Risotto with Pumpkin and Blue Cheese

⏳ Time

1 hour 20 minutes

🥕 Ingredients

🍽️ Servings

Description

Sweet pumpkin pairs beautifully with any salty blue cheese, so feel free to use budget-friendly domestic versions in your risotto. However, if you have the option, go for a good sweet Gorgonzola; its combination with pumpkin is more than just a flavor match—it's a match made in heaven.

Ingredients

Pumpkin - 17.6 oz
Milk - 3 fl oz
Goat cheese - 2.8 oz
Nerone Rice - 8.5 oz
Butter - 2.8 oz
Shallot - 0.7 oz
Dry White Wine - 2 fl oz
Chicken Broth - 40 fl oz
Salt - to taste
Chestnut puree - 11.3 oz
Grated Pecorino Pepato Cheese - 2.1 oz
Ground Black Pepper - to taste

Step by Step guide

Step 1

Peel the pumpkin, remove the seeds, cut it into large cubes, and boil in boiling water for 40 minutes.

Step 2

Remove the pieces of pumpkin with a slotted spoon, allow them to cool, blend with an immersion blender until smooth, and season with salt.

Step 3

Prepare the sauce. Pour the milk into a saucepan, bring it to a boil, add 50 grams of Gorgonzola cheese, and mix well. Then strain the sauce through a sieve.

Step 4

Finely chop the shallots.

Step 5

Heat half of the butter in a large saucepan, add the onion, and sauté, stirring, until it becomes translucent.

Step 6

In a separate pot, heat the broth and let it simmer gently on the stove.

Step 7

Add the rice to the saucepan, season with salt, and sauté, stirring, until the rice grains absorb the oil and become translucent.

Step 8

Pour in the white wine and let it evaporate.

Step 9

Cut the remaining pumpkin into small cubes.

Step 10

Pour in a ladle of broth and allow it to absorb into the rice without stirring.

Step 11

Add chicken broth one ladle at a time, allowing it to be completely absorbed by the rice before adding the next. At this stage, the risotto needs to be stirred continuously for about 7 minutes.

Step 12

As soon as the rice becomes slightly softer, add the pumpkin cubes and cook for another 7 minutes; the rice should be al dente with 2 minutes to go.

Step 13

Stir in the pumpkin puree, remove the rice from the heat, mix well, let it warm for a minute, and then take it off the heat.

Step 14

Fold in the butter into the rice using an up-and-down motion, then add the grated Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper, and mix the rice thoroughly until it reaches a creamy consistency.

Step 15

Spread the risotto onto flat plates, then drizzle it haphazardly with the blue cheese sauce. Cut the remaining gorgonzola into cubes and use it to garnish the risotto. Serve the risotto immediately.