Smoked chicken & butternut risotto

[cmcadams]

I got this idea from my uncle, who saw someone at Whole Foods in Dallas do a similar bit... I made a butternut squash risotta.

Basic recipe is to cut up butternut squash into 1" or smaller chunks, about 4 cups cut up. I cooked that at about 350 for 30 minutes or so, until it was fork-tender, removed it to a dish and covered with 1/2 cup of good balsamic vinegar and set aside. While I was doing that, I put a chicken on the smoker at 300, with herbs under the skin.

After taking the butternut squash off the bubba keg, I put a hollow-out cinderalla pumpkin, slathered inside and out with olive oil. I watched this closely, only leaving it on for about 20 minutes, so it was only partially cooked.

I put 8 cups of veggie stock in a pan and heated it up to a simmer, then, in a 6 quart pan, put in about 3 tbsp of olive oil and heated it to a medium high temp, then added 1 cup of diced shallots and 6 cloves of diced garlic, and sweated that, for about 5 minutes, then I added a handful of fresh thyme.

I added 3 cups of arborio rice to the pan, and stirred that until the rice became opaque. The rice has to keep moving during this so it doesn't char, and it needs to be coated with the olive oil.

Once the rice is opaque, I started adding 1 cup of stock at a time, stirring constantly, letting the stock become fully absorbed before adding more. Once, the stock, all 8 cups, were absorbed, I took the risotto off the fire and added in 1 cup of grated, high quality parmesan cheese and stirred it in, along with half of the chicken that had been smoked, diced up, and the butternut squash. I tasted it to check for seasoning, and added a bit of kosher salt.

Once the risotto was all set, I put it in the cinderella pumpkin and served.

So the basic ingredients were:
4 cups of butternut squash chunks, 1" or smaller
1/2 cup good quality balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
1 cup diced shallot
6 cloves diced garlic
3 cups arborio rice
8 cups vegetable stock
1/2 smoked chicken, cut up
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

[Bacon_99]

Very cool.... And sounds tasty... My last batch of milanese risotto was a disaster..lol Love the presentation - very halloweenish...

[cmcadams]

What happened with the risotto? It shouldn't be tough, just something that needs attention the whole time.