Heavenly: pumpkin risotto with garlic

Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the gourmands at online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat it and what to cook. This time our cheffies serve you: pumpkin risotto with roasted garlic.

The question ‘what are we eating today?’ is quite a struggle on some days. Instead of pulling a pizza from the freezer, Louise de Brabander shows in her new cookbook Easy dinners that cooking can also be very efficient and quick without compromising on flavor. Try making this pumpkin risotto with roasted garlic and you'll understand what we mean!

INGREDIENTS
800 g hokkaido pumpkin, peeled and cut into pieces
5 large, thick garlic cloves, unpeeled
olive oil
salt and pepper
1 tsp chili flakes
5 g rosemary, finely chopped
2 tbsp dried oregano
1 shallot, chopped
400 g risotto rice
150 ml white wine
1500 ml chicken broth
75 g hazelnuts
salted farmer's butter
100 g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

“Some ingredients have the magical property of making everything taste better. Roasted garlic is one of them. I make this roasted pumpkin risotto at least once a week every winter. It falls under the category of comfort food that everyone enjoys. It was served as a vegetarian main course on New Year's Eve, provided comfort to friends with heartache, and is always on the table when there are many mouths to feed. It's cozy eating, but still with some layers and well-chosen ingredients.”

Salted farmer's butter
“Pumpkin risotto may sound too simple to be really delicious, but it's the small, indispensable details that make this dish so irresistible. Taking a little extra time to roast the nuts and pumpkin, adding fresh herbs, and using quality ingredients like good salted farmer's butter, tasty broth, and aged Parmigiano Reggiano makes the difference. But the real star in this preparation, the one that makes you scoop that second and even third plate, is the surprising ingredient: roasted garlic. This pronounced flavor transforms in a hot oven from crispy, sharp, and penetrating, to creamy and sweet, almost caramelized.”

How to make the pumpkin risotto

1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C.
2. Drizzle the pumpkin cubes and garlic cloves with olive oil, and season with pepper and salt, chili flakes, rosemary, and oregano. Mix well with your hands and ensure everything is coated in a nice layer of oil. Slide into the oven for about 30 minutes, or until the pumpkin has golden brown edges.
3. Heat some oil in a pan and sauté the shallot for 3 minutes over low heat. Add the rice and stir-fry for 1 minute before adding the wine. Let the wine reduce and deglaze with a ladle of broth. Let it reduce again while stirring and add another ladle of broth. Repeat this process until all the broth is used and the risotto rice is cooked. This takes about 20 minutes.
4. Place the hazelnuts in a baking dish and slide into the oven for 5-10 minutes. Be careful not to burn the nuts. Let cool slightly and then rub the skins off between your hands. Coarsely chop the blanched hazelnuts.
5. Remove the pumpkin and garlic from the oven. Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins, mash under the blade of a knife until smooth, and mix into the risotto along with half of the pumpkin cubes, a generous knob of butter, half of the hazelnuts, and half of the
6. Parmesan cheese. Mix well until the pumpkin is fully incorporated into the risotto.
7. Taste and season generously with black pepper and possibly more salt.
8. Divide over the plates and finish with the remaining pumpkin cubes, hazelnuts,
9. Parmesan cheese, and extra black pepper.

Tip: If you have a few bulbs of garlic left, turn your oven to 180 °C. Peel the outer layers of the garlic bulb, but keep the bulb intact. Drizzle with olive oil and wrap them individually in a layer of aluminum foil. Roast for about 40-60 minutes (depending on the size of your bulb) until soft. Remove from the oven, let cool slightly, and then gently squeeze the buttery soft garlic paste out of its skin. Spread a clove over a piece of artisanal baguette, mix into hummus or another dip, blend with soup, add to tomato sauce, incorporate into a dressing, or stir into this pumpkin risotto. Store leftovers in a glass jar in the fridge, under a layer of olive oil. This way, you always have a delicious flavor enhancer on hand. Also use the infused oil. Perfect for frying potatoes or incorporating into a vinaigrette.

Title: Easy dinners
Author: Louise de Brabander
Price: €31,99
Publisher: Carrera Culinair