Recipe: Butternut Squash & Greens Risotto

I would have never thought to put greens in risotto if it wasn't for the Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites cookbook. This was a delicious hearty meal best washed down with a lovely apple cider (Or hard cider if you wish!).

This is the first recipe of my Local Eating Challenge & I'll admit that I cheated a bit.  I know, first meal and you cheat?!?  Hear me out!  The purpose of this challenge is not only to get more acquainted with where my food comes from, but also lessen the environmental impact of our stomach.  Thus, just letting 3 carrots, some celery and half of a bag of onions that I had leftover from last week go bad seemed to the wrong choice to stay true to the spirit of the challenge.  So, I chopped all those up with additional carrots from the farmer's market today, garlic that I grew myself, salt, peppercorns and bay leaves, and turned it into a very flavorful vegetable stock for this recipe.  The rest of the vegetables in the recipe, along with the rest of the vegetables this month, will be from local sources.  Promise.

You could totally stop with just adding the greens; it's a delicious risotto without the squash.  I used kohlrabi greens because I bought kohlrabi, but the original recipe called for kale and said Swiss chard was an option too.

Ingredients (Serves 4)
5 c vegetable stock
1 c minced onions
2-3 tsp olive oil
1.5 c arborio rice
about 2 c peeled & cubed butternut squash, cooked (either roasted or steamed)
3 c stemmed and chopped greens (kale, Swiss chard, or kohlrabi greens)
salt & pepper
1/4 c Parmesan cheese

Directions
1. Bring stock to a boil in a saucepan.
2.  Meanwhile, saute onions in the oil for about 5 minutes...until softened but not brown.
3. Add rice to the pan and toast, stirring occasionally.  Add 1/2 of the stock.
4. Stir often until all of stock is absorbed.  Add greens.
5. Add an additional 1/2 c, stir and wait until absorbed by adding more liquid.  Keep adding liquid this way until the rice is done or all the liquid is used.
6. Add Parmesan, cooked butternut squash and serve!