Risotto With Winter Squash And Collard Greens Recipes

RISOTTO WITH WINTER SQUASH AND COLLARD GREENS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with foil. Toss the squash with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and spread on the baking sheet in an even layer. Place in the oven, and roast for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes until tender and caramelized. Remove from the heat.
• While the squash is roasting, blanch the collard greens. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Fill a bowl with ice water. When the water comes to a boil, salt generously and add the collard greens. Blanch for four minutes and transfer to the ice water with a slotted spoon or skimmer. Drain and squeeze out extra water. Chop coarsely, or cut in ribbons.
• Bring the stock to a simmer in a saucepan. Heat the remaining oil over medium heat in a large, heavy nonstick frying pan or a wide saucepan, and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until the onion begins to soften, about three minutes, and add the garlic and about 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring, until the onion is tender and the garlic fragrant, about one minute, and add the rice. Cook, stirring, until the grains of rice are separate.
• Stir in the wine, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. The wine should bubble but not too quickly. When the wine has just about evaporated, add the collard greens, a third of the squash and the saffron. Stir in a ladleful or two of the simmering stock, enough to just cover the rice. The stock should bubble slowly. Cook, stirring often, until it is just about absorbed. Add another ladleful of the stock, and continue to cook in this fashion -- not too fast and not too slowly, adding more stock when the rice is almost dry -- until the rice is tender all the way through but still chewy, 20 to 25 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings.
• Add the remaining roasted squash and another 1/2 cup of stock to the rice. Stir in the Parmesan and parsley, and remove from the heat. Add freshly ground pepper, taste one last time and adjust salt. The mixture should be creamy (add more stock if it is not). Serve right away in wide soup bowls or on plates, spreading the risotto in a thin layer rather than a mound.

MUSHROOM AND BUTTERNUT SQUASH RISOTTO

Steps:

• Combine the chicken broth and 3 cups water in a medium saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer. Put the porcini mushrooms in a spouted measuring cup and ladle 1 cup hot stock over. Let soak 15 minutes. Remove the mushrooms, reserving the soaking liquid, and finely chop. Pour the soaking liquid back into the broth.
• Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, then add the butternut squash and season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing occasionally, until lightly browned and almost tender, about 10 minutes. Remove to a plate.
• Add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil to the skillet and turn to medium-high heat. Scatter in the fresh mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are well browned and have given up their liquid and the liquid has reduced away, 7 to 8 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and add the shallots. Cook, stirring occasionally, until wilted, about 3 minutes. Add the rice and stir to coat in the olive oil. Let the rice toast in the skillet for a minute, then stir in the reserved chopped porcini.
• Add the white wine. Bring to a simmer and cook until absorbed. Ladle in enough of the hot stock to just cover the rice. Adjust the heat so the risotto is gently simmering. Cook and stir the rice until the liquid is almost absorbed, then ladle in more stock just to cover. Continue to stir and add stock until the rice is al dente, adding the squash in the last 6 minutes of cooking time, 18 to 20 minutes. You may have a little bit of stock left over, and that's OK.)
• Remove the risotto from the heat and stir in the butter, cheese and parsley. Serve immediately, passing additional Parmesan at the table.

SKILLET COLLARDS AND WINTER SQUASH

Steps:

• Combine the barley and water in a medium saucepan, add salt to taste and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer 50 minutes to an hour (longer for purple barley), until the barley is tender. There should still be plenty of water in the pot. Place a strainer over a bowl and drain the barley. Measure out 1 cup of the cooking water. Transfer the barley to a serving bowl and keep warm.
• Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat and sear the squash for 5 to 10 minutes, until it is lightly colored. Add the greens and cook, stirring, until they are wilted, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, salt, pepper and sage and cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes, until the mixture is fragrant, then add the stock or barley water and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer 10 minutes, until the squash and greens are tender. Add lemon juice to taste, drizzle on the remaining olive oil, adjust seasoning and serve with the barley.

WINTER SQUASH RISOTTO

Steps:

• Cut squash into medium size pieces, scrape out seeds and stringy flesh and discard. Steam cleaned pieces of squash for 10 to 15 minutes until tender. Remove skin and mash smooth. Place stock in a saucepan and heat until simmering. In a large heavy saucepan over medium heat, fry bacon piece until crisp. Remove bacon, leaving grease in the pan. Crumble bacon for use as a garnish and set aside. Add oil and shallots and cook for about 2 minutes. Stir in the rice and cook for 5 minutes over moderately high heat. Stir slowly but constantly. This will "toast" the rice and start to turn it slightly golden and feel loose and dry. You should start to hear the rice "click." Add the wine all at once to the rice and cook over fairly high heat to boil it down. When the rice is almost dry, stir in 1 cup of stock and mashed squash. Simmer until the sock is absorbed. Continue adding stock 1 cup at a time and stirring until rice becomes creamy while the grains remain separate and firm, but not hard in the center of the grain. This should take about 15 to 20 minutes. Add the nutmeg, salt, pepper and rosemary and stir. Stir in the butter and 1/2 cup Parmesan. Place in individual serving bowls and sprinkle with remaining cheese, crumbled bacon and a sprig of rosemary. Enjoy! Yield: 4 to 6 main course servings
• Hints for success: The pot must be heavy on the bottom to keep the temperature even during the cooking process. Arborio is a short grained rice. It is very starchy, which is necessary to produce the desired result of a creamy risotto. Look for a fat opaque center in the rice, known as "LaPerla," this indicates a good starch content. Wine is the first liquid to be added to the rice. The first liquid will be absorbed totally and the acid in the wine balances the starch and adds flavor.
• Toasting the rice seals in the flavor. There should be about 3 times the amount of stock as rice. Make sure the stock is very hot. The stock is added slowly to the rice and releases the starch gradually, creating a creamy texture. Constant stirring is needed to produce the best results

COLLARD GREEN RISOTTO AND POT LIQUOR

Steps:

• MELT butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat; add onion, and saute 5 to 7 minutes or until tender.
• STIR in rice and garlic; saute 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; add wine and bay leaves. Cook 5 minutes or until liquid is reduced by half.
• ADD 1 cup chicken broth, salt, pepper, and hot sauce; cook, stirring often, until liquid is absorbed.
• REPEAT procedure with remaining broth, 1/2 cup at a time. (Cooking time is about 45 minutes.) Remove and discard bay leaves.
• HEAT oil in a Dutch oven; add bacon, and cook until crisp. Add onion, and saute 5 to 7 minutes or until tender. Add garlic; saute 1 minute.
• STIR in collard greens, salt, and pepper; saute over medium heat 5 minutes or until greens wilt. Stir in chicken broth. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and cook mixture 45 minutes or until greens are tender.
• POUR greens mixture through a wire mesh strainer into a container, reserving greens and pot liquor. Whisk molasses and butter into pot liquor.
• STIR greens into risotto.
• PLACE 1 cup collard green risotto in each of 6 bowls. Ladle pot liquor mixture evenly on top. Serve immediately.

RISOTTO WITH WINTER SQUASH AND COLLARD GREENS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with foil. Toss the squash with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and spread on the baking sheet in an even layer. Place in the oven, and roast for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes until tender and caramelized. Remove from the heat. While the squash is roasting, blanch the collard greens. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Fill a bowl with ice water. When the water comes to a boil, salt generously and add the collard greens. Blanch for four minutes and transfer to the ice water with a slotted spoon or skimmer. Drain and squeeze out extra water. Chop coarsely, or cut in ribbons. Bring the stock to a simmer in a saucepan. Heat the remaining oil over medium heat in a large, heavy nonstick frying pan or a wide saucepan, and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until the onion begins to soften, about three minutes, and add the garlic and about 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring, until the onion is tender and the garlic fragrant, about one minute, and add the rice. Cook, stirring, until the grains of rice are separate. Stir in the wine, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. The wine should bubble but not too quickly. When the wine has just about evaporated, add the collard greens, a third of the squash and the saffron. Stir in a ladleful or two of the simmering stock, enough to just cover the rice. The stock should bubble slowly. Cook, stirring often, until it is just about absorbed. Add another ladleful of the stock, and continue to cook in this fashion -- not too fast and not too slowly, adding more stock when the rice is almost dry -- until the rice is tender all the way through but still chewy, 20 to 25 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings. Add the remaining roasted squash and another 1/2 cup of stock to the rice. Stir in the Parmesan and parsley, and remove from the heat. Add freshly ground pepper, taste one last time and adjust salt. The mixture should be cre