This Week In Food: "Pumpkin" Mushroom Risotto

Way back in the early days of The Drive to 195, I wrote of the things that I found indispensable.  One such thing was Cooking Light Magazine.  Their recipes are almost always fabulous and are available online at www.myrecipes.com.  I subscribe to the print version of the magazine and sometimes give out subscriptions to my weight-conscious friends as gifts.  Cooking Light gets most of the credit for this recipe.  I have made changes however to suit my tastes and my wife's non-meat-eating lifestyle.  She got no ham and I used vegetable stock.  You can feel free to use low sodium chicken stock.

Another oft written-of affinity is kabocha squash, also called Japanese pumpkin.  I find it regularly at my grocer and it is one of the so-called 'super foods', extremely high in nutrition, low in calories and packed with flavor.  I subbed kabocha in the Cooking Light recipe that called for canned pumpkin.  I would much rather use a fresh veg, than what amounts to pie filling in my supper.  It's inexpensive and easy to prepare, but if you are in a pinch, go ahead and use the canned.  Another recipe substitute was using speck, a smoked ham, in place of pancetta, unsmoked Italian bacon.  The speck was readily available at the grocery and had MUCH less fat and calories than the pancetta.  In fact, it cut the fat by about 75% and the overall calories by around 15%. The speck added a nice salty, smokey note to the dish.  I'll use it get my bacon fix in future concoctions.

This all came together in about an hour and if you want to make risotto, you have to be willing to spend a good 30-35 minutes, or so, in front of the stove stirring.  It's worth the effort.  This was a great meal for a cold winter's evening and paired well with the winter lettuce and pear salad, which I will link below.  I hope you enjoy my spin on Pumpkin Mushroom Risotto.

Pumpkin Mushroom Risotto

serves 4
352 calories, 7.5g fat

Ingredients

• 1 cup mashed Kabocha squash (instructions below).  You can also try butternut squash or canned pumpkin puree.
• 28 oz. no salt added vegetable stock
• 2 Tbs pignoli nuts (pine nuts).  You can also sub chopped walnuts.
• 2 Tbs diced speck (such as Citterio Cubetti Speck)
• 1 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 cups shiitake mushroom caps (you might also try thin sliced crimini mushroom caps)
• 1.5 cups of sweet onion (1/4" dice)
• 1.5 Tbs garlic minced
• 1/2 cup of dry white wine
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbs mascarpone cheese
• 3 Tbs scallion (thin sliced, green portion only)
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

Method

• Peel and dice about 1/4 of a kabocha squash into about 1" pieces and microwave for 5 minutes on high.  Mash with a potato masher or electric beater until smooth.  Set aside.
• Bring vegetable stock to a simmer can keep hot on a back burner, ready to ladle into the rissoto.
• In a large skillet, toast pine nuts and set aside.  Careful!  These will burn quick and don't take long.
• Cook the speck for about 3 minutes on medium high heat.
• Add the olive oil and cook the onions, mushrooms and garlic, stirring frequently until the onions are tender, about 5 minutes.
• Add the wine and cook until most of the liquid is gone.
• Add the rice and cook for an additional 3 minutes, stirring constantly to well coat the rice.
• Add salt
• Using about 3/4 cup of stock at a time, add to the rice and cook, stirring constantly, until the liquid is absorbed.  Repeat this until the stock is absorbed and the rice is tender.  You should have creamy rice at this point.  About 25 minutes.  If you need more liquid, add small amounts of hot water until the rice is the desired doneness.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the kabocha, mascarpone, scallions and ground pepper.  Blend well.
• Adjust seasoning and sprinkle with the pignoli.
• Serve with a Pear and Winter Lettuce Salad, recipe HERE

Risotto may seem intimidating, but it's not hard if you are attentive and stir constantly.  You are a slave to the stove for about 35 minutes, so plan accordingly.  Also, I found that the dish needed a little more salt, but you can adjust to your own needs and tastes. Enjoy!

Cya Wednesday,

M

What I ate today and how I exercised:

Breakfast ~ 2 poached eggs with multi-grain toast and speck

Lunch ~ Grilled chicken sandwich

Dinner ~ Brussels sprout and fennel vichyssoise and some mashed kabocha on the side.  Three super foods in one meal!  

Exercise ~ 45 minutes on the treadmill and about 2.2 miles