Farrotto alla Zucca, Creamy Butternut Farro
Farrotto is what happens when a Tuscan cook treats farro like risotto rice, coaxing it creamy with warm broth added a ladle at a time. The grain will never go as sleek as arborio, and that is the appeal: it keeps a nutty chew that rice cannot. Butternut squash does double duty here, half of it roasted hard for caramelized edges and half stirred in raw to dissolve into the sauce and sweeten it. The richness that cheese and a knob of butter usually finish a risotto with comes instead from nutritional yeast beaten in at the end and a small handful of walnuts on top. Sage crisped in a dry pan is the classic autumn note. Serve it as a side, or make it the center of a plate with a sharp green salad.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups Farro, rinsed
- 1 lb Butternut squash, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 2 wholes Shallots, finely diced
- 2 cloves Garlic, minced
- 8 wholes Sage, leaves
- 1 tbsp no-salt vegetable bouillon
- 1 tbsp White wine vinegar
- 3 tbsp Nutritional yeast
- 2 tbsp Walnuts, toasted, chopped
- 1 tsp Lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp Black peppercorns, freshly ground
Method
- Heat the oven to 425 F (220 C). Spread half the squash on a parchment-lined tray and roast, turning once, until browned at the edges and tender, about 25 minutes. Roasting half the squash hard concentrates its sugar and gives the dish caramelized bite; the other half will melt into the base for sweetness and body.
- Dissolve the bouillon in 4 cups (950 ml) hot water and keep it at a bare simmer in a small pot beside you. Warm broth is important: adding cold liquid to the grain would stall the cooking each time and keep it from turning creamy.
- In a wide pan, sweat the shallots in 3 tablespoons water until soft, about 5 minutes, then add the garlic and the raw half of the squash and cook 2 minutes. Add the farro and stir 1 minute to warm the grains, then pour in the vinegar and let it cook away. The splash of vinegar brightens the pot where a Tuscan cook would use a glass of white wine.
- Add the warm broth a ladle at a time, stirring often and waiting until each addition is nearly absorbed before the next goes in. Keep this up for 30 to 35 minutes, until the farro is tender and bound in a loose, creamy sauce. Farro never turns as starchy as risotto rice, so the stirring, plus the squash breaking down, is what pulls it together.
- Crisp the sage leaves in a dry skillet over medium heat until they darken and turn brittle, about 2 minutes, then crumble most of them in. Fold in the roasted squash, the nutritional yeast, the lemon juice, and the black pepper. The nutritional yeast is the mantecatura, the final beating-in of cheese and butter, standing in for both.
- Loosen with a last splash of broth if it has tightened, since farrotto should fall softly from the spoon, not hold a mound. Scatter the walnuts and the reserved sage over the top and serve at once.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 290 calories, 9 g protein, 9 g fiber, 70 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
