What Do You Mean You Don't Have a Ricer?

butternut squash

okay...so my butternut squash weighed in at between 10 and 13 kilos (a kilo is 2.2 pounds). It was so large that when it was plopped into my hands i could barely hold it (hence the bad pic) and I think it was larger than most 6 month old babies.

Needless to say (and yet I'm saying it), I made several different things with it throughout the week.

Noell: I took your two ideas from last week!

I made a butternut squash soup...no white wine, though, so i had to substitute apple juice. I also added a few carrots to boost the vitamins and whatnot. It was REALLY REALLY good. I roasted the squash first with oil and lots of yummy spices (fresh garlic, cinnamon and cloves, rosemary, some basil and some oregano and some sage). Then it was: cook in liquid, mashy mashy, puree in the blender (much less mess than my lentil soup was!). It was a nice, mild, yummy yummy soup! Everyone loved it AND I got to eat it for a couple of days. I love when I can share food and still eat lots of it.

I also made the foil-pack-in-the-oven thing, with butternut squash, potatoes, zucchini, green peppers, onions, and carrots. With olive oil and spices. yum. On Monday. Because on Monday my flat gets cleaned (and my dishes washed)--which means it is the WORST POSSIBLE NIGHT to cook something that makes lots of dishes. Foil packs = no dishes. :-)

And then, tonight (so exciting!):

I made something like a risotto, only with regular organic brown rice, not arborio rice. It went basically like this:

(need: butter, hard white cheese, veggies--in this case, winter veggies, rice, veggie broth, white wine (see below for substitutions), a big pot with a lid or lots of foil, and a wooden spoon.)

cut lots of veggies (I used zucchini, butternut squash, green bell peppers, carrots, and mushrooms--I was out of onions but that would have been yummy too)
mince some garlic
melt some butter (a couple tablespoons)
saute the (onions if you're using them), mushrooms, and the garlic a few minutes in the butter...add salt and pepper...saute a few more minutes
add the rice (I used about 1-3/4 cups brown rice)...saute like you're making rice-a-roni even though you aren't
add all the other veggies
add 3 cups of vegetable broth and 1-1/2 cups of dry white wine (I used a mixture of veggie broth, orange juice, and white vinegar b/c we don't have wine here)
add some more spices: I used basil, oregano, thyme, and some Emeril Spice (I love that stuff)
cover
cook for a while, until the rice is cooked and most of the liquid is absorbed
stir and let stand a couple of minutes
if the liquid isn't going away, cook a few more minutes (uncovered)
add another T or two of butter, stir.
add some grated cheese. Any hard-ish white cheese will do...I used cheddar. parm or pecorino would be good. stir.
eat.

This was so good, I can barely express it's yumminess to you. You will have to take my word for it. It tasted even better than some of the risottos we had in florence. I am not joking. :-)

posted by Teri @ 4:46 PM