Just…yum. Warm, creamy, savory and sweet. Creamy herbed rice with two cheeses surrounds veggies that all get sweeter when you cook them. This is comfort food at its finest. Homey yet elegant, and yes, you CAN do this!
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[Music]
hi there I’m Cindy Lyon and this is the
cookalong podcast today we’re going to
try something a little adventurous I
have been asked by a few people for my
recipe for roasted sweet potato risoto
with peas and parm was on in guer and
okay that’s a really long title and I
probably should shorten it but that
tells you what it is I have been a
little hesitant to do with risoto
because they are exacting and they take
kind of a while to make a lot of people
feel as though risoto is probably out of
their league and that’s totally not true
it’s within anybody’s league but it
takes a lot of steps and it takes a
concentrated amount of time at the end
so I am going to guide you through the
steps to make this this is a main dish
risoto but it happens to be vegetarian
before you start here are a couple
things you need to know about risoto
first you can’t make it ahead you really
have to serve it the minute you finish
it because it kind of congeals as it
cools and it doesn’t reheat well so you
really want to get it on the table while
it’s creamy and before it gets stiff the
second thing is that the actual make
Bing of the Roto takes probably 30
minutes and during those 30 minutes you
are not working away from the stove you
have to be right there stirring it so
everything else that you’re going to do
for that meal has to be done ahead for
instance if you want a salad with this
Roto we’re about to make you want to
make that ahead of time if you want a
bread or an anything to go along with it
you need to have it ready to go before
you start cooking the Roto the first
step for this recipe is to roast the
sweet potatoes when I first did this
recipe I did it with butternut squash
and it was good but it wasn’t sweet
enough the butternut squash is a little
too bland for this dish and so I’m
recommending the sweet potatoes there
are a couple of other doah heads you’re
going to need some Parmesan cheese
you’re going to need a/4 of a cup of
grated Parmesan and I do hope you’re
using the fresh stuff I never use that
boxed stuff you can get this hole and
you can grade it yourself at home or you
can get it in the grocery store already
graded but not the boxed stuff no little
silver cardboard boxes please um the
other thing is you need some guer you
need a cup of shredded guer you got to
take the time to shred that the third do
aead is to well and truly this time I’m
not kidding have everything set out on
your counter before you begin a lot of
this happens really quickly and you need
to have everything you you can’t stop
stirring the risoto in order to go get
something out of your cupboard or cut
something up you need to have it ready
to go and lined up on your counter and
so that being said here’s the list of
ingredients two cups of diced roasted
sweet potatoes and we’ll roast those
together in a minute 1 and 1/2 cups of
arboro rice this is a very special rice
you can’t just use regular old rice this
is a kind of rice that makes a creamy
yet alente result you need four cups of
chicken stock that’s quite a lot that’s
a full carton if you’re using an aseptic
container you need a half a cup of white
wine I suppose you could replace that
with water but it’s not going to be the
same don’t worry about alcohol or even
taste it all kind of evaporates but it
evaporates into the rice so that’s nice
you need a medium shallot or a half of a
small onion a small small onion is
probably the size of a racket ball and
you just need half of that and we’re
going to have to chop that up but we can
do that later you’ll need 3 tablespoons
of butter you need a tablespoon of
vegetable oil and actually a little bit
more than that probably you need the
parmesan cheese that’s a/4 of a cup
again you need a half a teaspoon of sage
a half a teaspoon of cumin a half a
teaspoon of salt a clove of garlic cuzz
we’re going to press it so it really
should be real garlic a cup of frozen
peas the cup of shredded Grier I told
you about and some fresh ground pepper
we should also talk about equipment you
do have to have more than one saucepan
you need two saucepans for this and it’s
best if one of them has a non-stick
surface you also need not a metal spoon
but either a wooden spoon or a silicone
spoon because of the way that we part
the Red Sea uh you’ll know what I mean
about that when we get to the part where
we’re actually stirring the Roto so now
let’s roast a sweet potato truthfully if
you wanted to make a shortcut on this
recipe you don’t have to roast the sweet
potatoes you could steam them you could
sauté them you can even microwave them I
just happen to want them caramelized
because I like the sweetness that that
develops and the brown exterior and I
think the texture is nice but it’s
really not that big of a deal if you’re
looking for a shortcut the place to take
it is here in how you precook the sweet
potatoes you need about a half a pound
sweet potato so about 8 oz worth I think
we’re going to have to double check that
but I’m trying to get two cups of cubed
sweet potato this might be a little
small in which case We’ll add to it
because you want enough sweet potato to
show up to people’s taste buds and you
need a small rimmed baking sheet cookie
sheet and we’re going to preheat the
oven to 425 and then we’re going to PE
peel the sweet potato I do not suggest
that you leave the skin on for this one
because the Roto is really smooth and
you don’t want the Skins to disrupt that
consistency so peel them off I guess I
could have called that a do aead use a
potato peeler to peel the skins off and
then we’re going to chop it into small
cubes I’m going to use cubes that
probably half an inch half an inch
squares only they’re not squares because
a sweet potato isn’t Square you want
them big enough that they’re going to be
findable in the Roto and small enough
that when you take a bite that has sweet
potato in it you also have room on the
fork for the Roto so I’m just slicing
these in
about I would say they’re half in to 3/4
in slices and then I am cutting those
pieces in/ quarters or six depending on
the size of the slice yeah okay some of
these are some of these are bigger this
doesn’t matter started to tell you I’m
doing two cuts in One Direction and two
cuts then Crossways to that but you know
it doesn’t make any difference because
your sweet potato is not going to be the
same size and shape as mine so I’m going
to let you figure that out you want
Little Bites little bite-sized pieces
you want things that are going to blend
right in with that rice okay now I’m
going to see how many see what that got
me there’s one cup
[Music]
yeah okay it’s a little scan oh it’s
really really close all right I’m going
to say that’s good so yes half a pound
sweet potato peeled and diced into small
cubes put those in a
bowl and drizzle them with about a
tablespoon of olive oil and then take a
spoon and stir them
up and then grind some sea salt into
them not a ton but enough that you could
be able to taste it stir that in again
and throw that whole thing throw them
onto your cookie sheet in a single layer
and I’m going to leave you with this I’m
actually going to cut a few of these
pieces a little smaller I’m going to
leave you with this because we can’t do
anything until the oven is hot so here’s
what you’re going to do you’re going to
get your pieces diced you’re going to
coat them in oil and a little salt throw
them on the cookie sheet and when your
oven reaches 425 you’re going to roast
them just throw the cookie sheet in your
oven for maybe 20 minutes check them at
15 and you want them to be kind of
starting to brown on the bottom when you
try to turn them over you should see
some little golden Browns starting to
show up at the bottom and then take them
out and we will consider that do ahead
taken care of and when you come back
we’ll move on to the next step for the
Roto and while the sweet potato potes
are roasting you can grate your parmesan
and shred your guer the other thing you
can do while you’re waiting for your
potatoes to roast is to cut up your
shallot or half of your small onion
again you want that kind of diced you
don’t want it very big you need about a
half a cup of diced shallot or onion and
compile all your stuff on your counter
next to the stove it’s okay and even a
good idea to put all of the seasonings
in the same container so your Sage your
cumin your salt your ground pepper and
just grind some in until you feel like
it looks like enough put those all into
uh the same container and then we’ll
just dump them all in at the same time
it’s also a good idea to get your frozen
peas out and let them start to defrost
uh cuz they shouldn’t be Frozen when you
put them into the Roto if you need to
you can rinse them in a colander to just
kind of separate them and get them
softened up a bit
[Music]
okay here we go pour all of the chicken
broth into a saucepan big enough to hold
it and turn it on to medium high you
just want it to heat as soon as it
starts to kind of steam we’re going to
turn it way down in a second saucepan
which probably should be about 3 quarts
or four quarts 3 quarts at the minimum
we’re going to put a tablespoon of
canola oil or vegetable oil and a
tablespoon of butter and we’re going to
heat that up but we’re not going to turn
that pan on until the broth in the other
pan is hot as the broth is heating up we
can deal with the
garlic so chop off the little dead Brown
end and then squish the garlic
flat with the flat side of your knife
and the case will peel right off and put
that in your garlic press get it ready
to squish if you don’t have a garlic
press you can just mince it once your
broth is hot which mine now is it does
not need to boil it just needs to be
steaming turn it way down to low we want
to keep it warm it doesn’t need to be
hot it needs to be warm because we’re
going to mix it in with the rice and we
don’t want that cold so now we can turn
on the other pan which has the butter
and the oil in it turn it on to about
medium high and the butter is going to
melt and as soon as it starts to melt we
can throw in the garlic and I’m just
going to squish the garlic right over
the pot and into the pan and then scrape
it off with a knife get your um wooden
spoon or silicone spoon ready cuz you’re
going to need it pretty constantly at
this point okay butter is
melting and I am squishing in the garlic
now what I do is I press it tight and I
scrape it off the bottom with the
knife and then I open the thing and I
put all the bits that still remain into
the squishing part and I squish it again
and scrape it off with a knife and then
I imagine a lot of people would argue
with me at this point because you
supposedly don’t want the outside of the
garlic but you know what the skin is
already gone so I don’t see the
difference what you have inside that
little basket where you’ve been
squishing things is also squished garlic
so I scrape it out of
there and into the pan
and also into the pan is going the onion
SL scallion whichever one you had just
put it all in
there and we’re going to just cook it
the garlic and the onions together until
they start to get a little bit
translucent and a little tender
meanwhile on your counter you have ready
in a line you have your rice your white
wine your herbs and salt and pepper your
vegetables and your cheeses and some
butter cuz you’re going to need that
again we use the butter at the beginning
and at the end and yes you could use
margarine on
this I won’t because as you probably
know if you ever listen to me butter is
my thing I really like it I never
watched Julia Child but I did see the
movie Julie and Julia and that was my
first real exposure to Julia Child’s
philosophy she believes in lots of
butter in fact I would say more butter
is better and I don’t disagree with her
except you know if the recipe asks for a
certain amount that’s what you should do
which is what we’re doing today we’re
stirring the onion and the garlic
together and it’s just starting to
sizzle a little
bit this doesn’t need to be stirred
constantly really if there’s anything
you have to run around and do to get
things in a line now’s the moment to do
it because as soon as these are
translucent then we start into the part
where you do have to stir continuously
for 20 minutes or
so I was thinking about this earlier
today this dish I was thinking about the
fact
that I never heard of risoto when I was
growing up there was no such
thing there was no such thing as a lot
of stuff there was no such thing as in
my life I should say that as pesto in
fact there was no such thing as pasta
for that matter we called it noodles or
spaghetti or
macaroni pasta is kind of high flutin
it’s it’s
um yes it’s the same thing but there was
no such thing as pasta in my
house also you know we’re putting
um sweet potato in here the only time I
ever had sweet potato
was Thanksgiving and then it
was cooked with so much brown sugar and
butter that I didn’t I don’t I don’t
want that with my with my Savory stuff
it’s weird it makes it like
dessert and I didn’t really understand
that you could just cook sweet potatoes
and eat them with like salt and butter
and herbs or
whatever until kind of late in my life
all
right I’m thinking these onions are
starting to look pretty good maybe you
can hear I’m
sizzling so now let’s add the rice you
got a cup and a half of arboro rice
that’s ARB o r i o you I hope you know
that by this point cuz it’s kind of late
for me to tell you just dump it in there
with the oil and the
onions and stir it around
and the object of the game here is to
get all the little granules of
rice coated with a layer of the oil
slash
butter and then we’re just going to kind
of toast it here a little bit we don’t
want it to Brown but we want to get the
grains to start turning a little bit
also
translucent and start to smell a little
bit like rice which is going to be
that’s going to be tricky to tell
honestly over the onions and
garlic but it should have a little bit
of a smell to
it you’re not trying
to Brown it you’re not trying to fry it
exactly you’re coating it in oil and
hopefully letting some of the outer
shell of the rice soak some of that in
for a few
minutes not even a few like two minutes
I could just let this sit here but it’s
not the kind of person I am I like to
stir stuff I like to see what’s
happening it’s kind of dumb no actually
it isn’t because I don’t want it to burn
and I’ve got this pretty high oh there I
am starting to smell it all right I’m
going to turn this down just a little
bit so now it’s at medium which on my
stove is a
five and it’s also starting to sizzle a
little
bit all right away we go now take your
cup of wine your white
wine and pour it
in and stir that
around what we’re doing is allowing the
rice now to absorb that part of it’s
going to evaporate off and part of that
flavor is going to soak soak into the
rice a little
bit and this is where we begin the
process of watching how cooked the rice
is and I will try to post a picture of
this I’m not sure how I’m going to be
able to get it but I’m going to post a
picture of it as soon as the um as you
stir around the rice in the in the bowl
here in the pan and you can tell there’s
no liquid left now we’re going to start
with the chicken stock so you need a
ladle I should have told you that
earlier a ladle and scoop
in one Ladle of your hot chicken broth
and stir that
in and again what we’re doing is
allowing the rice to soak it
up and the test for when we’re going to
add the next
Ladle is when you run your spoon your
wooden spoon slash silicone spoon
straight back from the edge to the
center run in a line from the edge of
the pan to the center and it makes kind
of a valley this is what I was calling
earlier The Parting of the Red Sea it
makes kind of a valley and it doesn’t
fill in immediately there’s this little
delay before it fills in soon as that
happens you’re going to add a second
Ladle I’m turning this down again
turning it down to a four cuz it just
doesn’t need to be this
hot and you do the same thing stir in
the liquid
right now it’s like rice soup right and
if you try to make that parting of the
Red Sea now you don’t get it it’s just
liquid there’s just soup there so keep
stirring
it keep stirring it and it slowly gets
thicker but we don’t want to add more
broth until the Red Sea parts and leaves
and leaves the uh Valley for Moses and
Company to walk through there if they
walk really really
fast so uh back to what I was saying
earlier I also never ate squash as a kid
we’re keeping stirring while I’m talking
keep stirring I never ate squash I
didn’t know what squash was I didn’t
learn I liked squash
until uh
hm wow I probably
was I don’t know just a few years ago
really I realized that again squash
doesn’t have to be cooked with a ton of
brown
sugar okay I’m starting to get that
little river thing I’m going to see if I
can get a picture here it’s going to be
tricky cuz there isn’t a lot of time and
I need my fingers for the stirring part
okay there’s the
camera oh no too late I have to weight
so you don’t want it to completely dry
out get your next L full of broth and
add that
in and here we are again we got
soup where was I oh squash squash was
also cooked with a ton of brown sugar
and maple syrup and all that stuff and
that’s fine if you like that kind of
thing but you know I really love the
sweetness of the squash
contrasted with something Savory butter
and salt pepper and shallots uh garlic
and
cumin I just
think anyway you know I my mother was a
good cook don’t get me wrong I don’t
want to imply that she wasn’t but the
diet was limited and maybe that was true
of most people in the country at the
time that I was growing up it was like
meat and potatoes and if we had
something Italian that might have
noodles in it it was spaghetti and that
was it
really later she started making
casseroles out of like elbow macaroni
and by the way the macaroni could be any
shape it could be elbow macaroni or it
could be shell macaroni or it could
be I don’t know I don’t even remember
what we had but I know it was it wasn’t
pasta it was not called
pasta oh okay I’m going to try now to
get that picture again here we
go okay adding the next Ladle of chicken
broth stirring it constantly you know I
think I’m probably most of the way well
maybe halfway through my chicken broth
you must be too cuz you’ve been cooking
along with me with the same number lles
I am going to
now do I want to throw in the herbs
now you know I do I want them to cook in
so I’m taking my container that has the
salt and the sage and the cumin cumin
however you want to say it and the
ground pepper and I’m stirring that in
now yeah
okay well that changes the smell quite a
lot
just keep testing for
that that Red Sea
part anyway so I love squash now I love
squash I love it’s stuffed there’s a
recipe on the website oh which by the
way is the cookalong podcast.com
there’s this
one there will be more eventually right
now this is well this this one isn’t
squash I’m sorry I forgot cuz the first
time I made this as I told you I used a
butternut squash for it and you could do
the same thing that we did with the
sweet potato if you’d rather use the
squash you just peel it scoop out the
seeds chop it into little bite-sized
pieces roast it exactly the same way we
did with the sweet potato all right this
is still cooking kind of hot turning it
down even more now I’ve got it to three
and I’m adding the next lat of
broth so my mother cooked
mostly what do I remember I remember
steak I remember T-bone steaks that was
fun I used to eat a whole T-bone steak
all by myself and that was a point of
Pride for me of course you know as was a
teenager at the time but holy smoke I
couldn’t do that now I remember baked
potatoes there were things with tuna
there was no such thing as pizza at the
time that you would eat at home I mean
there was no such thing as take out
pizza so we didn’t eat
pizza till I
was well I was in high school I think
when the first pizza joints were well
that’s not true I’m sure they were there
before that but that’s when Pizza
entered my life was in high
school all of this is really off topic
for what we’re doing but it’s just goes
to show how Cuisines change how people’s
tastes and expectations change I guess
because my mother’s never had
Roto I guess I should feel bad about
that as I’m standing here cooking Roto
that I’ve never made it for her although
I don’t I don’t know that she’d like
it I think that in addition
to including More Foods in our diet as
the nation has grown up a little bit
it’s also expanded its
tastes I remember where I grew up which
was in Colorado Boulder Colorado at the
time it wasn’t like you could walk out
your door and go get International
Cuisine there were Italian
restaurants there were you know diners
and stuff I don’t remember ever being
taken to a Mexican
restaurant a Greek there were no Greek
restaurants where I grew up when I grew
up I guess I should say when I grew up
all right
and we’re stirring and it’s time now to
add the next Ladle of chicken
broth stirring it some
more I don’t remember any Indian
restaurants I don’t remember anything
except
Italian now that could have been a refle
reflection
of not just where I lived maybe but a
reflection of what was considered normal
what kind of restaurants could make
money at that
time who knows I’m really glad though
that things have expanded I mean I uh I
have some great recipes on the website
for instance but I don’t know that I’ve
made anything that my mother would have
made except for potato salad which is on
the website oh that’s something else she
made she made Fried Chicken she made
better Fried Chicken than I do I’m still
working on
that but there’s a butter chicken thing
which is a lovely Indian dish that I’ve
kind of been craving and probably will
go back and make in the next few days
for dinner here at
home
and things my mother would consider
weird vegan things or vegetarian things
the squash she would never probably eat
squash if I served her
squash I I I don’t know what she’d do I
honestly don’t know what she’d
do that makes it worth the experiment
maybe just to find out what she would do
if all I put in front of her was a
squash stuffed with vegetables and
beans and you know garlic and onions and
topped with pistachios that’s the recipe
that I have on the website I have no
idea what she would do I’m trying to
picture what her face would look like I
think it um
huh well so anyway I don’t imagine I’m
the only one in this boat where you’ve
learned to eat more uh sophisticatedly
if there’s such a word more
internationally more funly for sure cuz
because you know meat and potatoes are I
love meat and potatoes but it only goes
so far you got to have other stuff in
your
repertoire all right this is starting to
look like it might not hold a lot more
liquid there should come a point where
the part that you make in the in the
Roto kind of doesn’t doesn’t start to
dry out keep the heat going under
there well H I’ve got one more probably
one more Ladle of broth here I’m still
getting apart all right so so let’s put
the last of the broth
in and I’ll just tell you now and then
you can turn that burner
off that if the broth isn’t enough if
your rice still really looks like it
should have more liquid to it and if you
take a grain out let it cool for a
second and then chew it and it’s hard
then you can start using water but don’t
use cold water the reason that we heated
the broth is is because if you add cold
water to this it totally throws off the
chemistry that makes the rice creamy
like this it needs to stay hot and not
be continuously cooled down by adding
cold liquid to
it so if you choose to add water you
better put it in the saucepan and crank
it up for a minute till it gets to where
it’s at least
steaming I don’t think we’re going to
need it
honestly so I still have soup again
I’d turn mine down to about three I just
turn it back up to
four have you’ve never had
Roto this is going to come as a really
lovely
Revelation I had no prior experience I
don’t think until I actually cooked it
and what I read about it well what I
read about it was that it was creamy and
it had butter and cheese and that’s
really you know really all you have to
say to me for me to become interested in
the
recipe is it still parting yeah not
really it’s more soup so I’m going to
keep stirring for a few
minutes meanwhile look to be sure all
your other ingredients are on hand
because the things that aren’t already
in are about to go in in kind of a
really sort of quick steady way
here get the rice to where it Parts
again
I’m going to pull out a grain and see
how we’re
doing It’s Tricky don’t burn your mouth
on it and don’t let the risotto burn in
the ouch that was my
finger
huh still a little
chewy I might actually need to add a
little water to this
I’m going turn it down again
now yeah we’re starting to get that uh
part so I recommend that you take out a
a grain or two and check
it cuz this is really I’m adding a
little water that’s what you heard me do
is just add water to the saucepan and
I’m turning that up to high to just get
it
steaming you get to choose how done you
want the rice but you don’t want it
crunchy that’s that’s counter to what
Roto wants to
be so you don’t want it crunchy but the
resistance the Al Dente part that’s kind
of up to you really how chewy do you
want it how soft do you want it the
thing is if you want it softer you got
to keep adding the liquid to it because
you can’t just let it cook in the pan
because it’ll dry out too much right you
need to get it so when you’re ready to
take it off it’s still doing that Red
Sea parting I wish I could find a better
word for that I’m sure there is a word
it’s probably
Italian I’m sure there’s a word for it I
think I’ve actually seen
it I want mine just a little softer than
what it was a second ago so I’m still
stirring
it waiting for that extra water which is
maybe a ladle full
to heat up
and for this rice the risoto the the
rice to get to where it’s not soup and
it’s leaving that bare space at the
bottom of the pan when I scrape it which
is coming up real fast
here okay water are you
hot you are cool all right I’m going to
put that in here
and if that isn’t enough I can’t imagine
that it won’t be
enough so doing the same thing again
turning it back up again if yours is
done I should just let you move on here
because you don’t want to sit here
waiting for me what you do next is stir
in the
parmeson and the guer stir them both in
stir in the peas stir in the
squash see I want to catch up with you I
hope you’re not ahead of me I really
do turning this back up to
five cuz it’s not done when it’s soupy
it has to be not sticking to the bottom
much having a slow fill in when you make
that line
it kind of looks like your morning
oatmeal your hot cereal except it
doesn’t smell that way because of all
those fabulous herbs we put in
here wow
okay if you’ve already stirred your
stuff in then you’re ahead of me take it
off the heat all right take it off the
heat there’s one more thing we’re got to
do before you serve it but you should be
calling everybody to the table
now for those of you who are still with
me stirring in this last Ladle of
water just keep going be patient it’ll
do its thing it
will all right the she blows here we go
in goes the
parmesan in goes the
grer turning the heat back down to
three and I’m just stirring that around
for a minute here so it can kind of
distribute you’ll see that it’s kind of
lumpy and particularly the grer is going
to need a minute to melt and assimilate
in
actually just turn the heat off we don’t
need it anymore turn the heat
off stir on that cheese you don’t want
lumps of it you want it all smoothed
around it becomes part of a
sauce all right now reach over get your
peas dump the peas
in and the
Squash dump the squash
in not the squash
dang see that’s what happens when you
change a recipe the sweet
potatoes or squash if you’re using
squash the sweet potatoes dump those
in stir everything together till it’s
all distributed around in the
rice okay a last step get ready to put
this on the table the last step is two
tablespoons of butter you should have
two tablespoons of butter left throw
that into the pot stir it around and let
it
melt and then put this on the table now
that you know how to make a roto you can
change it up feel free to try mushrooms
sauteed be sure they’re cooked before
you put them in or other kinds of
vegetables broccoli anything that your
imagination can think of you can also
change the seasonings if you want
something else to try but now that you
know the basic principles of Roto make
it your own have fun if you have
questions about this recipe let me know
contact me through the website I’ll be
happy to answer any questions you have
or address any issues you might have had
when you made this with me like I said
it’s not hard it just requires
attention and timing really and that is
just about having everything ready to go
on the counter
so that’s it for today I hope you enjoy
your dinner and until next time happy
cooking