Have I mentioned that I am a full time student? And what about the fact that I also work a retail job several days a week? And the fact that I’m relatively involved on campus (3+ nights a week, every week)? So most nights I don’t have time to cook something wonderful, no matter how much I’d love to (a lot). I take a lot of shortcuts and make a lot of things in advance and buy a lot of things premade that I’d love to make myself (like bread). Anyway, one of those shortcuts I’ve recently learned is that I can cook lots of things in my rice cooker besides just rice. This may go against the manufacturer’s advising just a bit, but so far I’ve had no problems. Only easy meals with perfect, fluffy rice. I had a couple of squashes left over from a big batch given to me by a friend, and I wanted to make sure I used them before they went bad, so I made a LOT of this butternut squash risotto and invited some friends over for family dinner!
Butternut Squash Risotto and Fried Okra
I love family dinner! My friends come over and we cook huge, sometimes fancy but always wonderful meals and (usually) eat them family-style, sitting on the floor around my tiny table. We always use real plates, silverware, and cloth napkins at my apartment (despite my tiny sink), which may add to the family dinner feel. Last night we used Just Vegging Out’s Butternut Squash Risotto recipe, slightly modified to be made in my rice cooker:
a rice cooker
2 butternut squashes, peeled and cubed
dried thyme (the recipes calls for sage, but they are often synonymous in my book)
olive oil
1 lg onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 (rice cooker) cups of rice (and the measurements are fairly different)
enough vegetable broth to fill the rice cooker up to the second line
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
4 tablespoons butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper
First, I preheated the oven to 425 degrees. I spread the butternut squash out on a cookie sheet and poured olive oil, thyme, and salt and pepper over it and kind of stirred it around with my hands until the squash was fairly covered. Then I stuck that in the oven for 20-30 minutes. While it was cooking, I sauteed the onions and garlic in a skillet with some butter until the onions were translucent. I then poured the stock, then the rice, and finally the onions into my rice cooker and pressed the cook button. By the time the squash was ready to take out of the oven and mash with a fork (until it reaches the texture of mashed potatoes), the rice was about halfway done. I put the mashed squash and parmesan cheese into the rice cooker and stirred it all up, making sure there were no white patches, and let it finish cooking. This dish tastes so fancy and fallish, and it’s ridiculously easy.