Creamy and comforting, a good risotto doesn’t have to be complicated. It only takes a few ingredients — rice, broth, cheese and butter — to make one of Italy’s most iconic dishes.
In its most basic form, risotto can be an elegant backdrop for more complex dishes, like the famous osso buco, veal shanks braised in a rich sauce until tender, which is typically served with a saffron-flavored risotto.
For this week’s recipe, though, we’re adding a few more ingredients that transform a dish often relegated to the side of the plate into a showstopping star.
Along with onions and garlic, leeks are a member of the allium family. Although leeks will never make you cry, when cooked, like onions, they become sweet and meltingly tender. In this risotto, we sauté them just until softened, which keeps the flavor subtle and leaves room for its co-star in this production, butternut squash.
Winter squash, in this case butternut, gives this dish a heartiness that would satisfy anyone at the dinner table, which is why it’s the perfect choice when feeding a group that includes vegetarians.
Like soup, risottos love a garnish, and for this recipe the choice was obvious. Most recipes call for the white and light green parts of the leeks, but we use the tops, too. They are fried in oil in the microwave, a much easier and cleaner way to frizzle the leek tops than deep-frying them on the stove. The leftover flavored oil can be saved and used in dressings or to cook other foods.
While it isn’t absolutely necessary to take the extra step to make the garnish, it does elevate the dish, which is a particularly nice touch if you’re serving it as the main attraction.
If you want to provide a protein, just make sure to keep it simple, like roast chicken or pork.
