful, stir well, really scraping the bottom of the pan, until the stock has almost disappeared into the grain. Then add your next ladleful, keeping the spelt moist all the time—don’t let it dry out between ladlefuls. After about 15 minutes of adding stock and stirring, start to taste—be careful, because the grains will be very hot. Spelt will feel slightly different in texture from rice, but it should be comfortably soft in the mouth yet still have a little bite to it.8. When you feel that the spelt is almost there, take the pan off the heat. Using a wooden spoon, beat in the butter—you really need to get some energy into it—and then beat in the mascarpone and Parmesan. The risotto should be nice and creamy and quite loose. If it feels a bit too sticky, just beat in a little bit more hot stock. Taste and season, if necessary—remember that the risotto may already have enough salt if you’re using store-bought stock, seeing as the Parmesan also lends it some saltiness.9. Ladle the risotto into shallow bowls and spoon some of the roasted squash and beets over the top.
Step by step:
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C).
2. Steam the beets with the skin on until your knife slides in but there is still a bit of resistance, roughly 20 to 30 minutes.
3. Let the beets cool until you can handle them. Rinse the beets under cool running water and slip off the skins off with your fingertips.
4. Cut each beet into quarters.
5. Halve the squash lengthwise.
6. Place it cut-side down on a cutting board and run a vegetable peeler along it to remove the peel. Scrape the seeds and stringy things from the cavity and cut the squash into 1/2- inch chunks.
7. Place the squash and the beet quarters into separate baking dishes and drizzle each with some of the canola or olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat and then place a sprig of rosemary and thyme on top of each. Roast in the oven, stirring once, for 25 to 30 minutes, or until tender.
8. Pour the stock into a smallish saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer.
9. Heat the tablespoon of oil, shallots, and a pinch of salt in a wide pan over medium heat and cook very gently until soft but not colored, 4 to 5 minutes.
10. When the shallots are soft, add the spelt (or barley) and stir very well to coat each grain. As the pan becomes hot and dry, add the white wine, sprinkling it around the pan in a clockwise direction to help it reduce and evaporate more quickly. Keep stirring gently. You will hear the wine “singing” as some of it reduces in the pan. After about 2 minutes, the grains will look dry again.
11. Now is when you can start adding your hot stock, a ladleful at a time. After every ladleful, stir well, really scraping the bottom of the pan, until the stock has almost disappeared into the grain. Then add your next ladleful, keeping the spelt moist all the time—don’t let it dry out between ladlefuls. After about 15 minutes of adding stock and stirring, start to taste—be careful, because the grains will be very hot. Spelt will feel slightly different in texture from rice, but it should be comfortably soft in the mouth yet still have a little bite to it.
12. When you feel that the spelt is almost there, take the pan off the heat. Using a wooden spoon, beat in the butter—you really need to get some energy into it—and then beat in the mascarpone and Parmesan. The risotto should be nice and creamy and quite loose. If it feels a bit too sticky, just beat in a little bit more hot stock. Taste and season, if necessary—remember that the risotto may already have enough salt if you’re using store-bought stock, seeing as the Parmesan also lends it some saltiness.
13. Ladle the risotto into shallow bowls and spoon some of the roasted squash and beets over the top.
Nutrition Information:
covered percent of daily need
