Dive into a creamy, oozing delight with Almost No-Stir Pumpkin and Bacon Risotto. This recipe is quick, hassle-free, and low FODMAP.
Oozy, creamy risotto studded with caramelised pumpkin cubes and crispy shredded bacon. Bound together with the right amount of parmesan, parsley and butter.
Risotto can make a great weeknight dinner.
This recipe can come together in 50 minutes. You can cook the ‘add-ins’ and risotto base at the same time and combine before serving. Read on for valuable hints and tips to elevate your risotto game.
Risotto is a rice dish.
Pretty obvious? By that, I mean that we shouldn't add too much other stuff. Let the rice shine. Other dishes where the rice takes centre stage are – Pilau and Paella.
❓FAQ
Risotto should ‘flow like lava’. This is according to renowned chef and food scientist, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt. It should lie in a flat layer on the serving plate. It should move when you tilt the plate. Sticky, tacky, or gluey textures are not words that should be associated with risotto.
No. It's still tasty, but becomes something else. Risotto rice absorbs an impressive amount of stock. This results in a slightly soupy texture. To maintain this desirable consistency, we must serve the risotto as soon as it it made.
No. J. Kenji Lopez Alt compared two risotto preparation techniques:
(a) traditional frequent stirring during cooking, and
(b) stirring raw rice briefly in stock before cooking, then only occasional stirring.
He achieved the same creamy results with the brief stir…without all the hard work. I immediately loved this idea and had to try it! Stirring the rice through stock helps to release starch on the grains. It's the starch that gives risotto its desired rich and creamy properties. We drain the rice and reserve the starchy stock. We then go ahead with toasting the drained rice in the pan. Toasting risotto rice enhances flavour but compromises the let-up of starch. But we don't worry about that; we've already extracted the starch. Clever, hey?
Kenji's technique provides the best of both worlds. We create a starchy stock to thicken the risotto without the constant stirring. We get enhanced flavour from toasting the grain without compromising starch release.
There are a couple of caveats to needing minimal stirring:
1. We use a wide, shallow pan with a lid.
2. We maintain a gentle simmer for most of the cooking time.
No. Many risotto recipes use loads of cream, butter and cheese to help create that oozy creamy result. This is not necessary. A well-executed risotto is creamy without all this. This recipe is quite light-handed with the butter, oil and parmesan.
No. This recipe adds it in two stages. You pour in most of the stock at the beginning to soften the rice. The small amount of stock at the end loosens the rice and provides that desired ooze.
No. Keeping the stock hot is essential. Hot stock maintains rice temperature and reduces cooking time. However, microwaving the stock prevents unnecessary evaporation. A large measuring jug is handy for helping to judge how much you’re using.
If you don’t have a microwave, keep it hot on the stove-top at the barest simmer. You might need to add a touch more water.
🥘 Ingredients
Stock – chicken or vegetable. It enhances the depth and richness to the risotto. As the rice absorbs the liquid during cooking, it takes on the flavours of the stock. We use a lot of stock in this recipe (1 litre), so it’s worth using a good quality one. I use my vegetable stock paste to make up stock made from ingredients I recognise.
NB: make sure your stock is gluten-free if that's important. The rest of the ingredients in this recipe are naturally GF.
What rice should I use for risotto?
Risotto rice is short-grain. They are rounder and plumper than a long-grain rice like basmati. If you rub some risotto rice between your fingers, you'll see an outer translucent edge and a white centre. For risotto, we don’t want separate and fluffy grains like we would for say, Chicken Pilau (which uses basmati). We want risotto to be creamy and ‘oozy’. So, most recipes call for stirring often during cooking. This releases the starch in the grains, makes the grains a bit sticky and thickens up the sauce. There are several short-grain rice types suitable for risotto. Varieties include Vialone Nano, Carnaroli, Arborio and Bomba (also used for Spanish paella).
Pumpkin – trusted sources say that butternut pumpkin is low in FODMAPs, but in servings up to 45g. This is a very small amount of pumpkin. In contrast, Japanese/Kabocha or Kent (related varieties of winter squash) contain less. They remain 'low in FODMAPs in a serving size up to 500 grams’. For this reason, I choose to use Kent pumpkin every time I cook with pumpkin. It’s very like butternut and you can use them interchangeably. Use either one if FODMAPs aren’t an issue for you.
Streaky Bacon- distinguished by alternating layers of fat and meat. The fat renders during cooking and flavours the whole dish. It becomes crisp and adds a nice textural element to this otherwise creamy and soft dish.
Parsley – adds a touch of freshness and colour to the dish.
Parmesan – traditional in risotto. It adds salty umami (savoury) flavour to the dish, plus richness and creaminess.
Olive Oil – flavours and coats the pumpkin for roasting to protect it from burning. Also used with butter to toast the rice.
Butter – used to toast the rice at the start. Stirred through at the end for richness and shine.
White Wine – used to deglaze (lift any delicious stuck-on bits of flavour) from the bottom of the pan. We can then incorporate this into the risotto so that we don't waste any flavour. White wine balances the richness of the dish by cutting through the creaminess. The alcohol in the wine cooks off during the process. However, if you prefer not to use wine in your risotto, you can substitute with the same amount of extra stock.
🔪 Instructions
Prep the rice, pumpkin and bacon
Begin by preheating the oven and preparing some hot stock (chicken or vegetable). If you’re using my Vegetable Stock Paste to make your stock, you’ll need 3 tablespoons in 1 Litre water.
Don’t rinse the rice in water before you start. Risotto rice does not need rinsing. We want to keep the starchy covering in our dish.
We do, however, soak the rice in hot stock for a brief time. We want to get some of that thickening starchy covering in our stock. Don’t discard the stock after doing this! We stir the rice in our stock for around 30 seconds then strain. Drier rice will toast better in a later step. Spread the rice up the sides of the sieve with the back of a spoon to help it drain.
I recommend Kent pumpkin as a low FODMAP winter pumpkin alternative. It can be a little tricky to peel because of the curved shape. Try cutting into slices first.
Toss cubed pumpkin with oil, salt, and pepper. Arrange the cubes in a single layer on an unlined baking tray with draped bacon slices. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes.
We cook the bacon and pumpkin together on the same baking sheet. This means that we save on washing up and means that the rendered bacon fat flavours the pumpkin. The bacon cooks quicker than the pumpkin. We take the bacon out after 15 minutes. The pumpkin continues to cook for another 15 minutes.
Prep the cheese and parsley
During this time, finely chop parsley and finely grate Parmesan, setting them aside. We can get the most bang for our buck by making sure the cheese is evenly distributed though the risotto. Parmesan, being a similar colour to risotto rice can be hard to see. By combining the parsley with the parmesan, we get green-flecked parmesan. This means we add them together to the risotto. If you can see green flecks of parsley all through the finished risotto, then the cheese will be there too. Smart!
Toast the rice
In a wide pan over medium heat, toast the drained rice in butter and olive oil until golden and aromatic.
Cook the rice
Pour over the white wine, stir briefly, and cook until reduced by half. Remove bacon from the oven and return the pumpkin to continue roasting. Proceed to pour three-quarters of the reserved stock over the rice.
Cover and simmer the rice for 15 minutes (no stirring!). In the meantime, chop the bacon and reheat the remaining stock.
Bring it all together
We remove the pumpkin from the oven and uncover the rice. Increase the heat now. Pour in half of the remaining stock, and stir vigorously for a minute or two, until thick and creamy. Remove the pan from the heat. Now mix together the parmesan-parsley blend, pumpkin, chopped bacon, a bit of butter, and lots of black pepper. Adjust consistency with extra stock as needed and serve immediately.
🍚Other dishes where rice is the hero
📖 Recipe
Equipment
- Wide, shallow pan with a lid (30cm diameter)
Ingredients
*variations if you follow a low FODMAP diet
- 1 litre stock chicken or vegetable (*labelled low FODMAP if shop-bought)
- 300 g risotto rice (note)
- 500 g pumpkin *Kent or Japanese/Kabocha variety
- Salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 100 g streaky bacon (4-5 rashers)
- large handful parsley leaves (about 15g)
- 40 g Parmesan
- butter
- olive oil
- 200 g/ml white wine
Instructions
- Preheat Oven – set to 180°C.
- Make up/Heat Stock – if using a paste or a cube, make up now with boiling water from the kettle. Use a microwavable bowl/measuring jug so that you can reheat the stock later (note).1 litre stock
- Rice & Stock – place the rice in a large bowl. Pour over the hot stock. Stir the rice in the stock for about 30 seconds. Strain the rice in a sieve set over a bowl ie RESERVE the stock. Leave the rice to drain. You can spread the grains up the sides of the sieve to help this along.300 g risotto rice
- Prep Pumpkin & Bacon - peel the pumpkin and cut into small cubes, about 1cm squared. Transfer to a medium bowl with 1 tablespoon of oil, ⅛ teaspoon of salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Toss through to coat. Tip into an unlined baking tray in a single layer. Drape the bacon rashers over the pumpkin.500 g pumpkinSalt100 g streaky baconolive oilfreshly ground black pepper
- Roast Pumpkin & Bacon – Put the pumpkin and bacon in the oven. Set a timer for 15 minutes. You can get steps 6-8 done in this time.
- Parsley & Parmesan - finely chop parsley. Finely grate parmesan. Combine in a small bowl and set aside.large handful parsley leaves40 g Parmesan
- Toast Rice - preheat the pan over medium heat with 40g butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Keep stirring as the butter melts and starts to foam up. Tip in the drained rice when the butter and oil stop foaming and go a bit quiet (before the butter burns). Cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes. Some of the liquid will evaporate. The fat should be bubbling, and the rice will begin to take on a golden blond colour and nutty aroma.butterolive oil
- Wine – pour in the wine. Stir briefly to combine. Cook over high heat until evaporated, about 2 minutes. Microwave the stock until hot again.200 g/ml white wine
- Remove Bacon – when the 15 minutes is up, lift the bacon slices off the pumpkin cubes. Transfer to a chopping board. Return the pumpkin to the oven and immediately set a timer for another 15 minutes. Move onto the next step straight away.
- Add Most of Stock - give the reserved stock a good stir and pour about ¾ over the toasted rice. Keeping the heat on high, bring to a simmer. Stir the rice once, cover and reduce the heat to the lowest setting until the 15 minutes is up. In this time, chop the bacon. Towards the end of the 15 minutes, reheat the stock to hot again.
- When 15 Minutes is Up - remove the pumpkin from the oven. Set aside (you can leave on the tray). Take the lid off the rice now (and leave off). Increase the heat to high. Pour about half the remaining hot stock over the rice. Boil the stock hard, stirring all the time, until thick and creamy. Take off the heat.
- Finish – sprinkle over the parmesan and parsley mix. Tip in the pumpkin and bacon. Add a large knob of butter (around 20g). Grind over LOTS of freshly ground black pepper. Pour in more stock as needed to achieve creamy loose consistency. Stir well to combine and serve immediately in warmed shallow bowls/plates.butterfreshly ground black pepper
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