Butternut Risotto with Pistachio, Sage, Celery and Bacon

Jamie Oliver is a great chef.  He intuitively knows what makes a great meal great: good ingredients from trusted sources, time, passion, and loved ones around the table.  Heritage breed, pasture-raised bacon helps, too.

Sage leaves from the garden and celery leaves from the Tamworth farmers' market make for one delicious herb addition to this bacon-draped roasted butternut. 

Roast up some peeled/quartered butternut squash that has been drizzled with evoo and seasoned with crushed coriander seed, salt and pepper.  After about 45 minutes in a 375 oven, when squash is just about soft, drape it with bacon (New Roots Farm's smoked thick-cut was used here), and top it off with nuts and herbs.  I tossed pistachios (original recipe called for chestnuts), sage, celery leaves, and the seeds from the butternut altogether in a bowl with a very small amount of evoo and s&p.  They crisped up just fine with the bacon.

Roast the whole thing for another 15-20 minutes or until bacon is crisped to your liking.  Separate bacon from nuts/herbs.  Chop up bacon into bits, crumble herbs, set aside.  Chunk up (avoid mashing) squash into its own bowl.  Bite-sized chunks.

For the risotto, saute a couple of small shallots and 4 or 5 small celery stalks, finely diced, in a bit of evoo.  When softened, add the arborio and stir to coat evenly.  Follow with a healthy splash (1/2c for 1 cup of rice) of dry white wine, let rice absorb.  Have a pot of at least 4-5 cups homemade chicken stock simmering by the side (veggie stock works, too).  Ladle a cup+ at a time, stirring gently and methodically after each addition of stock until rice is just tender to the tooth and quite sloopy.  Once tender to the tooth, kill the flame.

Off the heat and just before resting the rice ("2 minutes with the cover on," Oliver says, "is the key"), fold in a good knob of butter and a serious handful of freshly grated parmesan.

Risotto is perfect when it just oozes into place in a bowl.  Top each bowl with the bacon, nut and herb garnish and, to put it all one step closer to heaven, dollop with a bit of mascarpone.  Y-U-M.