Butternut squash speltotto

I have been a little bit disappointed with the squash offering in my local shops this winter and spring. It seems that mostly just butternut squash or coquina squash were available. Well, there's nothing wrong with them, but there are better squashes as well that I would have liked to cook again. However due to the squash variation shortage, I grew to like butternut squash more again. Today's recipe is just a basic speltotto (=risotto made with pearled spelt instead of arborio rice) that I cooked the other day from roasted butternut squash and pearled spelt. It was really tasty and the best kind of comfort food for me. Yesterday I ordered a new large batch of pearled spelt and I can't wait for it to arrive. If you have never tried it, I would really urge you to, it's really nice. And if you have tried, I would also love to hear your opinions, but now to the butternut squash speltotto recipe.

Ingredients

1 medium butternut squash

3 tbsp olive oil

2 shallots

3 garlic cloves

2 tbsp butter

1,5 cup pearled spelt

100 ml white wine

500 ml vegetable stock

25 g grated mature cheddar

50 g toasted pine nuts

Salt and black pepper to taste

Fresh basil leaves

Method

Peel the butternut squash and cut it into small/medium cubes. Roast the cubes in the oven with olive oil.

Chop the shallots and garlic finely and cook them in olive oil until soft.

Add butter and the pearled spelt into the pan and stir for a minute or so.

Add the white wine and let it mostly evaporate.

Then add about a third of the vegetable stock and let simmer.

Keep adding vegetable stock and stirring often until the spelt has cooked.

Towards the end, add the roasted butternut squash cubes and the grated cheese to the mix, season with salt, pepper and basil and serve with toasted pine nuts.

Your VegHog