Roasted butternut squash, sage & crispy pancetta risotto

A creamy risotto base loaded with sweet roasted butternut squash and salty Parmesan cheese, topped with crispy pancetta and fried sage leaves.

Time to prep : 10 minutes

Time to cook : 40 minutes

Total time to make : 50 minutes

Servings : 4

Ingredients

1kg butternut squash, peeled and cubed

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp butter 

1 onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

300g arborio risotto rice

125ml white wine

1.2 litres of vegetable stock

100g Parmesan cheese, extra to garnish

Handful of fresh sage leaves, stalks trimmed

150g pancetta, diced

Salt and pepper, to season

Method

1. Pre-heat a fan oven to 220ºC.

2. Spread the cubed butternut squash across 1 or 2 large roasting tins and cover with 2 tbsp olive oil and a good pinch of salt. Use hands to mix everything together and roast for 30 minutes until tender and golden.

3. Meanwhile, make your risotto base. Heat 2 tbsp butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan over a medium heat. Add in the onion and cook until softened and are translucent, we want to keep them soft rather than crispy, about 5 minutes. Add in the garlic for another 2 minutes until aromatic, again making sure it doesn't go crispy.

4. Add in the arborio rice and stir constantly for about 1 minute until the outsides of the grain go translucent. Pour in the white wine and bring to a gentle simmer.

5. Prepare your stock and add 1/4 of the stock into the pan with the risotto. Still on a medium heat, allow the mixture to come to a soft simmer. You don't need to constantly stir the risotto but the water will begin to absorb over the next 3 - 4 minutes and we don't want it to dry out or it will burn on the bottom of the pan, so stir occasionally to check on the progress, until a wooden spoon pulled through the risotto leaves a slow-filling path.

6. Repeat these steps, adding another 1/4 of stock then simmering and occasionally stirring, until all of the stock has been poured in. The risotto should be cooked but al dente and with a creamy texture, season to taste.

7. Add in 3/4 of the roasted butternut squash and the Parmesan cheese, reserving some squash and parmesan to garnish.

8. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a small frying pan over a high heat and fry the sage leaves until crispy, remove and lay on a kitchen towel to absorb excess oil. Add pancetta to the pan with any leftover oil in and fry for 2 - 3 minutes until golden and crisp.

9. Garnish the risotto with the remaining roasted squash, crispy sage, pancetta, Parmensan and fresh black pepper.

Nutritional Information

(per serve)

668 calories

20g protein, 92g carbs, 23g fat

Good to know

• You can use an air fryer rather than an oven for the butternut squash if you prefer, air fry at 200ºC for about 18 minutes until golden.

• Use pumpkin or sweet potato in place of butternut squash.

• Use diced chorizo instead of pancetta or skip to make this vegetarian.

• If you don't have or want to use white wine, simply miss it out and add 125ml extra stock and add a squeeze of lemon to the risotto to replicate that touch of acidity in flavour.

• Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days. To re-heat, mix about 6 tbsp of water or stock per portion into the risotto and either ping in the microwave on 20 - 30 second intervals, stirring in-between, or warm up over a medium heat in a saucepan on the stove. It should return to it's creamy consistency, add more water or stock as required.

• It is possible to freeze risotto but the texture changes quite a lot once you defrost it, so I prefer not to.