Pumpkin and Olives Risotto
A perfect main course for the pumpkin season In Italy, it is a very common Fall recipe and I like to share it with the Big Oven community.
A perfect main course for the pumpkin season In Italy, it is a very common Fall recipe and I like to share it with the Big Oven community.
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- 800 g (3,5 oz) fresh pumpkin diced
- 100 g (1/2 cup) itrana olives or olive di gaeta minced
- 1 white onion minced
- 2 l (8,7 cups) hot vegetable stock
- 320 g (1-1,5 cups) carnaroli rice
- 2 tbps extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tbps butter
- parmesan cheese to taste grated
- Carbohydrate 2.602386875 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 0.052463125 g
- Fiber 0.481800012588501 g
- Protein 0.306515 g
- Saturated Fat 0.02938375 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (30g)
- Sodium 873.166 mg
- Sugar 2.1205868624115 g
- Trans Fat 0.012375 g
- Calories 11 calories
Step-by-step
- Take a large saucepan or a wok, add the olive oil and regulate the heat to medium fire. When the oil is heated, add the garlic and the minced olives and gentle sauté the mixture.
- When the onion becomes a little golden stir the diced pumpkin in. Add salt (don’t exaggerate with salt as I said in the mantecatura’s paragraph), pepper and and a pinch of nutmeg and give a stir.
- Cook the pumpkin for about 10 minutes or until it becomes a little dried then add the rice. Cook for about 1 minute stirring the rice.
- Now comes the boring part, the Mantecatura! Read notes for details! C’mon, pour the stock and stir, pour the stock and stir! Be patient and don’t go around watching telly because the rice might burn… Ok, it happened to me, I know colpa mia!Cook until the rice is tender and creamy and check the flavour! Add salt if needed.
- When it’s almost done, add the butter and stir. Serve the rice with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese to taste and decorate the dish with some olives if you like.Buon Appetito!
Undercooked risotto features chalky grain centers, while overcooked grains dissolve into a starchy paste. Achieving the correct texture relies on monitoring starch gelatinization during the gradual addition of hot liquid rather than trusting a strict clock. Carnaroli rice requires approximately 18 to 20 minutes of simmering to reach al dente. Watch for a creamy emulsion to form around the grains as the starches shear against the pan walls during stirring. A proper grain should yield softly to the bite with zero resistance at the core, yet retain its structural integrity without splitting open.
Wide, heavy-bottomed pans or shallow woks distribute heat evenly across the cooking surface, preventing localized scorching. Lacking a wide saucepan, use a standard Dutch oven while keeping the heat at a steady medium to compensate for thicker base walls. Incorporate cold butter and grated Parmesan cheese at the very end of cooking off the heat. This final step, known as mantecatura, traps air inside the emulsion to create a glossy finish.
