Nero Pumpkin Risotto

Black and spooky risotto as we approach Halloween👻

Ingredients

1 Wedge Nerominded 

3 tbsp Truffle Butter

1 cup Black Rice

1 Vegetable Stock Cube 

1 Large Shallot - finely diced

6 Garlic Cloves - 3 whole skin on, 3 crushed

1 pack of Sage - 6 leaves removed from stem, remainder left whole

½ Large Pumpkin (or butternut squash) - deseeded, 6 x 1 inch wedges remainder skin removed and cut into cubes

3 tbsp Maple Syrup/Liquid Sweetener 

Wedge of Lemon

Salt and Pepper

Ho, Ho, Ho Grate!

METHOD

Add Black Rice to a large pot of boiling water, add stock cube and bunch of sage (leaving the 6 remaining leaves aside). Cook for an hour or till tender, keep topped up with water whilst cooking. 

Preheat your oven to 180C, lay your pumpkin slices and cubes on a large baking tray along with your whole garlic cloves and drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Rub the oil all over your pumpkin to ensure full coating and place into the oven for 40 minutes or until golden brown. 

When the pumpkin is cooked, drizzle with maple syrup and cover with foil to retain the heat.

Roughly 10 minutes before the rice is cooked remove the sage leaves from the pot. Add some neutral oil to a large frying pan and heat over medium. Fry your 6 reserved sage leaves and for a few minutes on each side, remove and set on paper towels. 

Reduce the heat to medium/low and add 2 tbsp of Truffle Butter to the pan, add the shallot and cook for 5 minutes till translucent. Add the crushed garlic and continue cooking until fragrant. 

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cooked rice from the pot to the frying pan and reduce the heat to low. 

The remaining cooking liquid will be used to form the sauce, reduce it till you have roughly 1 cup remaining. Then blend with the Nerominded and pumpkin cubes and a generous sprinkle of nutritional yeast, then add to the rice mixture and cook on low covered for about 10 minutes. 

Add a heaped tbsp of truffle butter and stir through the rice and finish with a squeeze of lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. 

Plate your rice topped with the pumpkin wedges and sprinkle liberally with Ho, Ho, Ho Grate! Then top with your crispy sage leaves and enjoy!