I was born and raised in Austria. As Austria shares a border with Italy, it’s only natural that Italian food played a big role in my growing up. It was the late 80th and early 90th and Italian food was considered healthy, comforting and delicious. And nothing has changed about that assumption for me. I still enjoy Italian food very much and a pasta or risotto is one of my favorite meals on weekdays.
However, I also like playing around with recipes. Experimenting. Discovering new flavors and textures. Equally naturally I enjoy using a traditional cooking method but bringing in the new by swapping out key ingredients. Like in this case of a comforting fall/winter risotto where I switched the traditionally used Aboborio rice with millet. The little millet grains behave kind of like the rice in a traditional risotto, without releasing as much starch.
If you’ve ever made a risotto before you know it’s all about the quality of the ingredients. So, make sure to use good veggie stock, homemade would be best. Roasting the pumpkin before adding it to the risotto makes sure the pumpkin is not overcooked and it enhances it’s natural flavor. A little bit of thyme finishes this dish off.
The reason I switched to millet for this recipe is a simple one. I love it’s taste. Millet has a crunchy, earthiness that I like and it takes on flavors very well, without loosing it’s own. Also, it’s a gluten-free grain, which makes it suitable for people with Celiac disease, while being packed with nutrients. Millet is also said to protect heart health, control cholesterol levels and prevent diabetes.
Serve this comforting one-bowl dish with a fresh green salad and you’ll be truly satisfied.
Roasted Hokkaido & Millet Risotto
Italian comfort food with a twist. This roasted pumpkin millet risotto plays with a traditional Italian dish and transforms it into something new. Facebook0TwitterPinterest0email
- Prep Time: 15h
- Cook Time: 20h
- Total Time: 35h
- Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 750 grams hokkaido pumpkin
- 1 medium white onion (about 1 cup diced)
- cloves garlic, peeled
- 1/2 bunch fresh thyme
- 200 grams millet (1 cup)
- 125 milliliters dry white wine (1/2 cup)
- 750 milliliters vegetable stock
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 50 grams parmesan (1/3 cup grated)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 160 grams ricotta (about 2/3 cups)
- kosher salt & fresh pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C.
- Half the hokkaido, remove seeds with a spoon and cut into 1,5cm pieces and transfer to a medium baking tin. Drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil, 1/2 tbsp kosher salt and the leaves of 3-4 thyme sprigs. Mix until everything's evenly coated.
- Bake pumpkin at 200°C for 15-20 minutes. Until the edges are lightly charred and the pumpkin is cooked through.
- While the pumpkin is roasting, dice the onion and mince the garlic, and set aside. Rinse the millet in a colander under cool, running water. Heat the veggie stock over low heat.
- Heat a medium sized pot over medium heat. Add the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil and the onion to the pot and cook for 3-4 minutes, until translucent.
- Add the minced garlic and 2-3 sprigs thyme and stir to combine.
- Add the millet and roast for another minute, stirring continuously. Deglaze with the white wine and let reduce for 2-3 minutes. Add half of the veggie stock and let simmer over medium low heat.
- Once the liquid has been absorbed add half of the remaining veggie stock and stir through. Add the rest of the stock and let cook for another 5-10 minutes. The millet will need about 20-25 minutes to be cooked through.
- While the risotto is cooking remove the pumpkin from the oven and set aside.
- Once the millet is done season with salt and pepper, add the grated parmesan and 1 tbsp butter and stir through.
- Pour millet over pumpkin and carefully stir through. Season to your liking and top with crumbled ricotta cheese and some fresh thyme. Serve and enjoy!
Yum! I have made a tomato oven baked risotto with a mix of arborio and millet. The texture is a fantastic mix of crunch and squidge. All for millet in risotto. This is going on the meal plan this week
That sounds fantastic Jack! I’ve never made oven baked risotto before but am really keen to trying.
Let me know how you liked the recipe!
I love, love, love the visual storytelling in this blog post Anna, just awesome! Plus I’m sure that dish went down a dream!
Thanks so much for sharing
K
Thank you so much Kimberly! I’m glad you like it! It was the first time I tried my hands after our workshop in Madrid and I’m pretty happy with it 😉