SAGE BROWN BUTTER RISOTTO

Prep Time : 10 mins | Cook time : 40 mins | Total time : 50 mins

1 cup arborio rice

1/2 cup white wine

3.5 cups vegetable broth (chicken broth also works here if you aren’t veg)

1/2 a yellow onion

1 large scallion

4 tbps butter, divided

1 large butternut squash cubed, or 2 cups cubed

2 cups spinach

Olive Oil

Avocado oil

Salt & Pepper

Sage for garnish

Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 425. Start with roasting your butternut squash, if working with a whole squash, slice in half, scoop out insides and peel, cubing into even bite size pieces. Most stores will sell this already chopped if you want to make your life easier. Toss cubes with avocado oil, salt and pepper. Roast 20-30 minutes checking often and stirring until sides are browned and squash is soft but not mushy, I personally prefer to taste test everything, feel free to pull a cube out and after cooling give it a taste. You want the squash to hold up once added to the risotto.

2. Pour broth into a pot and warm on low heat.

3. When squash is ready, pull out of oven and set aside.

4. Next, finely chop scallion and onion. Add to large saucepan over medium heat with a drizzle of olive oil and 2 tbps of butter. Saute for about 5 minutes until the onion has softened.

5. Add rice to saucepan and saute for about 2 minutes until rice is coated and a bit toasted. Add white wine and cook until white wine is mostly absorbed, don’t worry a lot of this will burn off and just leave a hint of flavor.

6. Add about 1/2 cup of broth, stirring until all liquid is absorbed. Continue this with remaining broth, adding about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring often until risotto is soft but slightly al dente. Highly recommend the tried and true taste test here 

7. While risotto is cooking, add remaining 2 tbps butter and 4 sage leaves to a small saucepan and cook on medium heat. This will be your brown butter, so you will want to melt the butter quickly and continuously stir until butter begins to take on a golden brown color and a slightly nutty aroma, this will happen fast so don’t walk away, it can burn very quickly. Look for brown specks on the bottom of the pan and as soon as you see it turning brown, immediately remove from heat. Pull out the sage leaves carefully and set aside.

8. When risotto is almost done, add spinach leaves on top and gently stir in until wilted. Add brown butter and cooked butternut squash and stir to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste.

9. Serve immediately with caramelized sage leaves and Parmesan cheese if desired and enjoy!

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*I use avocado oil in this recipe for roasting because it’s safe up to 500 degrees. Olive oil has been known to release carcinogens when heated above 350 degrees. Not a huge deal, just a personal preference, avocado oil has no real flavor and you really can’t tell the difference with the finished product, I use it for all my roasting or high temperature needs. I use Chosen Foods, you can get it here or Costco :  http://www.amazon.com/Chosen-Foods-Avocado-Bottle-Naturally-Refined/dp/B00CYMF1CO

*This can easily be made completely vegan by omitting the cheese and butter completely. You can saute the onion and scallion in olive oil and just skip the brown butter. I think it adds a lot in the way of flavor but I have also done without and it will still be very delicious sans dairy.

*Risotto keeps very well and is great reheated for leftovers if for some crazy reason you don’t eat it all in one sitting.

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