I’m so excited to share this recipe with you guys ! To me it’s the perfect veggie-loaded main dish full of autumn flavors. Vibrant butternut squash stuffed with a creamy risotto with plenty of mushrooms, spinach, herbs and white wine. This both looks and tastes like Thanksgiving. It may be different from a traditional Thanksgiving dish but it still captures the essence of the day, I think!
While not too difficult to prepare, this dish is sure to impress!
If you can’t find small butternut squash, or just want to serve smaller portions (because there will be too many other dishes to choose from on your Thanksgiving table), you can use larger squashes, roast them the same way, and cut them into slices, serving the risotto on the side.
I hope you love this dish as much as I do and that it becomes a new Thanksgiving favorite ! Let me know what you think down in the comments below.
Ingredients
(Makes about 4 servings)
- 3 tbs olive oil
- 2-3 shallots, about 1/2 cup diced
- 2 gloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
- Salt to taste
- 2 cups water or vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup white wine (nothing fancy, but definitely dry not sweet)
- 1 cup barley, uncooked
- 2 small butternut squash (mine were about the size of my hand)
- Mushrooms, about 4 cups sliced
- 20 cl (~3/4 cup) creamy “cooking” oat milk, or other plant-based cooking milk *
- 1 can (425 mL or 1 3/4 cups) white beans, rinsed and drained
- 1-2 big handfuls raw spinach
- 1 tbs nutritional yeast
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 190°C or 375°F.
- Cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise and scoop the seeds out of the middle (make sure you have a good knife to do this, butternut squash can be a bit tough.
- Coat the cut side of the squash well with 1 tbs olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Place them cut side down (skin side up) on a sheet pan and bake for 25-35 minutes, or when the flesh is nice and soft and slightly browned.
- Slice the mushrooms and add them to a skillet with 1 tbs olive oil (and maybe a splash of white wine!). Sauté over medium low heat, stirring occasionally, until they are just cooked.
- For the risotto, begin by chopping the shallots and adding them to a dutch oven or large pot with 1 tbs olive oil. Cook them on medium heat for about 5-10 minutes until they begin to soften.
- In the mean time mince the garlic, then add to the shallots along with the rosemary, thyme, sage, and salt to taste. Stir and let cook for about a minute.
- Next add the white wine and then the barley. Stir and let cook for a minute.
- Add 1 cup of the broth or water to the barley (I just heated up some water with a vegetable bouillon cube in a second pot. This way I could easily add a cup at a time and the water was already warm.)
- Stir the barley and put the lid back on the pot and let it simmer on medium high heat, giving it a stir every few minutes to prevent anything from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Once most of the liquid is absorbed, add a second cup of the broth/water. Again, let it simmer for another 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the oat milk, stir it into the barley and let it simmer for a couple minutes.
- As soon as most of the liquid is absorbed, add the mushrooms, spinach, white beans and nutritional yeast to the risotto.
- Remove the pot from the heat and stir everything together well, until the spinach is wilted.
- When the squash is done baking, remove them from the oven and put them on a plate cut side up. Spoon some of the risotto filling into the hollowed out part of the squash (there will be plenty of extra risotto).
- Serve with a glass of white wine and enjoy!
*What I used is called oat milk for cooking – which is a lot thicker than regular oat milk in order to imitate cream. If you can’t find something like this I bet you could just use normal plant milk or possibly yogurt to add creaminess. You’ll need to adjust the quantity accordingly.
