Steel Cut Oat Risotto with Butternut + ‘Shrooms
WOW. wow!! This was SO GOOD!!! I don’t think I have ever made such a flavorful recipe. And I think I owe it all to the Imagine Brand Vegetable Broth.
I used this guy because we were out of our homemade, but it had SO much flavor I couldn’t believe it. I normaly think broths are so overrated and use water lots of the times because it’s free, but this was amazing. There is NO squash or pumpkin in the oat risotto – it’s orangy from the broth.
But I also owe some credit to the Finger Lakes Riesling that I polished off tonight. About 1/3 a cup of it went into the risotto and really packed in the flavor.
Here’s a link to the inspiration recipe from Cooking Light.
My version:
- 8 oz butternut squash, cubed and baked until tender at 400*
- 1/2 cup steel cut oats (*Note* I think this actually would have been better with real arborio rice instead of the oats because the rice has more volume and heft)
- 1/3 cup white wine
- 2 tsp sage
- 1.5 cups (appx.) vegetable broth
- 10 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 1 tbsp real butter
- 4 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated
- Handful baby spinach, chopped
For my version, I baked half a large butternut squash for 40 minutes until tender in a little S+ P (I also microwaved it to give it a head start).
For the “risotto” I sauteed garlic and 1/2 a cup of steel cut oats for a few minutes and then added 1/3 a cup of wine, followed by who knows how much broth, 1/4-1/3 a cup or so at a time. I’m guessing I used about 1.5 cups of broth? I just kept adding it every time the oats dried out on the bottom of the pan until it was time to serve the veggies.
In a skillet, I sauteed the mushrooms in 1/2 a tbsp of real butter (one of the few times I think it’s really worth it because you can TASTE the butter!). Then I added the squash and spinach when the shrooms were done.
When the risotto was done, I stirred in another 1/2 tbsp real butter, 2 tsp sage and 2 tbsp parmesan.
Then I poured the risotto into bowls, topped with veggies, and sprinkled another tbsp parmesan in each bowl.
SO DELICIOUS!!
Each bowl was about 480 kcal, 14 grams of fiber and 18 grams protein. You could lighten it with Smart Balance instead of butter, even omit the butter. And use less parmesan.
I had a 4 oz glass of the Riesling while cooking 🙂 Next to my lavender decor!
This dinner (including wine) was 550 kcal, 14 grams fiber and 18 grams protein.
After dinner the husband and I tried one of BethT’s Chocolate-Covered Figamajig bars – yum! I had 1/3 he had the rest.
Goodnight!
hk says
what a pretty dish! Glad it was a success, YUM!
VeggieGirl says
looks AMAZING!!! I use that brand of vegetable broth, so I’m glad that it worked out for you too :0)
Enjoy your evening!!
Janine says
That is so funny b/c I used vegetable broth tonight to make my quinoa. I have never done that before but it made it delicious!
Romina says
You’ve done it! You’ve made oatmeal a dinner. =) That’s fantastic, I always love new takes on risotto (without rice). Looks delish!
Kristie says
Oh my gosh that looks AMAZING. It’s making me starving just thinking about it. I want to make that for dinner as soon as possible.
Suzanne says
That dinner looks SO good. I just showed my husband the computer screen and he asked if we can have it next week (we already used up our butternut squash yesterday for fries).
I have a question about cooking butternut squash.
As we all know – it takes forever in the oven.
Is it possible to just microwave it the whole time? If so, do you know how long? Or will it taste worse than if cooked in the oven?
Also, I don’t know anything about wine. But when a recipe asks for it, I usually add it because I do like the flavor it gives the risotto. But can I substitute any white wine for the Riesling you used? Or if I don’t have any wine – is there something else I can use or just eliminate it altogether?
Thanks, Kath! 🙂
Brynn says
I just made the cocoa-coconut chili from ED&BV. Yummm! Right after I added the coconut milk I thought the flavor was overpowering and I wished I hadn’t used it, but after simmering for 30 minutes, the flavors blended and now it’s delish.
Ally says
That dinner looks divine!
I wanted Pumpkin Risotto the other night but didn’t have the rice… leave it up to you to use Oatmeal, brilliant!
I’ll keep my eye out for that brand of broth.
Katie says
What a YUMMY looking dinner! Totally bringing spring! Are you growing a lavender plant? I have one out front I plated and LOVE it!
bikergurl says
What an interesting combo of oats and veggies! I keep saying this, but I’ll have to try this sometime! I just keep getting such fabulous ideas here 😀
BethT says
Hey Suzanne, re: wine in cooking: I often ask my local wine shop for suggestions if a recipe calls for a dry white, dry red, whatever. They are usually quite knowledgeable. But if I don’t have it on hand, I just use broth or stock. Chicken or veggie stock can be a good sub for white wine, beef stock for red (depending on the recipe).
Kelly T says
i never thought I would see the day when savory oats actually sounded good to me…
Megan says
Hi Kath, I was wondering if you have another Figamajig bar, if you could show us what it looks like (outside of the package:)
Thanks!
Kelly T says
weird. im watching the biggest loser and rocco despirito (sp?) is making healthy ice cream with fage yogurt and he pronounced it Fah-yay. i just thought it was fage, like cage.
im uncultured
Hannah says
Kelly,
I noticed your website hasn’t been working for a few days…is it coming back? Or maybe this is just a technical problem on my end?
babycakes says
Kelly, it’s definitely pronounced fah-yay. I don’t know why I know this (I’m vegan and therefore don’t eat yogurt) but I’m 100% sure that’s the right pronounciation. However, I always think/say it the way you do in my head.
Anyway, Kath I love your creativity. It’s never-ending! Hope you have a great sleep! 🙂
Kelly T says
yeah my site is coming back. wordpress sucks and is being a jerk and isnt compatable with a lot of my stuff, so im switching hosts. itll be back up by the end of the week, hopefully. Bear with me!!
Nick says
This sounds awesome, but you know what you can use instead of oats or arborio rice? Barley. I made a barley risotto recently that was one of the best dishes I’ve ever tasted. I got the recipe from eatingwell.com and made it fairly close to the original recipe. Incredibly healthy too! I’ll post a recipe soon for ya.
– The Peanut Butter Boy
Kiala says
Sooooo….way off topic Kath, but what’s with the onion hate? When did that start? I won’t eat green beans when they’re cooked because of childhood things, so I feel you, but still, inquiring minds want to know.
Jill says
I made almost this exact dish tonight from my “In Season Vegetarian” cookbook! Think how great to the environment you were with it – and your body! Now THAT’S health!
Jill says
Suzanne – I’ve microwaved butternut squash in a pinch before and I didn’t find it as good… the edges were weird. Maybe I imagined it, however.
n/a says
hi kath,
i have a question, i bought Davinci whole wheat pasta elbows. on the box it says 1/2 cup=180 calories. Is this dry? Or cooked? I’m assuming it’s dry. just wondering if you knew.
thanks again
Kath says
Suzanne ,
You can definitely microwave the squash. In fact, I almost always do to give it a “head start” like I said in the post. And it makes it much easier to cut if it’s a little softer! I like to roast it for at least half of the cooking time because I do think the texture and flavor is better in the oven, but you can microwave it all if you like. We have before!
As for wines, any dry white will work (which just means don’t use a sweet dessert wine). Any Chardonnay, Sauv. Blanc, dry Riesling, etc. would be fine. And I like Beth’s idea of asking your local wine shop for a recommendation – then you’ll be confident what you’re getting will go well.
Katie,
Our house came with lavender growing in the garden! Thyme, oregano and rosemary too. Our former owners were gardeners. I don’t cook with the lavender as much as I probably should – I’ve made a salad dressing with it. Any other ideas?
Megan,
I will try to remember! It looks like a chocolate candy bar because it’s coated in chocolate with a fig-newton-y inside that’s thick.
Kelly T,
I am well aware of the whole “fay-yeh” thing but it’s totally FAGE/CAGE in our house! I only call it fay-yeh in public 🙂 What is this ice cream he was making!?
Kiala ,
Here’s something I typed about onions a while ago: The biggest problem with onions is that I will taste them for 24 hours after eating them. If I liked the taste, it wouldn’t be so bad (chocolate for 24 hours!?) but I hate the grassy strong taste in the first place, so it’s just a horrible 24 hours! I like the taste of cooked garlic OK, but I don’t care for it raw either (obviously for the same linger-on-the-breath reason). I can also smell them on other people’s breath from a mile away. The husband doesn’t eat them raw either (although he doesn’t particularly like them raw). Cooked onions are a little bit more tolerable, but there are still very few foods I can eat and not be bothered (soups are usually OK). It’s really not a huge problem in my life – we just omit them from our recipes (or subs. garlic or celery) and when I go to restaurants I just ask about the dish first or ask for it to be prepared without.
n/a,
Please pick a name! The half a cup is dry – which should come out to about a cup cooked.
Kath
Suzanne says
BETH T, JILL, and KATH –
Thanks so much for the tips about butternut squash and wine. I’ll use everyone’s advice and cook the squash half in the microwave and half in the oven. 🙂
KELLY T –
Yup, it’s definitely pronounced “fay-yeh” I used to pronounce it like cage too! lol. My husband’s best friend is Greek, and she set me straight!
Kelly T says
aw man, i guess im the only one that didnt know.
Justy2003 says
I had no idea that Fage was pronounced “Fay-yeh” or whatever until I finally bought a container (and loved it!) and noticed that it has the pronunciation on the side! My guess is that a lot of people call it Fage/Cage!
Lauren says
Wow, that’s a really creative use for steel cut oats! I can’t wait to try the recipe.
Meredi says
Kath, I just wanted to thank you for this recipe — I stored it away and came across it today when I was looking for dinner inspiration. I decided to do the arborio rice version, just because I’d never made a risotto before and wanted to try. I actually cooked the mushrooms first, then added the rice and cooked it all the way through — then stirred in the squash and spinach at the very end. Absolutely delicious! Thanks so much for the idea!
Kath says
Meredi,
So glad you liked it! I can’t wait to have it again 🙂
Kath