Roasted Butternut Bacon Feta Risotto

Any risotto is a bowl of comfort food, but this roasted butternut bacon feta risotto takes a simple rice dish up several notches. You can stir the bacon through the dish or simply use it as a generous topping. 

Many years ago when our younger daughter was at university, she and her roommates went through a phase where butternut squash was on regular rotation in their menu because of its cheap price and ease of roasting/refrigerating for future meals. 

What ended up happening is that said lovely daughter was completely off of eating butternut squash after that. There are just so many times a person can eat the same thing without being put off indefinitely. The problem is that her father and I still like it! 

So … the search was on for a recipe where butternut didn’t taste so fully of butternut. I am delighted to tell you that this one cracked the code. 

Roasted Butternut Bacon Feta Risotto

This recipe is adapted from a way more fancy one from Jamie Oliver. I love Jamie Oliver but sometimes he does get cheffy. This recipe is easy and tasty. It got a “would have again” rating from my taste tasters, even our younger daughter! And that’s saying something! 

Ingredients

2 small butternut squash, whole (about 2.2 lbs or 1kg)

Olive oil 

1 teaspoon ground coriander 

Fine sea salt

Fresh ground black pepper 

12 oz or 340g thick sliced smoked bacon 

6 cups or 1420ml chicken stock

2 shallots

2 short stalks celery

1 1/2 cups or 300g arborio rice 

1/2 cup or 120ml dry white wine 

4 tablespoons butter 

5 fresh sprigs oregano

8 oz or 226g feta cheese 

For topping: 

1/4 cup or 35g toasted, lightly salted pumpkin seeds

Method

Preheat oven to 400°F or 200°C.

Trim the ends off of your butternut squash and then cut them in half. Small squash don’t need to be peeled because the peel gets tender when cooked and is completely edible and delicious. 

Remove the seeds and discard. Cut squash into chunks and pile them in a baking pan. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with ground coriander, fine sea salt and a few good grinds of black pepper. 

Shake the pan to separate the squash chunks. Bake in the preheated oven until soft, about 40 minutes.

Peel the shallots and dice them and the celery. 

Remove the squash from oven and set aside.

Break feta into small uneven chunks. I like using the tines of a fork for this job. Remove the oregano leaves from the sprigs and set aside a tiny pile for topping. 

In a large saucepan, fry bacon until crispy. Drain on paper towels then cut them into pieces.

Remove all but two tablespoons of the bacon grease from the pan then add the shallots, celery and a pinch of salt. Cook over medium heat for a few minutes, until softened. 

Meanwhile, place chicken stock in a small pan over medium-low heat. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to very low to keep warm. 

Add the rice to the shallots and celery. Stir constantly until rice is translucent, 2 to 3 minutes.

Pour in the white wine and stir until it is absorbed, 1 to 2 minutes.

Begin adding the broth to the rice, a ladleful at a time, stirring frequently. Allow each ladleful to be absorbed before adding next; process will take about 20-25 minutes.

When ready, rice will be soft and plump with a slight bite. 

Remove rice from heat. Fold in the pumpkin chunks, butter and the larger pile of oregano leaves. Place a lid over the saucepan, and let it sit for 2 minutes so the butter can melt.

Fold in the feta pieces, reserving some crumbles for the top. 

Top with bacon and toasted pumpkin seeds. Add the reserved feta crumbles. 

Enjoy!

Check out this month's Baking Blogger pumpkin and squash recipes. Many thanks to our organizer and host, Sue of Palatable Pastime. 

• Black Bean and Butternut Squash Enchilada Casserole from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Butternut Squash Cheesecake from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Crystallized Ginger Pumpkin Gingerbread Cookies from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Maple-Kissed Autumn Squash Tart from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Mock Pumpkin Cheesecake from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Pumpkin Cornbread from Making Miracles
• Pumpkin Spice Biscotti from Tara's Multicultural Table
• Quick Pumpkin Bread from Sneha's Recipe
• Roasted Butternut Bacon Feta Risotto from Food Lust People Love
• Sourdough Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Sweet and Savory Roasted Butternut Squash from Palatable Pastime
• Tikvenik - Bulgarian Pumpkin Pastry from Pandemonium Noshery

Baking Bloggers is a friendly group of food bloggers who vote on a shared theme and then post recipes to fit that theme one the second Monday of each month. If you are a food blogger interested in joining in, inquire at our Baking Bloggers Facebook group. We'd be honored if you would join us in our baking adventures.

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Caramel Stuffed Brownie Bites #FoodieExtravaganza

These caramel stuffed brownie bites combine the chewiest fudgy brownies with a big square of chewy caramel in the middle. 

I’m one of those kind of people: The kind that buys ingredients with no plan in mind, you know, just in case someday I might need them. A perfect example is the bag of Kraft caramel squares that I’ve been storing in the door of my freezer for going on three years now.

Sure of course they are expired by now, but they’ve been frozen all this time! And I’m pleased to tell you that frozen caramel doesn’t change texture or flavor. You are welcome. 

Caramel Stuffed Brownie Bites

Be sure to liberally oil the mini muffin pan inside the cups and on the tope between them as well. The brownie bites expand over the top and you do not want them to stick. 

Ingredients

2 cups or 400g granulated sugar

1 cup or 125g flour

1 cup or 120g Dutch process cocoa powder

3/4 cup or 94g icing sugar, sifted if lumpy

3/4 cup or 75g semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

3 large eggs

3/4 cup or 180ml canola oil or other light oil, plus extra for pan

3 tablespoons full fat plain Greek style yogurt

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

24 caramel squares (I used the individually wrapped Kraft ones)

Method

Preheat the oven to 325°F or 163°C. Prepare your 24-cup mini muffin pan by brushing it with oil. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, powdered sugar and salt. Now add in the chocolate chips and stir to distribute them well. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, yogurt and vanilla.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry until barely combined. Fold in the chocolate chips. Don’t over mix.

Spoon half of the thick batter into the muffin pan then poke one (unwrapped!) caramel in each muffin hole.

Cover with the second half of the brownie batter. 

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the tops are slightly cracked and shiny.

Remove from the oven and set aside to cool on a wire rack for about 25-30 minutes.

Use a heat resistant silicone spatula to carefully release the brownies from the muffin pan.

You may end up deforming them slightly but you can press them back into shape. 

Place them on the wire rack to cool completely. 

Enjoy!

This month my Foodie Extravaganza friends are sharing recipes featuring caramel. Many thanks to our host, Kelley of Simply Inspired Meals. 

• Caramel & Orange Cake Pudding Trifle by Sneha's Recipe
• Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Caramel Butter Bars by Making Miracles
• Caramel Stuffed Brownie Bites by Food Lust People Love
• Disney's Caramel Shortbread by Simply Inspired Meals
• Easy Caramel Modjestkas by Palatable Pastime
• Galaxy Cake by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Hopjesvla (Dutch Coffee Custard) by Tara's Multicultural Table
• Salted Caramel Mudslide by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays by cooking and baking together with the same ingredient or theme each month. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board.

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Sweet Summer Squash Muffins #MuffinMonday

Sweet summer squash muffins are fabulous. Like your favorite zucchini bread, no one even suspects they contain vegetables. Even picky eaters love these!

There are many types of summer squash, in other words squash that is picked young and small so that their skins are tender enough to eat but my absolute favorite is crookneck squash. I slice it into circles and cook it with garlic (and often bacon) and can eat it all summer long. It’s one of the things I missed most living overseas. Never saw it outside the southern United States, not even once.

I’m making up for lost time this summer! 

Unfortunately for me, the rest of the family is not as enamored. They seem to think there is a limit to how often crookneck squash can be served. Which is ridiculous. I won them over to my side with these muffins though.

Sweet Summer Squash Muffins

Bake these in a normal 12-cup muffin pan or a 24-cup mini muffin pan. Even though it’s technically exactly the same amount of muffins by weight, I find the mini ones get eaten a lot faster. Who can resist a tiny muffin or three?

Ingredients

1 young crookneck squash (about 5 2/3 oz or 160g)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups or 190g flour
1/2 cup or 100g white sugar
1/2 cup or 100g dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1/3 cup or 80ml milk
1/3 cup or 80ml canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Optional add in: 1/2 cup or 100g semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 24-cup mini muffin pan or 12-cup muffin pan by greasing it or lining it with muffin papers.

Grate your squash with the small holes of your grater onto a paper towel then and spread it around in a colander to drain.  Sprinkle with the 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, sugars, baking powder and cinnamon.

In another smaller bowl, whisk together your eggs, milk, oil and vanilla.

Use the back of a spoon or rubber spatula to squeeze moisture out of the grated squash. 

Pour your wet mixture into the dry ingredients then add the grated squash.

Fold until they are just combined.  There should be some dry flour still showing. Fold in the chocolate chips, if using.

Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups.

Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until the muffins are golden and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan and cool further on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Check out all the great muffin recipes my Muffin Monday friends are sharing today!

• Apple Streusel Muffin Tops from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Banana Mocha Chip Muffins from Making Miracles
• Dirty Chai Latte Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Java Plum Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Raspberry Rhubarb Muffins from Zesty South Indian Kitchen 
• Sweet Summer Squash Muffins from Food Lust People Love

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

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