Korena in the Kitchen

  • Home
  • Recipes
  • About
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Archives for squash

Pumpkin, Sausage and Sage Risotto

June 11, 2011 By Korena in the Kitchen 2 Comments

Do you remember the days before the Food Network? Before Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and Top Chef and Cupcake Wars and Giada Di-Whatshername and Iron Chef, when channels like the Knowledge Network and KCTS9 aired cooking shows of the same calibre as Bob Ross’ The Joy of Painting? I loved those shows. I used to sit in front of the TV, watching, with a pen and paper to write down the recipe and ingredients because there was no internet to get it from after the show. This risotto is based on a recipe from a show called Nick Stellino’s Family Kitchen, and believe it or not, the original recipe is now available on the internet!

After making Nick’s recipe several times, I’ve taken those flavours and put them into my basic risotto method. It comes out just as delicious but in a smaller, easier to manage quantity. If you’ve never made risotto, you should give it a try – it takes a while but is not actually difficult to make, and the results are worth it: creamy, flavourful, carbohydrate-laden deliciousness. Risotto is made of simple things – essentially just it’s rice and stock – so it’s important to pay attention to the ingredients. Use a flavourful stock, either homemade or good quality store bought. Don’t use bouillion cubes – your risotto will taste terrible. I know this from unfortunate experience :(. The rice must be specific for making risotto: short-grained round, Italian rice, and it will probably say “risotto” on the package. Arborio rice is the type I can usually find, but Carnaroli is another choice. Other kinds of rice (sushi, long grain, etc) won’t work.

“Arborio Rice – Ideal for Risotto”

And a quality parmesan (Parmegiano-Reggiano, if you can get it) makes a big difference in taste (I’ll admit that I used Canadian Parmesan for this because I’m feeling poor, but normally I’d splurge!).

Also important to note: this recipe calls for canned pumpkin purée, NOT pumpkin pie filling.

This packaging is somewhat misleading because it shows a slice of pumpkin pie, but the label reads “100% Pumpkin”

Make sure you read the ingredients on the package – it should be just pumpkin, no sugar or spices or anything else pie-like.

Nothing but pumpkin

If you are feeling industrious, you could steam some squash and make your own purée (about 1 cup), but I find opening a can to be much easier 😉

And I realize that these flavours might seem more suited to fall cooking, but my sage plant is currently sprouting leaves like mad so I figured this would be a good way to use up some of the bounty!…

Read More »

Filed Under: Main Dishes, Recipes Tagged With: cooking, dinner, food, italian, pumpkin, recipe, rice, risotto, sage, sausage, squash

Macaroni and Cheese with Butternut Squash

March 16, 2011 By Korena in the Kitchen 7 Comments

Nate and I both agree that this is some of the best macaroni and cheese ever. The base for the sauce is butternut squash, chicken stock, and milk, rather than a flour-butter-milk white sauce. For me, the healthy addition of the squash makes it totally acceptable to add more cheese 😉 If you want a creamy sauce (or want to disguise the fact that there’s a vegetable hidden in it!), puree it in a blender. For more texture and evidence of squash, mash roughly with a fork or potato masher. Both ways are delicious. Although it probably doesn’t actually make a difference in taste, my favorite pasta to use for this is large shells. For the picture above, I stirred about 1/3 cup of chopped cooked bacon into the sauce. Pasta plus cheese plus bacon equals love 🙂

Macaroni and Cheese with Butternut Squash

Modified slightly from my good friend Martha’s recipe

2 cups peeled and chopped butternut squash

1/2 cup chicken stock or water

3/4 cup milk

Combine the above in a pot, cover, and bring to a boil over medium heat (to avoid boiling over). Turn to low and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the squash is tender. Remove from the heat, mash/puree, and add:

A dash each of nutmeg and cayenne (or chipotle powder)

Salt and pepper

1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese (or a mix of your favorite easily melted cheeses)

1/2 cup ricotta or cream cheese

Meanwhile, cook pasta:

about 3 cups raw/dry if the pasta is large (such as large shells or penne)

OR about 2 cups raw/dry elbow macaroni (or other short, dense pasta such as small shells)

OR enough to fill up a 9” square baking dish slightly less than halfway, as you end up with twice as much pasta when you cook it

OR if you’re being precise and like to weigh things, about half a pound of pasta 😉

(Thanks Katy for the clarification tips!)

Place drained pasta in a 9” square baking dish, pour sauce over, and stir to combine.

In a small bowl, mix together:

1/2 cup Panko, regular breadcrumbs, or cracker crumbs

1 tbsp melted butter

2 tbsp grated parmesan

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (or 1 tsp dried parsley)

Salt and pepper

Sprinkle over pasta. Bake at 375˚ F until golden and bubbly, about 30 minutes. Serves 2-4, depending on how much you love macaroni and cheese!

Filed Under: Pasta Dishes, Recipes Tagged With: cheddar cheese, dinner, macaroni and cheese, pasta, squash

Welcome to my kitchen!

I'm Korena: cook, baker, dirty-dishes-maker. My favourite things include flour, butter, sugar, and chocolate. Read More…

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS

Subscribe by Email!

Top Posts

Greek Kataifi
Daring Bakers: Ukrainian Easter Paska
Daring Bakers: Asian Coconut Custard Buns
Daring Bakers: Sfogliatelle Ricci and Lobster Tail Pastries
Cream Cheese Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting, Take 2: Success!
10 Years! {Nigella Lawson's Coffee and Walnut Layer Cake}

Search

Categories

Archives

Blogs I Like

  • 101 Cookbooks
  • Baking with Sibella
  • Bitter Baker
  • Bread and Companatico
  • Chocolate & Zucchini
  • Chocolate & Zucchini
  • De La Casa
  • Dinner With Julie
  • Dinner: A Love Story
  • Food in Jars
  • FrugalFeeding
  • Homesick Texan
  • Joy the Baker
  • Poires au Chocolat
  • Rufus' Food and Spirits Guide
  • Simple Bites
  • Simply Recipes
  • smitten kitchen
  • Steamy Kitchen
  • Tartelette
  • Tea & Cookies
  • The Pioneer Woman Cooks
  • The Wednesday Chef
  • Venison for Dinner
  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS

Subscribe by Email!

Search

Home | Recipes About | Contact |

All content © Korena Vezerian and Korena in the Kitchen, 2011 – 2021. Please contact me before duplicating any content, including pictures. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Korena Vezerian and Korena in the Kitchen with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Copyright © 2025 · Foodie Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

 

Loading Comments...