Today is creative Wednesday, this afternoon I have prepared roasted pumpkin for tonight’s dinner but I have not planned what to go with it. While I was cooking the risotto, I thought just pumpkin and risotto sound a bit plain so I looked into the fridge, not much available really as we will be away for the weekend so did not stock up much. Previously I would grill some tiger prawns to go with the pumpkin risottobut I was a bit lazy. The reason why I rustic roasted the pumpkin is because it requires least effort to prepare with extremely satisfactory results. And I can spend more time with Marc.
The idea of using Smoked tofu was inspired by my favorite vegetarian restaurant in Basel/ Zurich called Tibits. They use a lot of tofu in their dishes, so I thought just be brave and give a try. I asked Peter if he dared to try my creative dish, he said I had to right and in the end he had second. He was still having a teleconference when I placed his plate in front of him and I could see his face looked surprised when I spontaneously decided to crush a little amaretti biscuit on top, a little sweetness matched well to the pumpkin : ) I am truly proud of my dish tonight and very happy with the inspiration I had in the last minute! Sometimes you just have to try, if you never try, you never know. I love smoked tofu, they keep quite long in the fridge and becomes handy and is a great alternative to meat.
Due to time constraint, please excuse me that I am not going to write all step of my risotto, since the basic of how to make a risotto is everywhere, I don’t want to repeat. I will highlight the things I have done in my risotto.
- I have used Japanese sake instead of white wine when cooking the onion and risotto (the step before you add the stock). You can’t tell that I have not used white wine at all.
- Don’t feel strange that I have used spring onion in risotto, actually the Swiss and Dutch use spring onion in their cooking a lot too. In the past, I thought spring onion is only used in Asian cooking.
- To roast pumpkin in a rustic way:
- Preheat oven at 220°C, cut pumpkin into pieces, about 3cm x 3cm, do not remove the seeds, place them in a baking tray, sprinkle some freshly ground salt and black pepper, drizzle generous amount of walnut oil & extra virgin olive oil (50/50), this oil and the pumpkin seeds will keep the pumpkin flesh from frying out. Sprinkle your favorite herbs, I have used majoram, rosemary, thyme and bay leaves. Toss with your hand or wooden spoon to mix well. Roast in the oven for 30-40 mins. I roasted for 32 mins this time as I do not want my pumpkin too brown.
- I felt Ambercup Squash is more stringy (thready) than butternut squash which I normally use and more water content, therefore instead of adding the pumpkin at a later stage, this time, I added the roasted pumpkin shortly after I began adding the stock. As results we did not see any stringiness in our risotto and it has become a very creamy risotto.
- For baby Marc, I skipped the smoked tofu for him.
Serves 2
Ingredients for risotto:
- 2 cups of roasted pumpkin ( I have used ambercup squash this time)
- 1 cup risotto
- onion, finely chopped
- smoked tofu, cut into small cubes, mix in just before serve
- spring onion, cut into small pieces, use the white part first
- parmesan cheese
- vegetable stock (you can use chicken stock which I have used here if you are not vegetarian)
Seasonings:
- pinch of curry powder
- pinch of cumin powder
Garnish:
- spring onion, green parts
- smoked paprika
- amaretti biscuit (crush half for each plate)
- parmesan cheese (serve on table)
- ground pepper (serve on table)
Dare to give a try!
Wish I could understand German, I think it was said that there are more than 159 types of pumpkin around here.
The farm where I bought the pumpkins directly from in Oberwil, BL
Nice view in Allschwil, Basel-Land
If you like pumpkin, you may like to check out my best ever pumpkin soup recipe.
That is a lovely dish! A great idea. Yummy!
Cheers,
Rosa
looks very hearty. love the addition of curry powder in a risotto.
I love any dish with pumpkins in it! I especially love home made risottos & roasted pumpkin.
I love every flavour in here! Yummie;)
I cook from your cookbook a lot, my friend! very inspiring too! 🙂
Thanks Sophie for stopping by and try out my recipes ; ) Any chance to pay a visit to Basel.
Wow thats a lot of pumpkins!
Love the look of your risotto, especially with all those nice flavours in. I’ve never tried smoked tofu before but would like too, will have to seek some out
sounds lovely, pumpkins and come to that all squashes are very underated, love them all myself 🙂
What a beautiful risotto, I must try smoked tofu…sounds lovely!