One of my favourite cuisines to both cook and eat has to be Italian and I’ll take any chance I can get to learn from the experts. I recently picked up some great tips for cooking the perfect risotto from celebrity chef Gennaro Contaldo. Both his tips and his recipe for pumpkin risotto were too good not to share so I’ve made a short video from my morning with Gennaro and here’s the recipe itself, just in time for Halloween.

Kathryn Burrington (TravelWithKat.com) with Gennaro Contaldo

Print

Risotto All Zucca (Pumpkin Risotto)

I recently picked up some great tips for cooking the perfect risotto from celebrity chef Gennaro Contaldo, as well as this quick and easy recipe for pumpkin risotto, the perfect dish for autumn and, just in time for Halloween.
Course Main, Starter
Cuisine Italian, Vegetarian
Servings 6
Author Gennaro Contaldo

Ingredients

  • 300 g pumpkin clean weight cubed
  • 300 g Carnaroli rice
  • 1.5 litres vegetable stock kept hot
  • 60 ml white wine
  • 60 g parmesan cheese freshly grated and extra to serve
  • 40 g butter
  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 small onion finely chopped
  • 1/2 celery stalk finely chopped
  • 1/4 red chilli finely chopped
  • 1 sprig of rosemary

Instructions

  • Heat the oil in a saucepan and sweat the onion, celery, chilli and rosemary until the vegetables soften.
  • Add the rice, stirring well to ensure that each one is coated in oil and lightly toasted for a couple of minutes.
  • Add the wine, stirring all the time and allowing the wine to evaporate.
  • Add the pumpkin cubes and stir.
  • Immediately add a ladle of stock and stir.
  • As the liquid is absorbed, add another ladle of stock and stir.
  • Continue to do this for about 20 minutes until the rice is cooked ‘al dente’. Meaning it is slightly under cooked and still firm to the bite. (If you’d like to know why, watch the video).
  • Remove from the pan from the heat and stir in the butter and parmesan.
  • Serve immediately.

Notes

Tip from Gennaro: Use the pumpkin skin and other peelings or vegetables to make the stock and simmer for at least two hours. If time is short use an organic stock cube instead. Do watch the video for more cooking tips from Gennaro.

 

With thanks to Gennaro Contaldo of BBC1s ‘Saturday Kitchen’ and ‘Two Greedy Italian’s’ fame. He’s a brand ambassador for Citalia who hosted this event. Keep up-to-date with the latest stories and more authentic Italian recipes from Gennaro by visiting Citalia.com/Gennaro.

Pin it for later!

Pumpkin Risotto recipe from Italian celebrity chef, Gennaro Contaldo

 

Join my 'Behind the Scenes' newsletter

Delivered monthly to your inbox with all my behind the scenes news, latest posts and giveaways exclusive to my subscribers.