Recipe: Chicken Risotto with Pumpkin and Spinach

Cooking a delicious, healthy meal can be done even when using just 4 simple key ingredients.

The key ingredients in this dish are chicken, rice, pumpkin and spinach.

My secret to lots of flavour is using herbs and spices. One of my favourite is basic dried chili. Just a small pinch of the red spice can enhance and lift a meal to a new dimension.

Risotto is something that can be easily ruined while cooking. With this dish I took the care to spend a little bit of extra time watching over it and adding stock consistently until I had achieved my desired cooking texture and taste. Also be sure to use a good risotto rice that will absorb all the liquid. I use an arborio rice which turns out best for me.

The process took about half an hour, however I cooked enough for about 8 people.

This recipe will be enough for 2 – 4 people so  should only take about 20 minutes of cooking time.

Are you ready?? Here we go!

What you need:

1 large pot for cooking

1 wooden spoon

Prep time – 10 minutes

Cooking time – 20 to 30 minutes

Ingredients:

2 pieces of chicken breast (you can use more or less depending how much chicken you like) cleaned and diced.

200 grams peeled and cubed pumpkin

About 150 grams baby spinach

2 cups of arborio rice

1 litre of chicken stock

Half a brown onion chopped finely

1 clove garlic crushed

Olive oil for browning (about 2 tablespoons)

Chili flakes, oregano and fresh parsley

Method:

Heat the oil in the pan, add onion until lightly cooked and softened. Add crushed garlic and stir for about 20 seconds.

Next, I remove the onion and garlic and add the chicken separately to brown. You could leave it in there however be careful not to burn the garlic and onion.

Cook the chicken until it has all browned about 5 minutes, remove from pan and place in a bowl, cover and set aside for adding once the rice is cooked.

Next, I add the rice to the pan and very quickly cover, and toast in oil for about 30 seconds this just begins the cooking process.

Add about 500 ml of chicken stock to the pan and stir through. For 2 cups of rice you will probably use about 1 litre of stock.

Next, once the first part of the liquid has been absorbed, add the second part plus the pumpkin. Stir this through and allow to cook, remember to cube the pumpkin quite small so that it cooks quickly about 2 x 2 cm cubes.

Add the chicken and stir through, you will get more liquid into the rice from the chicken, add the spinach and stir this through. You should by now have a the rice al dente (a touch crunchy), add seasoning; salt (if required), crushed black pepper and a good pinch of chili plus add your herbs if you wish. I love oregano and fresh parsley.

Taste testing is very important with Risotto because you want all the flavours to blend and harmonise with each other. If you want the rice a bit more cooked then add more liquid and cook for a few more minutes. Alternatively if there is still too much liquid you can cover the whole pot with a lid and let it absorb for 2 minutes. Rice absorbs and continues to cook in the heat without having the stove on.

Serve with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and enjoy!

I enjoyed a delicious Jacobs Creek Chardonnay with this dish when I cooked this on the weekend!

What’s your wine of choice?