Risotto will always remind me of my sisters because my older sister, Abaigh makes the world’s best risotto, her mushroom being the best. However, despite Abaigh’s clear connection to risotto and perhaps the snub of naming this one after our youngest sister, this bad boy is Aoife’s dream risotto because it’s bright orange. Orange is Aoife’s favourite colour and anytime we see anything orange she will say ‘dream car’ or ‘dream bike.’ So Peef, this is your dream risotto.

Ingredients (Serves 3 – I recognise this is not a helpful amount of portions for most people)

• 1/2 large butternut squash
• 1 Orange Pepper
• 3 Carrots
• 1 Onion
• 4 cloves of Garlic
• Arborio Rice
• 1 Glass White Wine
• 1 Chicken Stock Cube
• One ring of Chorizo
• 1 Sprig of Rosemary
• 1 tsp Mixed Spice
• 1 tsp Mixed Herbs
• 1/2 tsp Chilli Flakes
• 2 tbsp honey
• Parmesan for topping

Method

1. Chop your Butternut Squash into 2-3cm cubes. Roughly chop your carrot and Pepper into reasonably rustable chunks and put into a rating tray with a healthy glue of olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 25 minutes at 220.
2. Chop your chorizo into small pieces, around 1cm. Place in a cold pan with a tiny drizzle of olive oil and allow the pan to heat up with the Chorizo in it, this will pull all the lovely oil out of the meat.
3. Remove the chorizo from the pan and sieve into a bowl to extract as much of the oil as possible. Return the chorizo oil to the frying pan and add the onion and garlic, diced as small as possible.
4. Remove the 1/2 the Butternut squash and all the carrot and pepper from the roasting tin. Add a drizzle of honey to the remaining butternut squash and return to the oven on a lower heat, around 200 – 180 degrees.
5. With the other roasted veg, add it to a food processor with about a cup of water and blend until smooth.
6. Once blended add around 250ml of boiling water and a chicken stock cube and mix, this will be our stock.
7. Add the Arborio rice to the softened onions and garlic and cook until the grains are translucent. Deglaze the pan with your white wine.
8. Add a ladleful of your butternut stock, waiting until the first has been absorbed before adding the second and third and so-on. Add a sprig of rosemary to infuse the risotto.
9. About twenty minutes into the cooking process add half your chorizo and reserve the rest for topping. Turn the oven off but leave the butternut squash in to stay warm. Add your spices and herbs at this point.
10. You’ll know the rice is cooked when the outside of the grain is soft and the inside has a very slight bite to it still.
11. Serve the risotto up into bowls and top with as much of the crispy chorizo and butternut squash as you’d like and then grate parmesan on top to finish.

This is one of my absolute favourite recipes I’ve created so far, it was very loosely inspired by a Rick Stein recipe from his new book but I changed many things. It literally tastes like autumn in a bowl, a proper winter warmer and a truly delicious way to end a day. We even had it with some of my homemade focaccia. A lovely meal worthy of being named after my best friend and inspired by my other best friend.

– Koré