Change of plans... why not stay in for dinner?

Bored? Hungry?

Yeah, me too. My Saturday excitement was re-scheduled, so the planned blog will have to happen at a later date. To make it up to you, I'll fix you dinner.

Or at least show you how to make pumpkin risotto with chicken. It's really simple and pretty quick, and it's coming upon Autumn, so you should really be eating more pumpkin. I just happened to stumble onto a jar of pumpkin butter in the back of my cabinet, so I used that because I'm broke. But you could very well use canned pumpkin for this, and it would be really awesome with some roasted fresh pumpkin.

You'll need:

-3/4 cup Arborio rice

-2 boneless, skin-on chicken breasts

-1 medium carrot, diced finely

-1 medium stalk of celery, diced finely

-2-3 medium shallots, minced (you'll want 2 parts shallot to each part carrot or celery)

-a handful of celery leaves (yup)

-1/4 to 1/2 cup pumpkin puree or pumpkin butter, depending on your tastes

-2 1/2 cups chicken stock (if you use boxed, try to find low sodium)

-1 tbsp sweet paprika

-pinch cinnamon

-pinch ground nutmeg

-salt and black pepper to taste (adjust as you go)

-1 bay leaf

-2-3 tablespoons heavy cream

-olive oil (a few tablespoons, maybe- I never measure it)

-1/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted

-Black truffle, a medium one, if you're feeling froggy or happen to have some lying around (I'm one of those kind of people)

Your mise en place. If you have all the stuff ready before hand, this will be way easier.

Season the chicken with salt, black pepper, the sweet paprika, and a smidge of cinnamon on both sides, be slightly more aggressive on the skin side.

Chop your toasted hazelnuts.

About like this will do.

This next part's the crazy part, but trust me. Take the heavy cream...

And whip it to medium peaks. Why? I'll tell you later.

For the risotto; put a couple tablespoons of olive oil into a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat.

When it's nice and hot, but not smoking, toss in your shallots, carrots, and celery. Throw a little tiny pinch of salt in there.

When your shallots start to become transparent, toss the rice in, and cook it briefly until it's an ivory shade.

You'll need to add the chicken stock slowly, this is key to a good risotto. Add it about a 1/4-1/2 cup at a time, and stir it frequently to keep everything smooth. If it starts to boil rapidly, turn the heat down a bit, you just want nice, slow bubbles.

While you're coddling that risotto, you can slice up your truffle. Don't have truffle? Sucks for you! The one above was previously frozen, hence the interior color being lighter than the outside.

You could just use the celery leaves... toss them with a bit of chopped hazelnuts (about 1tbsp-save the rest for the risotto) a hint of salt, olive oil, and black pepper. I put truffle slices in mine.

Don't forget to keep adding stock to your risotto! When each amount of liquid you add is almost fully absorbed, add the next bit. Please don't burn it.

About 15 minutes in, you can start the chicken, with a splash of olive oil, skin side down, over medium-high heat. Just let it chill like that for a bit...

Add some pumpkin to the risotto. I ended up throwing about 1/4 cup of pumpkin butter in there, but feel free to adjust the amount to your preference. Keep adding stock.

When the chicken skin is super brown and oh-so-crispy, you can flip it to cook through, 165 Fahrenheit is what you're shooting for. if it sticks to the pan, let it be for another minute, this means it's not fully crisped yet.

Test the risotto. All the liquid should be added, and it should be soft but not mushy to the tooth. It should like like the above photo... time to toss in the rest of the chopped hazelnuts and truffles.

Is your chicken done? Good. Turn the heat off the risotto, toss in that whipped heavy cream, give it a swirl. The risotto should be pourable- smooth, creamy goodness. Adjust the salt and pepper, hit it with a pinch of nutmeg and plate it up!

Serve it with your crispy- skinned chicken breast and that celery leaf salad for some color. Enjoy some hearty, filling fall fare.

Ciao!