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Pumpkin Risotto from Mantua (Risotto alla Zucca)

Pumpkin Risotto

This is the Lombard original, where sweet winter squash is cut into cubes rather than pureed, so half of it melts into the rice and half stays whole. No cream, no cinnamon, no pie spice. The creaminess comes from toasted Carnaroli grains, patient ladling, and a hard beating of cold butter and Grana Padano at the end.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings: 4 People
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Calories: 520
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1.5 lb winter pumpkin zucca mantovana, Delica or Marina di Chioggia, to yield about 1 lb peeled flesh
  • 6 cups vegetable broth kept at a bare simmer
  • 1.5 cups Carnaroli rice superfino; Arborio or Vialone Nano also work
  • 1 medium white onion finely chopped
  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 0.5 cup dry white wine room temperature
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter cold, cut into cubes
  • 0.75 cup Grana Padano finely grated; Parmigiano Reggiano is equally correct
  • 1 tsp salt to taste, depending on the broth
  • 0.5 tsp black pepper freshly ground
  • 4 pieces amaretti cookies soft amaretti di Sassello, crumbled, for the Mantovana finish

Equipment

  • 1 wide heavy-bottomed saucepan or saute pan about 11 inches across
  • 1 Medium saucepan for keeping the broth hot
  • 1 Wooden spoon
  • 1 Ladle
  • 1 box grater or microplane

Method
 

  1. Bring the vegetable broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan and keep it there over low heat for the whole cook. It must be hot every time it hits the rice.
  2. Peel the pumpkin, scrape out the seeds and fibers, and cut the flesh into half-inch cubes. You want about 1 pound of clean cubes. Do not puree it.
  3. Warm the olive oil in the wide pan over medium-low heat. Add the chopped onion and sweat it for 6 to 8 minutes until soft and translucent, stirring now and then. Do not let it color.
  4. Raise the heat to medium and add the rice dry, with no liquid. Toast it for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until the grains are hot to the touch and the edges turn translucent while the center stays chalky white. This is the tostatura and it keeps the grains intact.
  5. Pour in the white wine. Let it bubble and evaporate completely, about 2 minutes, until you can no longer smell alcohol. Any wine left behind turns the finished dish sour.
  6. Add the first two ladles of hot broth and a pinch of salt. Cook at a lively simmer, stirring often, and continue adding broth one ladle at a time as the previous one is absorbed. Never flood the pan; the rice should look like wet sand, not soup.
  7. After about 8 minutes of this, add all the pumpkin cubes. Stir them through and keep ladling broth. Around the 12 minute mark, press roughly half the cubes against the side of the pan with your spoon so they collapse into the base, leaving the rest whole.
  8. Keep cooking and stirring until the rice is al dente with a faint firmness at the core, about 18 to 20 minutes total from the first ladle. The risotto should ripple slowly when you tilt the pan, all'onda. Taste and adjust the salt.
  9. Pull the pan off the heat. Add the cold butter cubes and the grated Grana Padano and beat hard with the wooden spoon for 30 to 60 seconds until the risotto turns glossy and creamy. This is the mantecatura and it is where the texture is made.
  10. Grind in the black pepper, cover the pan, and rest for 1 to 2 minutes. Spoon onto warm flat plates, shake each plate gently so the risotto spreads into an even layer, scatter with crumbled amaretti, and serve immediately.

Notes

  • Serve with mostarda mantovana on the side and extra grated Grana Padano at the table.
  • Crumble one or two soft amaretti over each plate for the true Mantovana version. It sounds strange and tastes right.
  • The broth must stay hot. Cold broth shocks the grains and stalls the cooking.
  • Use Delica, Marina di Chioggia, kabocha, or any dense orange winter squash. Avoid watery carving pumpkins and never use spiced pie filling.
  • Risotto waits for nobody. It tightens and turns sticky within minutes, so plate it the second it is done.