Butternut squash, sage and mascarpone risotto

Butternut squash, sage and mascarpone risotto

So recently I made a butternut squash and sage lasagne, I had some ingredients left over so rather than waste them I thought I would make a risotto as I always have plenty of arborio rice around. It’s a cheap dish to make and very tasty, again I would say make sure you use fresh sage I know it may not always be easy to find in supermarkets but you will notice the difference. I also make a little butternut squash puree whilst it is cooking and stir that into it, it is not essential but I think it just brings out the taste of the squash more and also makes it a bit sweeter and those people that know me know I have a sweet tooth. I know This recipe is basically using the same ingredients as the last one I put up but I was making it so I thought I may as well take some pictures and share it with you guys as it’s a great risotto.

Ingredients, for risotto : (Serves 4-6)

1 white onion diced

1 clove of garlic finely chopped

1kg butternut squash peeled and chopped into small chunks

300g arborio rice

1 small glass of white wine

1 ½ ltr vegetable stock

A small bunch of sage chopped

50g mascarpone

30g parmesan freshly grated

50g butter

Salt and pepper

For puree:

½ small butternut squash stem cut off seeds removed

1 tsp. butter

1 tsp. brown sugar

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. honey

½ tsp. cinnamon

To garnish,

Wild rocket

Cracked black pepper

Parmesan shavings

Seeds of butternut squash roasted with salt, paprika and cumin

Pre heat the oven to 200c and prepare the squash for puree, lay on a tray flesh side up and put a splash of oil, plus the butter and the sugar and roast for 45 minutes or until the squash is soft enough to scoop out of skin and puree in blender. Once it has reached this stage, put it in a food blender and add honey, nutmeg and cinnamon. If it’s a bit thick just add some melted butter, this can also be done before you make the risotto and kept back or even used with other dishes, I personally think it goes really well with pork belly. 

It is optional but you can put the seeds in oven sprinkled with paprika, cumin and a pinch of salt too and use them as a tasty garnish if you want. They will take about 20 minutes to cook.

To make the risotto heat a large pan with some oil and butter, it is important to use a large pan as the risotto will expand when it is cooking by quite a bit. Once the pan is hot put in the onion and garlic and put onto a medium heat, then add the butternut squash.

Keep stirring it for about 5 minutes then add the arborio rice, it is important to stay with risotto and not leave it too long as it sticks very easily so keep stirring it off the sides and moving it about, if it is cooking a bit fast just turn the heat down a bit then add the white wine and stir until it has reduced down.

One ladle at a time add the vegetable stock and once it has reduced add another and so on until the rice is cooked but still slightly firm to the bite, adding the sage roughly halfway through cooking.

Once cooked, add the puree, the mascarpone and the grated parmesan stir through until hot, check seasoning and finish with stirring the butter through it. Like many of my dishes it isn’t the healthiest but its tasty and a good treat.

Dish up and garnish with fresh rocket, parmesan shavings, seeds and cracked black pepper and serve with warm bread, I used Tesco Mediterranean bread.

Thank you for reading :)

Kitchen tools and utensils

One of the most important things in the kitchen is your kitchen utensils, whether it be a favourite knife to a pan you couldn’t go without, even something simple like spoons are one of the most important things that every chef needs close by. Every chef has their own favourite items in their home or kitchen, these tools help you prepare and cook your food to the best standard and I have my own favourites that I use all the time.

Knives: Getting a good collection of knives is a marathon not a sprint, knives can be very expensive and I have spent more money than I would like to admit on knives but without them I would not be able to work as quickly or as efficiently as I do. I have a knife for whatever preparation I need to do, filleting, chopping, slicing and it’s very important to keep them nice and sharp.

Pans: Every kitchen has its own set of saucepans, woks, steak pans and I have a few good pans at home that I like to play around with. The wok I have is only small and I got it from tk maxx along with some other good things but I use it quite often and it’s the perfect size for a quick stir fry for one. My sizzler pan is a new pan that I got for my birthday and it's a great pan you can use, although it is usually just used for serving food on I made some steaks on it recently which went down great and comes with a board u can put it on to serve which is a nice feature.

Some of my other favourite utensils include a potato peeler as having a decent one speeds peeling up so much, a plastic spatula

and a ricer so I can make lovely smooth mashed potato.

My first day

The day had arrived for my first day at the Crow’s nest and it was not going to be a quick easy day as I was on a split shift, in other words about 12 hours. On the plus side I was working with my girlfriend Izi in the kitchen today. We walked down early and I was shown how to open up and set up for breakfast then we made a mise en place list to get ready for lunchtime, scaling sardines, de-bearding mussels and preparing the scallops. All foods that I had not cooked in a little while and kind of missed.

It was a fairly quiet morning so once we had prepped up we had a little bit of spare time and decided to use that time to make up some specials for the evening we both had to work. Izi needed to pop to weyfish to get some fresh crab for the sandwiches and salads for lunchtime so she got a bit extra crab and decided on making some crab cakes up, I then made up some piri piri sauce that we used for chicken strips.

It was a good lunch service and then we were back for the evening where despite being a busy night we still found a little bit of time to take some pictures of some of the food we sold, the specials sold very well too which was good, we carried on doing food till quite late and by the time we cleared down did orders and finished up we had already done 13 hours today, which felt good but a little worrying as we still have the weekend to go.

Over all it was a really good day and it is good to be in a kitchen doing the hours I am used to doing in the summer and cooking the food I enjoy cooking and if you ever get a chance I would definitely come down for a meal and I’m not only saying that because I am the new chef

Piri Piri sauce ingredients

½ red onion diced

2 birds eye chillies chopped

1 clove garlic chopped

1 small bunch of basil chopped

1 big splash of Worcestershire sauce

Juice of one lemon

1 tsp. of paprika

1 big splash of white wine vinegar

Salt and pepper

Blend in food processor and add a bit of water if too thick

Sardines

Crab cakes

Potato croquettes

Stuffed tomatoes

Tapas of desserts

Seville orange posset wth candied almonds

Butternut squash and sage lasagne

Today was my day off, after not having a day off last week and doing lots of hours I could probably be forgiven for having a lazy day but I was feeling inspired and wanted to upload a new recipe to my blog. I have cooked this dish a few times for friends, family, and colleagues and even had it on the menu and apart from one of my mates claiming 'it doesn’t count as a real meal as it has no meat in it' my butternut squash lasagne has always gone down really well. One of the girls from the nook had asked me to write down the recipe for her as well so I thought I would cook it today for lunch for my girlfriend and me.

 

Ingredients:

1 leek sliced thin

1 medium white onion diced

1 medium butternut squash diced

2 garlic cloves chopped fine

Small bunch of sage chopped

Lasagne sheets

Grated cheddar

Salt and pepper

For the Mornay sauce:

35 g salted butter

35 g plain flour

Pint of milk

Grated cheddar

Salt and pepper

Squash is my favourite veg and I love using it for so many things, soups, purees, in risotto, mashed and it really goes well with sage, it is important to use fresh sage in this lasagne, you will really notice the difference.

Once the veg has been prepared, heat a large saucepan on a medium heat and add oil and butter and cook the veg until the onion is translucent and the squash is al dente and season.

Make your Mornay sauce by melting the butter in a pan and adding flour to make a roux, once this is done slowly add the milk a ladle at a time and use a wooden spoon to stir it and make it smooth. Once it starts to thicken up too much add another ladle of milk. Keep on a fairly low heat and don’t leave it. Half way through switch to a whisk then add larger amounts of milk and leave it to thicken up a bit more. Once done it should be a smooth creamy sauce, then just add the cheese until it has all been incorporated in the sauce, finish by seasoning it.

Now it is time to put the lasagne together, find a suitable dish and put half the squash mix at the bottom, top with lasagne sheets then the sauce and repeat action, finally add some more grated cheese over the top and it is ready to go in the oven.

I put mine on a fairly low heat maybe gas mark 4 for about 45 minutes as I do not want the top to burn, cooking times may vary but just stick a knife through it and when the pasta is cooked the lasagne should be ready.

The finished lasagne works perfect with a simple salad and some garlic bread and of course a bit of mayonnaise. You can also do up a bigger batch as it is just as good the next day.