A Great and Healthy Recipe: Butternut Squash and Kale Risotto

I was really excited about tonight's recipe. It's from The Gastrokid Cookbook. The concept of the book is awesome. All of the recipes are created to be kid-friendly, but it's not your usual chicken nuggets and mac n' cheese. This recipe was ideal because it used two of the veggies I bought at Sunday's Farmer's Market - butternut squash and lacinato kale. The original recipe includes pancetta, but we decided not to include it, as part of our effort to be healthier.

Dylan loved the risotto, but Max wouldn't take one bite (even after I removed the kale). One day I'll make a healthy dinner that both kids eat. Oh well - he ate a piece of last night's lasagna (the one that DYLAN hated). I personally thought this dish was fantastic and can't wait to have leftovers for lunch.

The recipe is below, but let me first remind you that I'm posting every day for a month to raise money for Healthy Schools Campaign. Thank you so much to Kim for her generous donation. We're continuing to plug away. If you'd like to help the cause, please click here and choose your donation amount. Every little bit helps.

Butternut Squash and Kale Risotto (adapted from The Gastrokid Cookbook)

6 cups chicken stock
extra virgin olive oil
1 bunch fresh kale, stemmed and chopped (if you use lacinato or dino kale like we did, cook it a bit longer)
1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed (Trader Joe's sells it pre-cubed if you are short on time)
salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup Arborio rice
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Heat the chicken stock in a small saucepan and keep warm on a low burner.

Heat a large pan over medium heat. Add a splash of oil and the kale. Saute for about five minutes (or longer if using lacinato). Remove the kale from the pan and put it aside.

Add another splash of olive oil to the pan and toss in the squash. Season with salt and pepper and saute for about five minutes. Add the rice and saute for another minute. Turn up the heat just a bit and add the wine. Cook, stirring constantly until the wine is absorbed. Add two ladles of stock. Cook, stirring constantly until the stock is absorbed. Add another two ladles of stock and repeat the above. Continue doing this until the squash is softened (but not dissolved) and the rice is al dente. This can take 15-30 minutes. For us, it was a good 25 minutes.

Once the risotto is ready, add one more ladle of stock and the kale. Mix to combine, and add the grated cheese.

Serve in bowls with additional cheese on the side. Enjoy!

(serves 4)

Comments

[Lauren]

This looks great, and uses up key veggies from my csa box. I wonder if Jason would like it? We'll have to try it and see, I suppose.

[buy soma online]

Oh my, this one really looks good. It reminds me of Chinese GOTO! I hope this taste good if I will try it!

[Chris]

I made this tonight (just discovered you last week) and it was fantastic! Tweeted how good it was and just passed out your link to a bunch of people. Thank you!

[Emily]

I just wanted to let you know that I used this post for inspiration for my own blog! I made sure to include a link to this post.

Thanks for the inspiration! You can see what I wrote here: http://emeats.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/butternut-squash-and-kale-risotto/

[recipes for kids]

This looks great dish for my birthday's special dish. I hope that all will love as I did.