Havested ingredient: pumpkin and sage
Risotto is a plate from Northern Italy in which the rice is slowly cooked until it becomes creamy. Ideal for the cold days of autumn!
🍝 Ingredients
For the rice
- 500 gr rice Arborio
- 50 gr plant-based butter
- 1.5 l water
- 2 vegetable stock cubes
- 1 onion
- 2 tbsp olive oil
For the sauce
- 1 pumpkin
- 1 garlic head
- 100 ml plant-based milk
- a handful of walnuts
To garnish
- sage leaves
- chopped walnuts
- 1 teaspoon of vinegar
- pumpkin seeds
🧑🍳 Procedure:
Cut the pumpkin in half, take out the seeds, peel it and chop it. Add some spices, olive oil, and put it in a baking tray together with the garlic. Bake it in static mode at 200°C for 15-20 minutes.
Once ready, remove some of the pumpkin, replace it with pumpkin seeds, and put the tray back in the oven to make it all crispy.
Blend together the pumpkin you just removed from the tray, garlic, plant-based milk and the whole walnuts.
Harvest the sage, wash it, and put it in the pan with some oil. You can even fry it to add extra cryspiness to your plate: add it to the pan only when the oil is very hot. If you do this, be careful and switch off the stove to avoid burning the sage.
In the meantime, boil 1.5 litre of water and add two stock cubes.
Remove the sage from the pan and use the same oil to sautè the chopped onions, then add the chopped garlic. Finally, add the rice.
When all the rice grains become white they are toasted: start adding the broth a little at a time, until the consistency becomes creamy. You know it has the right consistency if when you create a void space in the pan, the rice covers it slowly.
Add the pumkin sauce and let it sit a few minutes. Then, add the plant-based butter. For an extra creamy consistency, add the butter very cold, straight from the fridge.
In a small pan toast the chopped walnuts, then add a spoon of vinegar to caramelise them. It will add a nice twist to the plate.
Put your risotto in a plate, guarnish it with the toasted pumpkin and seeds, the caramelised walnuts, and the sage.
Enjoy!
Interested in harvesting wild plants?
“Wild Edible Plants” – Find the book here