October Risotto

This month's risotto is: butternut squash with sage and chili! It was an easy choice this time....butternut squash is EVERYWHERE right now, and also, I had sage leaves that came in an herb package that I bought and had no idea what to do with, so....this happened:

Like my September risotto, the recipe comes from this book but I changed it a little bit this time - the original called for a whole stick of butter, which seemed a little excessive.

Here is my version (which served three):

1 tbsp butter
1small yellow onion
2 tbsp chopped sage
2 tsp dried chili flakes - more or less depending on how spicy you want it
1 cup finely diced butternut squash
1 cup Arborio rice
4 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup Parmesan, plus more for serving

Heat up broth and leave it to simmer on the stove (oh, the luxuries of having four burners). Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat and add the onion. Let the onion cook and soften for about 10 minutes. Add in the chopped sage and chili flakes and cook for 1 minute. Add butternut squash and let soften a bit, about 5 more minutes. Stir in the rice and let it get coated with butter - "toast" it for about 1 minute. Add a ladle full of broth to the rice mixture and stir. I usually turn the heat down to low at this point because our burners get very hot and you want to the broth to be simmering with the rice, not furiously boiling. When the rice has absorbed the broth, add another ladle of broth, and repeat this process until all the broth is gone OR until the rice is full, tender, and has lost its hard bite. Stir in the Parmesan and serve immediately.