AUTUMN RISOTTO WITH BUCKWHEAT, BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND MUSHROOMS

An easy trick to make risotto a little bit more nutritious is to use whole grains instead of the traditional white risotto rice. To make this autumn risotto I used buckwheat but you could replace it with either barley or spelt, for example.

A risotto with buckwheat, butternut squash and mushrooms might not be the most traditional one but in this recipe, there are still some very distinct Italian flavours like thyme, garlic and balsamic vinegar.

There are 3 key phases to making this recipe. First, cooking the buckwheat. Second, preparing a butternut squash puree with soaked cashews. Third, making a mushroom onion stir fry. And then you just mix them all together and adjust seasoning if required.

This risotto is arguably at its best when the weather is getting colder and the nights are getting darker. It works also very well together with a glass of red wine 🙂

AUTUMN RISOTTO WITH BUCKWHEAT, BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND MUSHROOMS

 

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

45 mins

 

Author: Antidote Kitchen

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients

• 1 medium sized butternut squash
• 250g Buckwheat
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 1 handful of cashews
• 250g chestnut mushrooms
• 1 small yellow onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
• A bunch of fresh thyme
• Sea salt and black pepper

Instructions

1. Put the cashews to soak in warm water
2. Peel and chop the butternut squash into small pieces
3. Bring a pan of water to boil and add the butternut squash pieces together with a pinch of salt. Cook the butternut squash pieces until tender
4. In the meantime, chop the onion, garlic cloves and mushrooms
5. Cook the buckwheat with a vegetable stock cube until tender
6. Drain the butternut squash pieces BUT save a little bit of the cooking water if needed later to thin the puree
7. Put the butternut squash pieces into a food processor along with the soaked cashews, thyme and 1-2 tsp salt and black pepper. Process until a smooth puree forms. You can add a little bit of the cooking water if required to ease the blending but not too much to avoid the puree becoming too thin
8. Heat up a pan over medium heat and add the chopped mushrooms (no oil yet). Fry the mushrooms until they release liquid. Then add the chopped onion and garlic cloves together with 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp salt and sauté for a couple of minutes until the onion turns translucent. Then add the balsamic vinegar and sauté for a couple minutes more
9. Pour the butternut squash puree back into the saucepan and mix with the cooked buckwheat and the mushroom onion mixture
10. Taste and adjust seasoning if required before serving

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 1 Calories: 570 Fat: 18 Carbohydrates: 88 Sugar: 26 Fiber: 12 Protein: 14

3.5.3226