Bacon, Chilli and Butternut Squash Risotto
Risotto is the ultimate comfort food; it’s warm, creamy and satisfying. With just the right amount of heat from the chillies, creaminess from the risotto rice and the roasted butternut squash, you’ll be cosying up on the couch to enjoy this bowl of goodness. Don’t forget the all important final squeeze of lemon!
The quantities provided above are averages only.
Boxes and ingredients are packed in facilities that handles Peanut, Nuts, Sesame, Fish, Crustaceans, Milk, Egg, Mustard, Celery, Soya, Gluten and Sulphites. Due to the war in Ukraine, it has been necessary to substitute sunflower oil with rapeseed oil in some products without a label change. The FSA have advised that allergic reactions to rapeseed oil are rare.
Ingredients
600
Butternut Squash
1
Onion
1
Flat Leaf Parsley
½
Red Chilli
1
Garlic Clove
4
Streaky Bacon Rasher
40
Parmesan Cheese
(Contains Milk)
1
Vegetable Stock Pot
(Contains Celery, Sulphites)
30
Unsalted Butter
(Contains Milk)
175
Risotto Rice
½
Lemon
Not included in your delivery
1000
Water
Nutritional information
Utensils
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Cut the butternut squash in half lengthways and scoop out the seeds with a spoon (or a melon baller works well if you have one!). Slice it widthways to about 1cm thick (we want to be able to cook this nice and quickly). Now chop into 1cm cubes.
Put your butternut squash on a baking tray and drizzle over some oil, a sprinkling of salt and a good grind of black pepper. Pop in your oven on the top shelf for 25-30 mins. Then remove from your oven and keep to the side.
Meanwhile, cut the onion in half through the root, peel and chop into ½cm pieces. Roughly chop the parsley. Cut the red chilli in half lengthways, remove the seeds and finely chop. Peel and grate the garlic (or use a garlic press if you have one). Cut the bacon into 1cm wide strips (use scissors for this if you want, it’s much easier!). Grate the parmesan.
Put a saucepan of water (amount specified in the ingredient list) on to boil with the vegetable stock pot and stir to dissolve.
Put half the butter in a large saucepan on medium heat along with a drizzle of oil. Add your onion and bacon and cook for 5 mins until your onion is soft and your bacon browned. Add your chilli (add less if you don’t like spice) and garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Once the pan is smelling fragrant and garlicky, add the rice along with a good pinch of salt and a good grind of black pepper, stir and cook for 1-2 mins until your rice looks slightly translucent around the edges.
After a minute or two, add in a ladle of your stock, stir, and once absorbed, add another ladle of stock. Keep the pan on medium heat and continue adding stock (stirring now and again while it cooks), letting it absorb before adding another ladle. This should take 17-20 mins. Your risotto is ready when your rice is ‘al dente’. Tip: ‘Al dente’ simply means the rice is cooked through but has a tiny bit of firmness left in the middle.
Once cooked, remove from the heat and add your butternut squash along with three-quarters of your parmesan, your remaining butter and three-quarters of your parsley. Squeeze in half the lemon juice, taste and add more lemon juice, salt and black pepper if necessary.
Serve your risotto in bowls with the rest of your parsley and parmesan sprinkled over the top.
