Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Thanksgiving Pumpkin Risotto, and sunny Arancini rice balls

We don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in Estonia, obviously, but as so many foodbloggers are currently posting their favourite pumpkin recipes, I decided to join the bandwagon as well. So here's a recipe for a beautifully coloured pumpkin risotto - a handy way to use up that pound of pumpkin flesh that pumpkin-carvers across the world would have these days. As for the leftover risotto, I've nicked Shaun's recipe for beautiful beetroot arancini and made pumpkin arancini instead.

Pumpkin Risotto
(Kõrvitsarisoto)
Based on Angeelika Kang's recipe for pumpkin risotto in the October 2007 issue of Oma Maitse
Serves 4



50 g butter
2 finely chopped medium onions
2 finely chopped garlic cloves
300 g Carnaoli risotto rice
400 g finely cubed pumpkin flesh
150 ml dry white wine
1 litre hot vegetable stock
a generous handful of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
100 g grated Parmesan cheese
salt
coarsely ground black pepper

In a small saucepan, bring the vegetable stock to a boil, reduce heat and keep it on slow simmer.
Heat the butter in a large saucepan, add the onion and fry gently for 5 minutes to soften, stirring frequently.
Add garlic, fry for another 5 minutes, stirring every now and then.
Add the rice, heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring.
Add pumpkin cubes and stir gently for about a minute.
Add the wine, bring to simmer. Now add a generous ladleful or two of hot stock and stir gently, until the rice has absorbed the stock.
Add another ladleful or two of stock and stir, until this has been absorbed. Continue for about 20 minutes, until the rice has softened to al dente stage, and you've got a lovely creamy risotto (this would take about 20-25 minutes, depending on the rice).
Add the chopped parsley and most of the grated parmesan cheese.
Season with salt and pepper and serve at once.

Pumpkin Arancini Rice Balls
(Arancini e. frititud risotopallid)
Based on Shaun's recipe
Serves 2



For the rice mixture:
approximately a cup of leftover risotto
1 egg
5 Tbsp breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
cubed cheese (Mozzarella, Fontina - I used Estonian 'Atleet' cheese:)

For breadcrumb mixture:
4 Tbsp breadcrumbs
0.5 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley

For frying:
light olive oil or rapeseed oil

For sprinkling:
Maldon sea salt flakes

Heat about 3 cm oil in a small saucepan.
Mix together the pumpkin risotto, egg, 5 Tbsp of breadcrumbs and 1 Tbsp parsley in a large bowl.
Cut the cheese into 1 cm cubes.
Combine the breadcrumbs and parsley for breading on a flat plate. Put aside.
Use about 2 Tbsp rice mix per rice ball. Flatten the rice mixture in the palm of your hand, place a cheese cube in the centre, and wrap the rice mixture around the cheese cube. Form into a nice round ball.
Roll the balls in the parsley-breadcrumb mixture (see photo below).
Fry in the hot oil until browned, crisped and heated through - approximately 4 minutes.
Drain on a paper towel, sprinkle with Maldon sea salt.
Serve and enjoy!



Other arancini recipes:
Winter Skies, Kitchen Aglow
Amateur Gourmet
One Whole Clove

17 comments:

K and S said...

both look really good!

Gracianne said...

They look so good. I love arancini, it is the best way to use leftover risotto.

Bradley said...

The pumpkin the risottos as well as the rice balls look fantastic. I must admit that even though I totally love rice balls, I never cook them at home. I don't enjoy cleaning up the cook top after the oil splatters!

Anonymous said...

Tere, Pille! Tervitused Soomest. Sinul on väga tore blogi.
Mul on üks küsimus. Kas Tallinnas on selline kauplus, kus müüakse toiduaineid Kaukaasiast (Georgiast, Armeeniast, jne.)?
Ma olen õppinud natuke eesti keelt kursusel, aga see oli mitu aastat tagasi. Olen kahjuks palju unustanud. Lootan, et saad aru.

Suzana Parreira said...

I have to try the risotto. Nice blog! I'll return here many time for inspiration. Thanks!

Mariajaan said...

Dear Pille, In my home country we do not eat the pumpkins at all! We feed the animals with them, and In the old times here in Spain (in Galicia), where we are living now, the cereals such as corn and rice were given to the pigs!!!!!!! The world is full of surprises.
I have no idea why pumpkin is so popular and how on earth the corn is wasted on stables.
I am looking forward to your Christmas postings. I am in desperate need for recipes that could resemble the Estonian feasts. Can you "estonianize" something accessible to us in Spain?
By the way, atleet is the favorite of my family, also hiirte, and to resemble their flavor I get Havarti from any supermarket chain of Europe, had not you used the same type while in Scotland? It is really simlar.
Ole tubli ja ette tänades MariaC.

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

It's a cold and raw night here in Rhode Island, and that pumpkin risotto looks so enticing! I love making arancini, too, with any kind of leftover risotto.

lobstersquad said...

It´s iirresistible, isn´t it? I´m wondering what to post for Thanksgiving, too.

Meeta K. Wolff said...

Pille both of them are purely incredible. I have to try the rice balls!

Jeanne said...

Oh WOW those look good! When you mentioned your arancini in a comment the other day I wondered how long it woudl be before we laid eyes on them ;-) I love pumpkin risotto too - so two fab recipes for the price of one :)

Anonymous said...

These looks really good. I got to try it out.

Cat Lady said...

Hi Pille, I have a new PC at last and can get onto your site! Your pumpkin risotto looks brill. I have a large pumpkin and plan to make a big cake this weekend. Hope you are well and Estonia is not too cold! Lots of love, Emma

Shaun said...

Pille - Your risotto looks like a dream. I love its comforting orange glow (probably my favourite colour, come to think of it). I almost never use vegetable stock because I find it is never flavourful enough...I don't know what I'm doing wrong or over-doing.

I'm glad you enjoyed the arancini. It is a great leftover recipe. I dare say, it encourages one to cook too much risotto just so there is the possibility of arancini within a couple of days.

Peter M said...

Pille, great double post...risotto and the arancini, yum!

Renee said...

Pumpkin risotto, wow! That fits in so well with my recent explorations into adding pumpkin and grains together. Very beautiful colors!

Thredahlia said...

Kahtlustan, et kõrvitsarisoto on ka mul lähitulevikus plaanis :P kõigi muude kõrvitsakatsetuste kõrval...
Kuidas Sulle see konkreetne retsept meeldis?

Pille said...

Gracianne – I hadn’t thought of that before, but it’s indeed a great way to utilise leftover risotto :)

Bradley – thank you! I manage to avoid too many oil splatters luckily this time, so I’m not discouraged to make these again.

Matleena – teretulemast Nami-nami blogisse ja aitäh heade sõnade eest! Ma eraldi kauplust Tallinnas ei tea, aga kui lähed Tallinna Keskturule, siis sealt leiad suluguni ja brõnsa juustu, khmeli-suneli maitseainesegu, aserbaidžaani granaatõunamahla jms.

Suzana – do give this risotto a go – it’s a nice and easy recipe!

Maria – it’s interesting how food fashion change indeed! I’ve got some Estonian Christmas recipes on the blog already (f.ex. piparkoogid, boozy sauerkraut, sugared almonds), but I’ll keep you in mind when posting this November-December.
Re: Estonian cheese – I like Atleet and Eesti Juust and Vene Juust, as well as Kostroma and Saida caraway cheese. I know Havarti from Denmark, and that’s indeed closest to the ‘typical’ Estonian cheese.

Lydia – I’ll try arancini with all my future risottos, too!

Lobstersquad – I’m sure you can come up with some Spanish pumpkin dishes :)

Jeanne – well, I was quite quick this time :)

Emma – so nice to hear from you!!! What’s the pumpkin cake you’re making? I’ve got some pumpkin left, too. Kisses to M!

Shaun – I like Marigold Vegetable Bouillon, but I don’t know if it’s available in NZ. Has plenty of flavour imho. And thank you again for a great arancini recipe!

Nan – I’ve been looking more into grains recently as well, especially buckwheat and barley.

Thredahlia – igati väärt retsept oli, nii et void teha küll :)
K&S, Kalyn, Meeta, The Cooking Ninja, Peter M – thank you!