Pumpkin and Caramelized Onion Risotto

Last week I showed you all how to make your own Pumpkin puree, and how to make slow cooker caramelized onions.  These are both easy to make and are great staples to have in your freezer.  Plus I showed you how to roast pepitas (aka pumpkin seeds).  Today I’m going to show you how to put all of those together to make a super delicious pumpkin and caramelized onion  risotto.

I know you might think risotto is a hard, complicated thing to make, but really it’s not.  All you need is a little patience and it will turn out perfectly.  The key to perfect risotto is to stir it continuously and add the liquid slowly, giving each addition of stock time to be absorbed into the rice.  That will insure a lovely, creamy texture.  Once you start adding the liquid, it will be finished in about 25 minutes, so it’s not all that time consuming either.

If you haven’t had a chance to make your own pumpkin puree or caramelized onions and you want to make this recipe, you could certainly use canned pumpkin puree and you could saute a raw onion for a few minutes.  The risotto will still be delicious!

Pumpkin and Caramelized Onion Risotto

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Yield: 4

Pumpkin and Caramelized Onion Risotto

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Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 slices bacon, chopped
• 1 cup caramelized onions or 1 red onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup arborrio rice
• 1 cup dry white wine ( I used chardonnay)
• 1 1/2 cups homemade pumpkin puree or 1 (15 oz) can
• 2 cups fresh baby spinach
• 2 tbsp fresh sage, chopped
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• roasted pepitas, optional

Instructions

Bring chicken stock to a simmer in a sauce pan (do not boil).

In a large skillet, saute bacon over medium heat, until crispy. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels.

Add caramelized onions and garlic to the bacon drippings and saute until garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute.

If using raw onion, saute onion in drippings for about 4 minutes, add garlic and saute for about 1 minute more.

Add rice to the pan. Saute until rice is well coated with the drippings and is starting to toast, about 2 minutes.

Add wine to pan. Stir constantly until all of the wine has been absorbed into the rice.

Continue stirring and add one ladle of chicken.

Add another ladle when stock is almost absorbed, making sure you continue stirring.

Continue adding stock, one ladle at a time until all of the stock has been added, it should take about 25 minutes total.

Once all of the stock has been added, stir in pumpkin puree. Continue stirring for a few minutes until some of the pumpkin has been absorbed, you don’t want it to be too runny.

Stir in spinach, sage, salt, pepper, cheese and bacon.

To serve, top with pepitas, if using.

ENJOY!

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