Winter Squash and Shrimp Risotto

Here's another recipe derived from one seen in the magazine, "bon appetit". The recipe calls for butternut squash though I substituted acorn squash in its place. My mother would often use these squashes for our dinners though I now suspect that few people have ever tried one. At many major grocery chains you're unable to find acorn squashes for sale. For dinner our mother would halve the squash, seed it, add margarine and brown sugar, then bake it for about 1 hour. We kids liked it just fine and did not pass up our portions. Also, the recipe attracted my interest because it looked to be manageable from both time and expense perspectives. And, it adds another recipe to my risotto repertoire.

Ingredients: 3 ounces pancetta chopped, 1 pound large raw shrimp (peeled and deveined), 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 large onion chopped, 1 garlic clove chopped, 1 cup arborio rice, 4 cups vegetable broth, 1 acorn squash peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage, 1/4 cup whipping cream.

Preparation: On medium high, pan fry the pancetta until just about crisp then remove and set aside using a slotted spoon. If desired, lightly salt and pepper the raw shrimp, then pan fry in the rendered pancetta fat about 1-1/2 minutes per side. Remove the shrimp and set aside.

Additional Preparation: Add the olive oil to the pan. Add the chopped onion and garlic and cook for about 6 minutes stirring often. Add the rice stirring to coat for about 1 minute. Add the vegetable broth, increase heat and bring to a boil. Add squash and sage, reduce heat to medium and simmer until rice is tender and mixture is creamy. While cooking stir often, about 15 minutes.

Final Preparation: Stir in cream, shrimp and pancetta. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a large shallow bowl.

Confessions: I used a chicken stock that was preflavored with white wine and herbs in place of the vegetable stock. While I don't think this substitution was detrimental to the taste, I do think it darkened the coloration. So, to keep the colors bright be sure to use a clearer broth.

Comments: This is a pretty good dish with nice textures. The squash adds bulk which might help lessen overall caloric intake while increasing nutritional value. I also think that upping the garlic amount would be beneficial. The star of the recipe is the shrimp so be sure to cook it carefully, overdone shrimp would detract mightily.

Additional comments: I learned that white plates may not be the best choice for meal presentation. The colors of this dish are better served by using darker colored plates.

Caveats: Be sure your knives are sharp and that you have some confidence with them, if you have not sharpened them yourself then they're probably not sharp enough! I 'm giving this warning because acorn squash can be quite difficult to skin. Scour the internet for tips, but if your knives are not sharp then don't try it.

Scallop Potato Recipe

This recipe idea came from Bon Appetit. I picked it because it was not overly complex and also because it did not look too expensive. The ingredients that I did not have cost about $7.50 and the time to prepare and cook ran to about 3 hours.

Ingredients: 6 garlic cloves peeled and smashed, 4 rosemary sprigs about 2" long, 2 1/4 cups heavy cream, 2 1/2 tsp coarse kosher salt, 3/4 tsp ground white pepper, 2 large fennel bulbs with fronds, 3 1/2 pounds medium russet potatoes, 1/2 stick of butter cut into 1/2" cubes.

Confessions: I used all the rosemary I bought, 2 cups of heavy cream, 1 fennel bulb, 3 lb. russet potatoes, 1/4 stick of butter. I used two 12x12x2 glass baking dishes, probably a negative impact.

Additional preparation: skin the potatoes as desired, slice the fennel bulbs and potatoes to about 1/16" thickness kind of like potato chips. The potato slices need to go into a bowl of water to protect their color. The fennel stalks are not used though the fine green leaves are.

Additional preparation: combine cream, white pepper and kosher salt into a large bowl. Stir to dissolve.

Final preparation: butter a 13x9x2 glass baking dish, place the garlic and rosemary across the bottom then overlay these with 1/2 of the fennel slices. Dredge the potato slices through the cream sauce and place a layer atop the fennel slices. Repeat with another layer of fennel slices and top this layer with another layer of dredged potato slices. Pour the remaining cream sauce over the top and dot with butter. Cover the baking dish with foil, peaked so as to avoid touching the food.

Cooking: place into a 350 degree oven for 1 1/4 hours. At that time, remove the foil and return to a 450 degree oven for an additional 20 minutes in order that the top might be browned. Remove and cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Comments: nice tasting though also rich. It would be nice to sub in a more healthful ingredient for the cream. I scoured the internet and found suggestions of evaporated milk or a paste of 8 oz. low-fat cottage cheese blended with three tablespoons of powdered milk.

Caveats: the final 20 minutes at 450 degrees for browning did not work too well for me and I'll have to figure some adjustments next time out. I'd like this recipe to go into my repertoire but there are kinks to work out first.