After reading a blog post written by my friend at Blame it on the Food, I was inspired to try her recipe for squash risotto. This batch of risotto definitely had a unique combination of flavors: sweet, savory, spicy and tart all in one dish.
In addition to the flavors, I like the colors in this dish: lots of green and orange with flecks of red from the chili powder and my “pinch” (e.g. several hefty shakes) of cayenne. I opted not to mash the squash, and found that some of the cubes did break down a bit when mixed in with the rice while others kept their shape, giving the risotto some texture variety. The addition of sauteed apples to risotto has inspired me to try adding butter sauteed apples to another dish soon as well. More details later if it’s worth writing home about…