referred to as “Risotto con Zucca i Fagioli” in Italian. The ideal tasty recipe for a weeknight or entertaining your favorite friends is a steamed butternut squash that has been mixed into a creamy white bean risotto.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 5 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 butternut squash – peeled, seeded, and cubed
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 small tomato, diced
- 1 (16 ounce) package Arborio rice
- ½ cup white wine
- 1 teaspoon dried marjoram (Optional)
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano (Optional)
- 1 teaspoon dried basil (Optional)
- 8 cups chicken broth, or more as needed
- 1 dash hot pepper sauce, or more to taste
- 1 (14 ounce) can small white beans, drained
- ¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Season butternut squash cubes with salt and black pepper. Place a steamer insert into a saucepan and fill with water to just below the bottom of the steamer. Cover and bring the water to a boil. Add butternut squash, cover, and steam until just tender, 10 to 12 minutes depending on thickness. Transfer squash to a bowl and mash.
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir onion in the hot oil until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir tomato into onions until onions become translucent, 3 to 5 more minutes. Add Arborio rice to onion mixture and stir to coat with oil; cook and stir until rice becomes translucent with a white spots in the middle of each grain, about 2 minutes.
- Stir white wine into rice mixture; cook and stir until wine is completely absorbed, 2 to 4 minutes; add marjoram, oregano, and basil. Pour chicken broth into rice mixture, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until liquid is absorbed, until rice is creamy but firm to the bite, 20 to 25 minutes. Stir squash into rice mixture until fully incorporated. Remove from heat.
- Stir hot pepper sauce, white beans, Parmesan cheese, and parsley into risotto until cheese is melted. Season with salt and black pepper.
- Cook’s Note:
- To cube a butternut squash, cut it in half lengthwise, then into 1-inch sections crosswise. Carefully shave the peel off in small downward cuts around each section, then cube.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 437 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 77 g |
| Cholesterol | 7 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 7 g |
| Protein | 11 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 1013 mg |
| Sugars | 6 g |
| Fat | 9 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
We made a vegan version. It was very creany even with the vegan cheese. We enjoyed it.
Its a lot of work. But it was good. Also it makes a lot of it. I cut it in half and it still made a lot.
I followed the cooking directions but subbed a lot of ingredients I needed to use/had on hand: Israeli couscous for rice, yellow/zucchini squash, cooked lentil beans and left out the tomato. Yummy, yummy, yummy! Takes some patience and the ability to watch closely (next time I’d try to time it so at least one of my kids is sleeping) but it didn’t seem to take as long as previous risotto recipes both my husband and I have tried.
Hubby and guests really liked it, but I thought it was a tad too bland. Next time, I’ll probably double the seasonings and up the tomato and parm a bit. Next time, I’ll also bake the squash then remove skins and mash because its easier than peeling.
Very good risotto. I will definitely make it again. I made a few modifications. I added in 1/2 tsp instead of a full tsp. That was plenty. I think the full amount would have been overwhelming to me. I also didn’t add the fresh parsley because I didn’t have any on hand, so I just used a tbsp of dry and that worked fine (for adding color). My family doesn’t like Parmesan, so I left that out. It was good without it, but I think it was better when I added some on top of my portion!
Pretty darn good! I skipped the tomato because I wasn’t feeling it and added garlic instead. The only downside was the ingredient listing for the squash…they come in all sizes and I wasn’t sure if a large squash would overpower the dish/small squash not provide enough flavor; it’d have been helpful if the squash amount was listed in ounces. My husband and I both quite enjoyed this!
Fantastic recipe! I followed it as written, and it yielded a perfectly cooked and seasoned risotto. I added quite a fair amount of salt and pepper to bring out the flavor. Also, the squash and beans add some starchiness to the dish that makes this meal a bit heartier and perhaps more suited to cool weather compared to other risottos. I will make this again!