Pumpkin Risotto

Risotto.

Stir, add liquid, stir.

I was first introduced to risotto by a dear friend of mine when I went over to her house for dinner. I'd eaten risotto before, but never thought about how it was made. As it turns out, a lot of stirring. The small amounts of liquid, added in a bit at a time, created a creamy texture when absorbed little by little into the Arborio rice. When she made it, though, she stirred in a large portion of goat cheese at the very end, which took it from "oh cool risotto" to "NO WAY THIS IS AMAZING risotto."

Anyway, I've since made risotto a total of two times. Like I said, there's a lot of stirring involved. It's a lot of work for a one-person meal, you know? The first time was summery recipe with tomatoes, mushrooms, asparagus and sausage. Tonight, to mark fall and the pumpkin season, it was pumpkin risotto.
















Thyme
















The original recipe called for seared scallops, but I went with tuna mostly because (1) I couldn't find large scallops, but also (2) the ones I had found on a previous shopping trip were really expensive. By the time I decided I did want them, well.. refer to reason #1.
















My dinner friend stirring for me as I prepped the rest of the meal. Amazing stirring job, really. He got suspicious of my many "great job stirring" compliments, but the truth is, successful risotto texture is dependent on the small amounts of liquid absorbed evenly through constant stirring. In any case, he was stirring too fast for me to get a great photo.
















With pumpkin puree mixture and thyme added.

























Finished product, with the seared tuna peeking in from the side and sauteed greens in the background.

Pumpkin Risotto
Adapted from spoon fork bacon

1¼ cups pumpkin puree

2 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

pinch ground clove

¼ cup hot vegetable broth

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, divided

4 to 5 cups low sodium chicken broth

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 cups Arborio rice

2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened

¼ cup parmesan cheese, grated

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, minced

salt and pepper to taste

Stir together the first six ingredients for the risotto into a small pot and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove mixture from the heat and pour into a blender with the broth, season with salt and pepper and blend. (I used my stick blender and just blended in the pot--one less dish!). With the motor running, add ¼ cup of butter into the blender, 1 tablespoon at a time. Blend until smooth, about 3 minutes. Pour the mixture into a bowl and set aside until ready to use.

Pour the chicken broth into a medium pot and warm over low heat.

Place a large pan over medium heat and melt the remaining butter and olive oil. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for about 3 minutes. Add the rice and sauté for 3 to 5 minute or until each grain of rice is coated in oil and there is a white dot in the center of each grain. Begin adding the warm broth to the rice, one ladle full at a time, stirring frequently. Each time the liquid evaporates, add another ladle of broth and continue to stir. Continue to add liquid and stir until the rice is al dente, 20-25 minutes. Stir in the pumpkin puree until completely combined. Stir in the cream cheese and parmesan until smooth. Fold in the thyme and season with salt and pepper.

*In the original recipe, it calls for heavy cream and marscapone cheese instead of milk and cream cheese, respectively. I didn't want to get a whole container of heavy cream for just two tbsp and ditto for the marscapone. I felt the recipe turned out delicious even without it!

This season brought to you by the color orange

I love fall. I love the leaves changing, cooler weather, sweaters, warm apple cider, hot chocolate, being buried under blankets and boots.

Fall also means pumpkins, and lots of them.

Carving them.















Eating their seeds.

And of course, other things.
















The start to all that is good and delicious: copious amounts of sugar and butter
















Some crystallized ginger--easily found in the bulk section of QFC/Whole Foods and the dried fruit section of Safeway.
















Can't forget the most important part: PUMPKIN




















Poor little naked cupcake. I'll help, no worries.




















Topped them with cream cheese frosting

Pumpkin cupcakes
Adapted from allrecipes.com

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 (3.4 ounce) package instant butterscotch pudding mix

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree

Preheat an oven to 325 degrees F. Grease 24 muffin cups (I got 27-30 out of this recipe), or line with paper muffin liners. Whisk together the flour, pudding mix, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger, allspice, cloves, and crystallized ginger in a bowl; set aside.

Beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy. The mixture should be noticeably lighter in color. Add the room-temperature eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to blend into the butter mixture before adding the next. Beat in the vanilla and pumpkin puree with the last egg. Stir in the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin cups.

Bake in the preheated oven until golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 25 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

Cream cheese frosting
Adapted from allrecipes.com
Covered about 30 cupcakes

1 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese,softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.

Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate

I like baking. I do. But sometimes, that gets shoved under piles of I'm-working-every-weekend-and-I-have-two nights-a-week-to-fit-in-7-days-of-hanging-out-noooooo. The baking has suffered, to say the least. But! Light, tunnel, end.

As an event coordinator, my work schedule gets jam packed during the summers and then slowly, blessedly, lightens up around fall. Which is: right now! Yes! Presumably, I'm with the 6 day, 60-hour work week and back to the 5 day, 40-hour work week. Supposedly, I'm not getting sent to Ellensburg (although, it was pretty) or Oak Harbor (also, gorgeous) or Lacey (eh.. at least I didn't get shot) anytime soon.

So I took a look at my Pinterest Recipe board and realized that more than half of the items on there didn't have a "DONE" label on them. Oh no. No no. That won't do.

Peanut butter and chocolate is probably one of the best combos ever. It might even be better than salt and caramel.

So..

Some cocoa and sugar.










Whisked with water to make a smooth paste.










Add milk










And of course, peanut butter










Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate
Adapted from Babble Blogs
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup water
3 cups 2% milk
4 tbsp. creamy peanut butter
3 oz. chocolate (the original recipe called for bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped. I used chocolate chips, about 3 oz=1/2 cup)

In a saucepan, stir together the sugar and cocoa to get rid of lumps; stir in the water until smooth, then whisk in the milk over medium-high heat. Heat until steaming. Remove the pan from the heat and add the peanut butter and chocolate. Let it sit for a few seconds, then blend it with a hand-held immersion blender.