Butternut, Bacon and Sage Risotto

Risotto is one of my favourites, and this is one that is a regular feature on my menu! Risotto needs a fair bit of TLC to get it right, but it is well worth it!

Ingredients
400g arborio rice
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed and cut into bite sized pieces
12 fresh sage leaves
12 slices smoked, streaky bacon
20g butter
2 tbsp of olive oil
100g parmesan cheese
2litres hot vegetable stock
1 large glass (or mini bottle) dry white wine
pinch salt and pepper for seasoning

(serves 4)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C fan.
2. Place the butternut squash, 1 tbsp olive oil and a little salt and pepper in a large pyrex dish or baking tray. Bake in te oven for 15 minutes.
3. Gently fry the onion until soft and lightly browned.
4. Add the garlic and fry for 2 minutes more.
5. Add the rice to the pan and stir for a few minutes. Risotto rice has a thick shell, this dry heat creates tiny cracks in the shell that allows it to absorb the liquid later, so it's important that you don't skip this stage!
6. Pour in the wine and stir until absorbed.

5. Begin to add the vegetable stock 1 ladle full at a time. Give it a good stir with each addition, you really want to massage all of the starch out of the rice to make your risotto nice and creamy.

6. Once the squash has had it's first 15 minutes in the oven, remove it, sprinkle over the sage leaves, and lay the bacon over the top, then return to the oven for a further 30-40 minutes, until the bacon is crisp. All the time adding more stock as the last ladle full has been absorbed.

7. Once the bacon and squash are cooked, and the rice has absorbed all of the stock and is now tender, remove the bacon and squash from the oven, remove half of the squash and place it in a bowl, then return the rest of the squash and the bacon to the oven on a low temperature to keep warm. Using a potato masher, mash the squash in the bowl to a puree.

8. Add the parmesan cheese and butter to the risotto and stir through to melt. This will add extra creaminess. Then stir through the squash puree.

9. If necessary, add a little more water to the risotto to perfect the consistency. The Italians call the perfect risotto consistency all'onda, which means 'with waves'. So when you stir your risotto it should leave a small break then collapse under its own weight,  filling the gap like a wave lapping. Remove the remaining squash and bacon from the oven.

10. Plate up your risotto rice first, chunks of squash second, then a strip of 3 bacon slices on top.

Enjoy!