Summer Squash Risotto

Summer Squash Risotto
I went to culinary school and on the first day of our “European Cuisine” section, the chef asked for a volunteer. I raised my hand and he laughed a big belly laugh and said “oh boy you’re gonna regret that” Little did I know, I was going to be demonstrating how to make risotto. He let me know that I would be standing in one spot in front of the stove continuously mixing for the next hour “hope you didn’t skip arm day”.

And he was right. I was standing there stirring this pot of rice for just about an hour. Risotto is a labor of love. A slow and steady dish that is super easy to make, but you can’t really walk away. You can make risotto out of just about anything- but this recipe uses Arborio rice & vegetable stock as the base. 
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As with all of my recipes, you should totally make this your own. The mix-ins can be whatever you like. Sweet peas or mushrooms taste amazing. You can mix in some cheese at the end if you want.  Really make this with whatever flavors you like. This version has baby spinach & yellow squash, and sausage. 

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Ingredients
6 cups of stock (homemade is great, I used “better than bullion” roasted garlic for this)
1.5 cups of Arborio rice 
1 medium sized yellow onion
1 Tbsp butter 
1 Tbsp oil

For the mix-in: 
1 cup baby spinach
2 cups yellow squash, diced
4 oz sausage, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp oil
salt & pepper

​​Method of Preparation
1. Start by making your mix-in. Heat 1 tsp of oil and sauteed the sausage until cooked, then add the garlic and cook for a few minutes. Next, toss in the yellow squash and cook until it softens. In the last few minutes add spinach and wilt.  Set this aside in a bowl to add to your finished risotto. 

2. Add vegetable stock to a pot on your stove and keep it warm. I like to use a salted stock sso that the dish is seasoned all throughout cooking. If using an unsalted stock you’re going to want to season with sprinkles of salt as you go. You’re going to be adding this stock in stages to your rice so you want it close by on a gentle simmer. 

3. In a large, wide pan with straight sides heat your oil & butter on medium heat. Add diced onion and cook while stirring until it starts to become translucent (not browned). Season with salt & pepper. Get ready because you’ll have to stay at the stove for a good long while. Pour yourself a drink, put on some tunes, and make sure you have a back-up person to stir if you need to run to the bathroom. 

4. Add your raw Arborio rice to the pan and toss to coat in the oil. Stir for 2 minutes to ever-so-slightly toast the rice and get it ready for the stock. 

5. Add 1/2 cup of the warm stock to your pot and stir until almost all of the liquid is absorbed. You shouldn’t see any puddles of liquid at the bottom of the pan at all. 

6. Continue to add your stock in 1/2 cup increments- each time stirring until there’s no more liquid in the pan. This can take awhile but please don’t be tempted to crank up the heat to have this go faster. You want the liquid to go into the rice, not evaporate. 

7. Your rice will start to double, then triple in size as the stock is absorbed. Once you have about 2 cups of the stock left to add- give it a taste. You want the rice to be cooked through without any crunchy bits in the center. If it’s not quite there, keep adding your stock in small additions until all the rice is very soft and the liquid is creamy. 

If your rice isn’t quite cooked and you run out of stock, you can use plain warm water for another cup or so. 

8. Once your rice is fully cooked, add in your mix-ins that you cooked earlier. You can also add some shredded cheese at this point or a spoonful of pesto depending on what flavors you’re going for. 

9. Plate up while it’s still warm. This dish is something you want to serve right away, otherwise it can get pretty thick!

That’s it! Rice, onion & stock along with your favorite toppings. The ingredients are simple, but the technique is a really fun one to master. This dish does take a lot of stirring but you can use it as a nice meditative practice and I promise, the results are totally worth it.