Grey's Anatomy and Butternut Squash Risotto

I have been back in school for two weeks and this week was the first week of my practicum experience for the spring semester.  Practicum is where I got into a school and observe/help/teach a little.  Right now I am in a middle school and LOVING it.  The only downside: they start at 7:30 in the morning.  That’s early.  Especially since it’s a 20-minute drive.  Last semester, I was at a high school and they did not start until 8:15 and it was a 10-minute bus ride and I only went on Mondays and Wednesdays.  Now, I go Monday through Thursday and I wake up at 6 every morning.  I suppose I will have to get used to this some day and I might as well start now.  Plus, I love being at school so waking up becomes totally worth it.  My classes are so fun and the kids are great. 

The real problem is when I am back on campus pretending to be a normal college student like the rest of my peers who typically stay up until all hours of the morning.  The solution: find activities with friends who are just as tired as I am! AKA: Grey’s Anatomy night.  Every Thursday, Tamara, Emily, Chelsea, and I get together to watch Grey’s Anatomy.  It is also a great time to vent about the school of education and share stories from practicum since they are going through the same thing as me.  Plus, I just love them J. 

This week Grey’s was just strange.  Did anyone else watch? It was that weird “What if?” episode and I just couldn’t handle Meredith kissing Carev and Bailey being all timid and quiet.  It was just so wrong.  But, the awesome risotto that Tamara made for dinner was so right! I can’t take credit for this great recipe, but I wanted to share it with you! We ate risotto, talked about how we could fall asleep right there, and freaked out when weird stuff happened on the TV. 

Butternut Squash Risotto (by Tamara)

This recipe is from Bruno, the chef at Villa Corsi-Salviati in Florence. It was for mushroom risotto and I modified it a little bit for the butternut squash.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 pound mushrooms

2 cups arborio rice

1 small chopped onion

1 clove garlic

1/2 cup-3/4 cup white wine

4 cups chicken broth, heated

1/2 cup grated parmesan (optional)

Directions:

Sautee onion and garlic in the olive oil in a medium sautee pan.  Add rice and stir for a couple minutes. Pour in white wine and let evaporate.  Add sliced mushrooms and cook for about 2 minutes. Add hot broth gradually to this mixture, stirring until the rice is cooked.  Stir in parmesan.

***For the Risotto alla Zucca (aka butternut squash risotto), I kind of improvised.  I used about 1 cup of cubed butternut squash.  Then, I precooked the squash in chicken broth, so I probably used bout 5 1/2 cups of broth total.  I cooked it about 8-10 minutes or until it was soft, but still held its form.  Then, I drained the extra broth out.  I did everything the same otherwise and added the squash at the same point that the mushrooms would have been added.

It was fantastic! Enjoy :)