A delightful butternut squash risotto with andouille sausage and fresh sage.
In preparation of a new raised garden bed for next year, Bobby dug up an area of the yard last spring and started piling leaves and compost in it. Low and behold, we soon had a couple of squash plants growing. We decided to just let them grow at the chance of getting something. We’ve never had much luck with volunteers before, but we thought “maybe this year”. The two plants grew throughout the summer and, even though they were beautiful plants with a lot of leaves and blooms, we didn’t get very much. One produced two butternut squashes and the other, one cute little pumpkin. Not very prolific, but at least we got something. I picked the first butternut squash around the middle of August and it sat on the countertop for a couple weeks, just waiting for the right inspiration to turn it in a meal. That inspiration came the day I brought home a pound of freshly smoked andouille. I love sausage with butternut squash so I decided to make this Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto With Andouille.
The roasted butternut squash and the andouille add a wonderful richness to the arborio rice yielding a nice risotto. The roasted squash and the smoked andouille sausage complement each other quite well. An interesting and unique twist on risotto. The andouille is added half way into the cooking process to help render some of the fat and let it seep into the rice. Adding it at this time also prevents the andouille from drying out, which can happen if you add it too early. The roasted butternut is added at the end of the cooking of the rice in order to keep the squash pieces intact, yielding bites of roasted squash along with little bites of sausage.
I’m not sure what I’ll be doing with the other butternut squash nor the pumpkin. But once the fall apples start showing up at the market, my Roasted Butternut with Apples and Manchego might be on the menu. As far as the pumpkin goes, maybe a Pumpkin and Red Chile Soup once the weather starts to cool off. But who knows, there might be something completely different. And yes, I may be rushing Fall, but it is my favorite time of the year. 🙂
Roasted Butternut and Andouille Risotto Recipe
The roasted butternut squash and the andouille add a wonderful richness to the arborio rice yielding a nice risotta. The roasted squash and the smoked andouille sausage complement each other quite well. An interesting and unique twist on risotto.
*See Kitchen Notes for more information and related links.
- 1 small butternut squash, peeled and deseeded, cut into small cubes (less than ½”)
- 1 Tbsp. garlic infused olive oil* or 1 Tbsp. olive oil + ½ tsp. garlic powder
- Salt and pepper
- 2 cups chicken broth or stock
- 3 cup water or any combination of stock and water to make 5 cups of liquid
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- ½ medium onion, chopped
- 1 small sweet pepper, chopped
- 1 ½ cups Arborio rice
- ½ cup vermouth or white wine
- ½ heaping tsp. crumbled, dried sage or 1 tsp. minced fresh sage
- 6 roasted garlic*, smashed, minced or 3 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1 andouille sausage, cut into ¼’” cubes
- Generous amount of fresh cracked white pepper
- ½ cup Pecorino Romano cheese, grated
- 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
- Salt to taste
- Preheat the oven to 400° F.
- Toss the butternut squash with the garlic infused oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake for 30 minutes or until squash is tender.
- Once you have the butternut squash in the oven, bring the broth and water in a sauce pan to a simmer. Keep hot on a low heat.
- Add the olive oil to a large pot, like a soup pot, and heat over medium low heat.
- When the oil is hot, add the onion and sweet pepper and sauté for 3 minutes.
Add the rice and cook, stirring for 5 minutes.
Add the vermouth and stir until the vermouth is absorbed.
Start adding the hot liquid, 1 ladle (about ½ cup a time). Stir until the liquid is absorbed, and then add another ladle of liquid, stir until that liquid is absorbed.
- When you have added about half of the liquid, add the garlic, sage, and Andouille.
- Continue to add the liquid one ladle at a time, stirring until it is absorbed.
- When all of the liquid has been added and the rice is done, add a add a generous amount of cracked white pepper. Stir in 1 ½ cups of the roasted butternut squash, the cheese and parsley.
- Taste for desired salt level. Add more salt if needed.
- Cover and let the risotto sit for about 3 minutes.
Butternut Squash – The squash I used was quite small and yielded only 1 ½ cups of roasted squash (2 cups uncooked). The 1 ½ cups was plenty for this dish. Therefore, if you use a bigger squash, save the unused portion for another purpose.
Garlic Infused Oil and Roasted Garlic – The link takes you to my solution of always having both on hand.
Andouille – As you saw in the recipe, the andouille doesn’t get added until midway through the cooking process. Because andouille is a smoked sausage, sautéing it with the onion can “over-render it”, drying it out and making it chewy. Any other smoked sausage works great in this dish (e.g., Kielbasa or Spanish Chorizo), but remember not to add it until halfway through. Uncooked sausage such as Mexico chorizo or Italian sausage are also great in this risotto; however, uncooked sausage should be sautéed with the onion to ensure that the sausage cooks through.
Herbs – Sage is always an excellent choice for any squash and for many sausages; therefore, if you have it, use it. As far as the parsley goes, it could be replaced with another fresh herb such as basil or cilantro or a combination of parsley and another herb.
Vegetarian and vegan option – Replace the chicken stock with vegetable broth and eliminate the sausage. To replace the smokiness and spiciness of the sausage, add ¼ tsp. smoked paprika and ¼ tsp. chile powder halfway through the cooking process.
Leftovers – When you first serve this risotto is will be pretty creamy. As it sits, the rice absorbs more and more of the liquid and the dish loses its creaminess. If you have leftovers, which we always do when I make this for just the two of us, I’ll add just “a little” liquid when I heat it back up. “Too much” liquid makes it gummy.
Make it a meal – Because this risotto has proteins of sausage and cheese, I normally serve it as the main meal with a side of chopped tomatoes or tomato slices. It doesn’t need any more than that.
Here are a few other rices dishes I know you’ll enjoy.
Pingback: Clever Chicks Blog Hop #54 | The Chicken Chick®
Pingback: Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto | IMG Recipes| Share Your Favorite Recipes, Cooking Tips & Food Images
Pinning this… love the seasonal flavors.. Your recipes are so wonderful.
Thanks so much Diane!
What a lovely risotto! I like the innovative presentation of the andouille sausage. On my list of things to try!
Looks delicious! I love butternut squash and risotto…great idea!
I love butternut squash with risotto – but I’ve never tried making it with andouille sausage! That sounds delicious… And I always seem to have leftovers of risotto because I made a crazy amount each time. And you’re right – it definitely loses its creaminess once it has a chance to sit or chill…
Thanks Mark! Squash and andouille are a great combination!
Hi MJ, love, love, love this recipe! I so enjoy making risotto and to put a fall squash in it is a terrific idea. And…andouille? Brilliant! Gotta try this one.
Thanks so much Bill! You can’t go wrong with andouille. 🙂
That’s one gorgeous shot of butternut squash! Ahhh it’s fall. No matter how we struggle we’re feeling fall is here. I need to start enjoying all fall recipes like this delicious risotto!
Love the fall flavors! I am sooo ready for sweaters and long cool walks.
I’m with you on that Leona! Thanks for stopping by!
At least you had a harvest, I only “harvest” itchy hairy caterpillars here. Yes smoked sausage (love smoked sausages!!!) and butternut risotto, this is a brilliant flavor choice MJ. Wish I could come for dinner!
I just adore butternut squash in risotto and I love the smoky element that the andouille must add in this one – I’m definitely trying this combo soon!
MJ, I haven’t had risotto for ages! I would have never thought of putting butternut squash into a risotto. Such a lovely idea (not to mention the sausage… always welcome!). I see that autumn is slowly arriving to your table… Beautiful photos (you should give vegetable photography lessons!).
Thanks so much Sissi! Taking the picture of the squash and the pumpkin was fun. It may have been because I had just picked them both from the garden so it was very special.
Perfect recipe for the weather!! and yummy click too 🙂
I don’t think you’re rushing fall at all.. we’ve so little time in these “shoulder” seasons to get to all of our favorite recipes, don’t you think? I love that last photo!! Just gorgeous.. and it makes me want to get going trying this recipe too:) xx
Totally agree Barbara! Definitely need to enjoy the shoulder months as much as possible! I’m past ready for comfort foods.
This one pot meal looks so yum!
risotto seems so fitting this time of year with its creamy texture and comforting flavours. i also like the addition of andouille.
Hi MJ, I finally had some andouille recently… I must admit that I wasn’t a fan at all! After some research though, it appears that an andouille in France is completely different to in the US, lol!
You can see a good example of the two here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andouille
I’ve never seen the US version, so I’ll just have satisfy myself with look at your photos, but it does look like a lovely dish!
Charles, thanks for the link. No, they are not the same. Just the color of the French type andouille is unappealing to me. I’ll have to post of picture of cajun andouille. It’s really, really good sausage!
I love Risotto and with the Andouille sausage and butternut squash in there I can imagine it taste so so delicious!One of my most favorite dishes 🙂
You home grown squash is beautiful. I wish I had a big enough garden to grow such a bounty. I think your inspiration to make this risotto was perfect. I love how you paired it with the sausage… it’s a great balance of sweet and savory!
I have really got to try risotto one of these days… this looks fabulous 🙂
Marvelous, MJ! This risotto looks wonderful.
I love risotto and I so much enjoy fall and the pumpkin invasion! Looks delicious!
Beautiful risotto! Beautifully colorful that it is, it looks equally delicious. Sausage is a wonderful addition!
Great recipe and dish, MJ! I wasn’t expecting the andouille sausage and I bet it’s wonderful here. I make a pumpkin risotto but never have I included sausage meat. Maybe next time… 🙂
Thanks John! I love sausage and winter squash and have many recipes that use them both. Hope you give it a try.
I seriously adore Fall, love all the Fall foods, and could add butternut squash in everything!! Risotto is such a delicious and fun recipe to make! Adding the sausage is such a perfect flavor combination!!
We have butternut squash year round and sometimes more than once a week. We love it. I have to say though I have never added it to risotto, but next time I will. Great recipe and looks so tasty.
Thanks Vicki! It’s hard to get butternut year round here. they start disappearing around May. It was fun getting a couple from my garden. 🙂
Truly, this sounds like a wonderful combination. I think we would love it too.
Your Butternut Squash Risotto is my first taste of fall, MJ! We haven’t fully made the transition to Fall cooking yet – thanks to the wacky weather in Minnesota, but I really can’t wait for apple crisp, pumpkin soup and all the comforting dishes associated with the season. I see that you have 6 roasted garlic in the recipe. Mmmm…just the way I like it!
PS: How nice to have a German sausage smoked house in the neighborhood. We live in an area with German descent, but there isn’t one sausage smoked house except for a couple butcher shops. They do make their own sausages, but you know it doesn’t sound as exciting as a German sausage smoked house:)
Thanks Reese! If you ever get out here, I’ll take you over to Alpine. It’s a tiny little place and always busy. They make everything there and it taste freshly made.
Yahooo, pumpkin and squash season is open! Love them!
Love your risotto 🙂
yes one plate please
I’m dying to make this. Pumpkin risotto is a favorite of mine and I’ve got plenty of sage growing. Yum.
I love butternut squash! Actually it’s my favourite pumpkin. The risotto looks super duper delicious, MJ.
Such a nice recipe! And perfect for the fall weather that we actually expect to see at the end of this week (but before that it’s going to hit 100 again!!). Andouille might be one of my favorite sausages, although I must confess I’ve never met a sausage I didn’t like. Great way to use squash – I saw a bunch at the grocery store today that I was eying, although I didn’t purchase any – there’s still zucchini to deal with! Good stuff – thanks.
Thanks John! It has actually cooled off here and gotten even cooler this week with some well needed rain, so I’ve had comfort on the mind. For me it’s a toss up – andouille or chorizo – love them both, but then like you – love all sausages.
Squash is such a delicious ingredient, I want to eat this ravioli through my screen 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Love that risotto! Butternut squash and the andouille sausage is such a wonderful combination. This is such a great fall dish!