Pumpkin and Sage Arancini
- 300g pumpkin, chopped into 1cm cubes
- 10 sage leaves
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- 4 cups/1 litre chicken stock
- 25g butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 1 cup/200g Arborio rice
- 1/2 cup/125ml dry white wine
- 100g/1 cup shaved Parmesan cheese
- 1/3 cup/80ml runny honey
- flour for dusting
- 2-3 eggs, whisked
- 2 cups panko crumbs or dry bread crumbs
PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 200 C. Toss the pumpkin with the olive oil and roast in a baking dish with 4 of the sage leaves for 25 minutes or until tender and starting to colour. Heat the stock in a saucepan and maintain at a gentle simmer.
Melt the butter in a large frying pan and fry the onion and garlic until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and stir over a low heat for 3-4 minutes. Pour over the wine and allow to bubble and reduce. Add one ladle of warm stock, and stir constantly with wooden spoon until the liquid is absorbed, add another ladle and stir. Keep adding stock slowly and stirring constantly for 20 minutes.
When the rice is just tender stir through the pumpkin and the Parmesan cheese and season to taste. Set aside to cool. and then refrigerate until completely cold.
Heat the honey in a small saucepan with the remaining sage leaves. Set aside for a few hours for the flavour to infuse. Roll the risotto into balls and dust with lightly seasoned flour, dip in egg and then panko crumbs. Heat oil in a deep sided fry pan to a depth of 1.5 cm. Shallow fry the risotto balls, turning until golden all over, sit on paper towels to drain. At this stage they can be cooled and then reheated in the oven as needed. if leaving for more than 1 hour then refrigerate before heating. Serve arancini warm with a drizzle of warm sage honey and a shave of Parmesan.