Risotto with Acorn Squash (Risotto con Zucca)

Another from my Mario Batali cookbook. What can I say, I've been on a risotto kick lately.

Serves 4

1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, cut into 1/4 inch dice
1 small acorn squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/4 inch dice
1 1/2 cup Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
8 cups chicken stock, heated until hot
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup grated parmigiano reggiano, plus more for serving
salt and pepper

In a 10-12-inch saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat until almost smoking. Add the onion and squash and cook until the onion is softened and translucent but not browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the rice and stir with a wooden spoon until toasted and opaque, 3 to 4 minutes.
Add the wine and then a 4 to 6 ounce ladleful of stock and cook, stirring, until the liquid is absorbed. Continue stirring and adding the stock a ladleful at a time, waiting until the liquid is absorbed each time before adding more, until the rice is tender and creamy, yet still al dente, about 18 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat, add the butter and parmigiano and stir until well mixed, about 25 seconds. Season with salt and pepper. Divide the risotto among four plates and serve with additional cheese.

RESULTS: I can't tell you if this recipe is good or not, I didn't follow it too closely. First of all, Chris and I have been talking a lot lately about knife safety, in that I have none, and especially after cutting the tip and part of the nail off my left thumb for the second time in as many months I've been forced to agree that he may have something there. Regardless, I really don't know many people who would want to peel (is that even possible with the giant ridges?) an acorn squash and then cut it, the hardest vegetable known to man, into quarter-inch pieces. That's insane. Why don't you just cut a tire into quarter-inch pieces, or perhaps an acorn squash-sized rock? Instead I microwaved if for a minute, let it cool, cut it in half, took the seeds out, roasted it for a while (my saute pan is oven safe, so I didn't even dirty an extra dish), let it cool, and took a melon baller to it (thanks for the melon baller, Jean!). Since it was already mostly cooked, I waited to add it with the broth.

Second, I put a dash of rosemary in with the onion. Who doesn't like rosemary with acorn squash?

Third, I've come to the conclusion that Mario Batali uses too much cheese. I didn't add any cheese or butter at the end, and I really didn't miss it. I did add a drizzle of olive oil after I took it off the heat. That also instantly made this whole thing a lot healthier since the only fat was from olive oil and whatever little fat is in squash, none of it saturated. Thus I had less compunction eating two servings of it. :)

Fourth, it tasted good, but it was a mush of rice and squash. I'm still working on my risotto technique, it's supposed to be creamy not mushy. Roasting the squash instead of sauteing it probably also contributed to the mushiness. Anyway, to rescue the mush that I had turned it into, and I know it's really really not traditional (Betsy, don't read this), I added a tiny squirt of lime juice. It was delicious. After I mixed it together, I didn't taste the sourness, but it did seem to make the whole thing less like a mush even though it didn't improve the texture. I did still get a little of the lime flavor, but I love lime. I'm not saying other people would like it with lime (I did occasionally eat my hot dogs with peanut butter as a child, so I certainly won't claim to have universally appealing tastes), I'm just saying I enjoyed it with lime.