FOR those of you who want the ISBN # for the Hello Kitty book, it’s 4-387-00041-4. The link to the book on amazon Japan is here. It appears they are not in stock, though. Stella bought the book at Kinokuniya Bookstore in San Francisco. Oh, dudes, I just discovered that you can order books online through Kinokuniya! They don’t seem to have the Hello Kitty book, but if you click on the link, it brings up a bunch of Japanese knitting books! WOOHOO.
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I bought a cute butternut squash the other day, and I had just the recipe for it: Butternut Squash, Rosemary, and Blue Cheese Risotto from the February 2005 issue of Bon Appetit. I was missing several ingredients called for in the recipe, so, well, I just left them out, and it was still super tasty!
Read on for the recipe …
Butternut Squash, Rosemary, and Blue Cheese Risotto
February 2005 Bon Appetit (it’s not on epicurious.com yet)
4 servings (mine made more like 6 servings)
7 cups low-salt chicken broth (basically 3 cans)
3 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 cups chopped onion
1 2-lb butternut squash, peeled and cut into little bite-sized pieces
2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 cups (packed) baby spinach leaves
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
Bring the chicken broth to a boil in a large saucepan, then reduce the heat to low and cover. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a heavy LARGE pot over medium heat. Add the onion and saute for about 5 minutes or until tender. Add the squash and 1 1/2 tsp rosemary and saute 4 minutes. Add rice and stir for about two minutes. Add the wine and simmer for about a minute, until evaporated. Add the hot chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the rice is tender and the risotto is creamy. Add small bits of broth as needed. Stir the mixture every once in a while. This all takes about 18 minutes. Stir in the spinach, cream, and Parmesan cheese. Throw the blue cheese in just before serving and sprinkle with the remaining rosemary.
*Notes: I left out the onion (but I did throw in a clove of garlic), the cream, and the spinach. It was creamy enough without the cream, but it would have benefited from the spinach, I think. This would taste good with some sausage. I served it with a big salad.
I shouldn’t be reading blogs late at night on an empty stomach. That looks and sounds good. Thanks for posting the recipe.
Hi Mariko, Love to read about your projects. So, when do you add the rice? Before the onions?
What? No picture of the cute squash?
Yum! Butternut squash & bleu cheese? What can be better? I guess I need to pull that issue out from the bottom of my *read* pile.
I can already hear The Man’s groans, Not rosemary! I have a rosemary problem-o, I’m going to have to try this recipe.
hey i have that same recipe bookmarked in my mag to try out! glad it was tasty and that you brought it to the front of my mind!
also thanks for the link to the store in SF – i live in SF and haven’t yet been on a hunt for cute japanese books and i know there must be plenty here. if you see anything on the site you want let me know and i’d be happy to go in person to see if they have it (that’d motivate me to actually go too!).
Butternut squash risotto is one of my favorites! I make a very simple version that I got out of a Martha Stewart’s Kids magazine. I love taking the cold leftovers the next day, and making them into little patties and pan frying them. Crispy on the outside, soft in the middle. yuuuuuum!