Lemon squash risotto

I love making risotto, it's perfect autumnal* comfort food, and butternut squash is one of my favourite vegetables to add to it. I made this for tea on Friday evening.



Ingredients:

Butter
Olive oil
1 onion (finely chopped)
2 cloves garlic (ditto)
75g Arborio rice
1 and a half sloshes white wine
1 chicken Oxo cube in 250ml boiled water
Juice of half a lemon (or equivalent)**
1 butternut squash (cubed and peeled)
Parmesan cheese
Black pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees C. Place the squash cubes in a pan of boiling water and cook for for ten minutes. Coat a wide bottomed dish or tray with olive oil. Drain the squash and tip into the dish. Drizzle some more oil on top and shake to make sure all the pieces are well coated. Cook in oven for half an hour.

Fry the onion in the butter and olive oil until soft, stir in the rice and cook for a further 2 minutes. Slosh in the white wine. Add the lemon juice to the chicken stock. When the wine has been absorbed pour in half the stock. Stir the mixture occasionally to prevent it sticking to the pan. Add more stock whenever the mixture starts to look dry. After about 20 minutes all the liquid should be absorbed and the rice should be cooked.

Take the squash out of the oven and use a slotted spoon to add as many pieces as you want to your risotto mix (the leftovers can be frozen for another risotto or as vegetable portions), fold in gently.

Put the risotto in a bowl and serve with black pepper, plenty of parmesan cheese and lemon wedges (although see **).

* unlike some I am perfectly happy that autumn's on its way, for a start it makes 18 miles training runs a heck of a lot more bearable!

** due to a grocery mix up mine came out of a bottle.