01 | November | 2020 | Words and Herbs

Good morning, and welcome to November!

My favourite month has passed for another year; this October’s highlights included planting a giant redwood tree and eating wild parasol mushrooms from our garden. 😁

And now November is here with its dark evenings and frequent fog. Some find it a difficult month, but personally I don’t mind it much. After all, there is a lot that can still be done outside this month. We have trees on order and my latest flower bed to finish. And I still have apples (apple strudel is in the oven right now!) and a basketful of homegrown butternut squash in my cellar too. 😃🍁🎃

To get November off to a good start and to celebrate World Vegan Day 2020 I thought I’d share my latest new recipe: Butternut Squash and Sage Risotto.

I had never made risotto until this autumn, but when I was looking for inspiration for butternut recipes I saw a picture of a butternut risotto and decided I had to try it. I am afraid I don’t remember where I saw the basic recipe, but I adapted it a bit anyway; my risotto/arborio rice has the instructions for cooking time and liquid on the packet which varies depending on the brand I believe. Also I just had to add some garlic 😉, and since we don’t usually have wine in the house, a dash of ‘cooking’ sherry was added instead.

Here’s the recipe, for two very hungry people:

Butternut and Sage Risotto

1 large onion, finely chopped
4-5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or minced
a little olive oil and vegan butter
2 cups butternut squash, finely diced
2 carrots, finely diced
2 handfuls frozen peas
6 sage leaves, finely chopped, plus extra for garnishing
1tsp dried thyme and freshly ground black pepper
200g arborio (risotto) rice
500ml vegetable stock (check your rice packet for exact amount of liquid)
optional dash of sherry (or white wine if you have it)

Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan and sautée the onion and garlic. Add the all the other ingredients except the stock (and sherry) and stir well. Add sherry and enough stock to cover the bottom of the pan and stir on a medium heat. Continue adding stock and stirring every few minutes so it doesn’t stick to the pan. My rice took about 20 minutes to cook through and the vegetables were then nice and tender. You may need a little extra stock or hot water. Also, depending on your stock, you may want to add a little salt. You will know when the rice is cooked as it starts to go creamy. Remove from the heat as soon as you notice this. Stir in a couple of tablespoons of vegan cream and serve immediately with sage leaves and vegan ‘parmesan’ to garnish.