In Italy we use pumpkin, the short and large variety with thick green skin and an uneven surface, but I live in Scotland now and the best practical approach is to buy a butternut squash at the supermarket. The risotto came out very well and everybody in the family enjoyed it. This recipe requires some multitasking skills because you need to roast part of the butternut squash while you are doing the rest of the ingredient preparation. Then, during the actual risotto making, 5 minutes before the final garnishing and serving, you will need to saute some diced butternut squash. It is therefore important you master the basic risotto first, unless you are a seasoned cook of course. My best advice is to look at the Parmigiana risotto recipe I published in the past. Try the Parmigiana risotto a few times and when the procedure becomes familiar, then you can commit yourself to this new one. At the time I made the recipe the sage in my garden was at its best so I have decided to infuse the risotto with sage leaves and to garnish the final dish with sage flowers, which are edible, but about this claim I recommend you check in the internet for the sake of safety and clarity.

Ingredients: 350-400 g (12-14 oz) Arborio rice, 100 g (4 oz) Butter (separate in two 25 g knobs and one 50 g knob), 1 Onion, medium size (finely chopped), 100 ml (3,5 fl oz) white wine, 2 Litres Vegetable stock (I have used vegetable bouillon), 1 Butternut squash, 2-3 Sage leaves, 50 g (2 oz) Parmesan cheese (grated), salt and pepper for seasoning, some sage flowers for the final garnish.

First thing first, pre-heat the oven to 200 C (gas mark 6). Then, divide the butternut squash in two parts. Take the bottom part (the wider one), remove the skin, cut it in half, remove the seeds and slice it.

Take an oven tray, line the tray with baking paper and place the squash slices onto it. In a small pan, melt 25g of butter and brush all the slices with the melted butter. Keep the remaining butter, because you will be using it for the saute of the diced squash at a later stage.

Roast the squash for about 20-25 minutes, until it is soft (it is ready when a fork goes through the flesh with no resistance). While you are waiting for the squash to be roasted, prepare the vegetable stock and carry on with the rest of the ingredient preparation (chop the onion, grate the cheese etc.). Now, we are going to make a squash puree.

Using a scissor, or a pairing knife, remove the charred tips from the squash slices. Put the slices into a jug and add a ladle of stock and blend. The puree should be smooth and not have any trace of dark bits. Cover with cling film and set aside. Now, take the top part of the butternut squash (the narrow one), remove the skin and cut out few rectangles (roughly 6-7 mm thick). From the rectangles, cut out sticks. Finally, from the sticks, cut into dice. Aim for dice of equal size with sides length of about 5-7mm.

Put the diced butternut squah into a bowl, cover and set aside. Now, we start to make the risotto. Melt 50g of butter in a large pan. Add the finely chopped onion and sweat over a medium heat for about 3-5 minutes or until the onion is soft. Add the rice and stir until the rice is completely coated with the butter. You can see that the rice will start to become translucent. Keep stirring and sweat the rice for a minute or two, after that you should add some white wine and continue stirring. Meanwhile, after the second addition of stock, add the squash puree, cooking the risotto, stirring regularly and adding stock when required. Risotto should be served "all'onda" (like a wave). This means that when you serve it onto a plate, it should still flow a little. Garnish with squash dice and sage flowers.