A Bass-Ackwards Way to Risotto

So, it's November 20th, and there are STILL delicious Early Girl tomatoes available at the Farmer's Market. While Bautista Farms' toms aren't dry-farmed like Dirty Girl's, they are still incredibly delicious for this late in the season. After scoring 18lbs of soft Girls for $5, I headed home, ready to make an enormous batch of my revelatory Tomato Soup to freeze.

Course, since I haven't cooked in WEEKS, I got home to find that I had no chicken stock. Fortunately, there was a nice little 4lb bird in the freezer, along with plenty of onions, carrots and celery from today's visit to the market, and so I set about making a big pot of stock.

I should mention that I've never made stock from a whole bird before; for me, the roasted chicken is the primary product, and the carcass becomes fodder for stock. So I've never had the achingly moist, tender chicken meat that results when a whole chicken goes into the stockpot.

After using what I needed for my tomato soup, I was inspired to make something with the chicken and remaining stock.  I checked the pantry and found a bag of arborio rice I hadn't touched in a few months, and a Delicata squash that I wanted to play with.

Thirty minutes later, I served up one of the most delicious risottos I've ever made.

Chicken and Squash Risotto

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tbsp butter
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 leek, white parts only, sliced thin
• 1 c. arborio rice
• several cups of chicken stock
• 1 delicata squash or half a butternut squash
• shredded meat of half a chicken
• 1 lemon
• 1/3 cup cilantro (coriander leaf), chopped

1. Heat the olive oil and butter in a risotto pan or saute pan. Add onion and leek, and saute until translucent and golden at the edges.
2. Add the rice, stirring to coat with the oil in the pan. Cook for just a minute, then add two ladlefuls (1-1 1/4 cups) of stock. Add 1/4 tsp of salt (adjust down if you are using a commercially-prepared broth).  Stir as you would any risotto, until the liquid is absorbed. Continue adding broth by the cup until the rice is translucent at the edges, but still has a crunch.
3. Meanwhile, peel the squash and cut into 1/2" chunks. Place in a microwave-safe dish with 3 tbsp of the stock. Microwave on high for 2 minutes at a time, until the squash is tender.
4. Add the squash and chicken to the rice, along with the rind of the lemon.
5. Once the rice is creamy and tender, with a slight toothsomeness, add the juice from the lemon along with the cilantro.

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