Italian Creamy Rice with Roasted Pumpkin and Leek

September 23, 2021

This delightful recipe is a lovely mix of textures. Somewhere between a risotto and a lovely thick soup this creamy rice dish combines pan fried leek and roasted pumpkin. Our pumpkin seed oil adds a delicious nutty flavour to the pumpkin and then a colourful and tasty drizzle to finish. Buono!

You'll need:

500g diced pumpkin (1cm cubes)
¼ cup Pumpkin Seed Oil
Pink Salt
1 Leek (cleaned and sliced fine)
2 tbsp Pumpkin Seed Oil
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1 cup Arborio rice
½ cup dry white wine
2 L vegetable stock
½ cup cream
2 tbsp dry roasted pumpkin seeds
Extra Pumpkin seed oil for serving.

Method:

Toss the diced pumpkin in the ¼ cup pumpkin seed oil and sprinkle with salt.
Place on a lined baking tray, in a moderate oven and cook until pumpkin is tender.
Place olive and pumpkin seed oil into a deep saucepan. Add the sliced leek and cook gently for about 10 minutes.
Add the rice to the pan a mix well.
Add the white wine, to the rice and cook for 2 minutes.
Add the vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Turn down and let simmer and cook the rice for 20 minutes (or until rice is tender).
Add half of the roasted pumpkin to rice mixture, along with the cream.
Using a hand blender, blitz the part of the rice to make a thick mixture. (Do not over blitz.)
Add ¾ of the remaining pumpkin to the pan and heat through.
Place rice into individual bowls and top with the last of the roasted pumpkin, the pumpkin seeds and drizzle with a bit more pumpkin seed oil.