Foodie Friday XIII

The second week of September through the first week of November are the best time to be a cook. Late-summer brings good tomatoes, sure, and some are still around, as well as peppers and herbs and some greens, but fall brings the real harvest: the dark, bitter chicories; the squash and gourds; the root vegetables; the best apples and pears. It gets cooler and darker earlier, and suddenly the heat of a hot oven and all the burners going on the cooktop is pleasant in a kitchen with an open window. It's time again to start drinking full, robust red wines, eating smoked meats, roasting chickens. Here is a recipe for a savory, spicy risotto with acorn squash cooked in two different ways, one to emphasize its sweetness and the other its darker, autumnal notes.

Two-way acorn squash risotto with prosciutto

After a hot summer, early fall squashes are intense and sugary. In this recipe, the squash is prepared by two methods--roasting with spices and steaming over lemongrass--to bring out the two different characters of its flavor. The prosciutto is likewise served in two different ways: folded into the risotto raw, and fried for a little crunch on top.

2 acorn squash, not too large
2 1/2 cups of risotto
1/4 lb. of prosciutto di Parma
good chicken stock
dry white wine
1 large yellow onion
1 shallot
4-5 cloves of garlic
Parmigiano Reggiano
fresh thyme, parsley, tarragon, and celery leaves
lemon grass, fresh or dried
whole cumin, nutmeg, allspice, fennel seed, coriander, mustard seed, black peppercorns, and fleur du sel
powdered cayenne pepper
fine sea salt
white pepper
extra virgin olive oil

Preheat your oven to 375. Halve your two squashes and seed them. Using a mortar and pestle, prepare a rough-ground mixture of cumin, nutmeg, allspice, fennel seed, coriander, mustard seed, black peppercorns, and fleur du sel. Add a few pinches of powdered cayenne pepper also. There is no easy proportion to use for this. You have to trust your nose. The ideal blend should smell spicy, peppery, and a little bit sweet. Cumin, in particular, is extremely aromatic. You should be able to pick up distinct notes of every spice when you waft the ground mixture under your nose. Rub the two halves of one squash thoroughly with the spice mixture and with good olive oil, place in a baking dish with the exposed flesh facing upward, and then put in the oven. Cook until the flesh is very, very soft. You will eventually make a paste of it.

Put a pot of good chicken stock on a back burner to warm. To prepare for the risotto, finely dice one medium yellow onion, one shallot, and four or five cloves of garlic. Prepare a bouquet garni (tied whole sprigs of fresh herbs) of tarragon, thyme, parsley, and celery leaf. Reserve a cup of chicken broth mixed with dry white wine for deglazing. Cut a quarter pound of thinly-sliced prosciutto di Parma into small ribbons. Divide in half.

To prepare for the second style of squash, cut the flesh out of the reserved one and divide into cubes of approximately a half-inch. Lightly season with fine salt and white pepper. Put a steaming pot on a burner with a nice bunch of dried lemon-grass in the water. Bring slowly to a boil.

Heat extra virgin olive oil in a big pot. Add half of the prosciutto to fry it and to render out the fat. When it's dark and curling, remove to a plate lined with paper towels. Cover. Reserve.

Sweat out the onions, shallots, and garlic in the pot. When translucent, add the risotto. Scald it for a minute or so, turning constantly in the pan. Then deglaze with the wine-stock mixture. Add the bouquet garni. Add enough warm stock to cover the rice. Reduce to a high simmer, stirring constantly. There's a myth that you must stir risotto constantly throughout its whole cooking time. Not true. Just make sure to stir vigorously for a minute every time you add more liquid, which you should do as soon as the level of liquid drops below the top of the rice.

Meanwhile, remove your squash from the oven. Scrape out the flesh with a spoon, and mash into a lumpy paste. Reserve.

After about ten minutes of cooking the risotto, begin steaming your cubed squash. Only steam it for five-seven minutes. You don't want it to lose its texture. Barely cooked through is the ideal.

After fifteen or so minutes, fold the mashed squash into the risotto, stirring and adding more liquid to distribute evenly throughout. Its flavor, color, and aroma should be uniform in the rice. Also add the raw prosciutto at this point.

When the rice is cooked properly--creamy with just a hint of crunch left in it--, reduce the heat to low. Grate a healthy chunk of Parmigiano Reggiano over it and fold in. Add the steamed chunks of squash and fold in. Turn off the heat, stir, cover, and let stand for five minutes for the flavors to settle.

Serve in shallow bowls, garnished with raw olive oil, a little more parmesan, and the fried strips of prosciutto.