Butternut Squash and Spinach Risotto

This has quickly become my favorite dish for entertaining. Everyone loves it, it's *almost* fool proof, and presents beautifully!

PHOTO COMING SOON

INGREDIENTS:

3 lb butternut squash (or 3 lbs of precut butternut squash)

6 cups Veggie broth

1 medium onion, chopped

1 tablespoon soy butter

1 1/2 cups Arborio rice (9 oz)

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage

6 cups baby spinach, stems discarded and leaves very coarsely chopped

DIRECTIONS:
Roast squash:

1 - Preheat oven to 450°F.

2 - Cut away the skin, slice in half long ways, seed, and proceed to slice and dice the squash into 1/2 inch cubes. If you purchased precut, dice the squash pieces into 1/2 inch cubes. Place on a baking sheet, season with salt and pop in the middle rack of the oven for roughly 30-40 minutes. Check on them at the 30 minute mark. Honestly, even if you overcook the squash a bit, it will still taste perfect in this dish. The  very first time i made it, i was adapting the original recipe i found and burned the tops of all the squash pieces. I actually think it tasted a little better:) Not as pretty, though!

3 - Remove from the oven when the are cooked through, and are soft, similar to a hash brown.

Start risotto after squash has been roasting 20 minutes:

4 - Bring broth to a simmer and keep at a bare simmer, covered.

5 - Meanwhile, cook onion in soy butter in a 4-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 6 minutes. Add rice, garlic, and cumin and cook, stirring, 3 minutes.

6 - Stir in 1/2 cup simmering broth and cook at a strong simmer, stirring frequently, until broth is absorbed. Continue simmering and adding broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and letting each addition be absorbed before adding the next, until rice is creamy-looking but still al dente (it should be the consistency of thick soup), about 18 minutes total. (There will be leftover broth.)

7 - Stir in squash pieces, salt, sage, and spinach and simmer, stirring, 1 minute. (If necessary, thin risotto with some leftover broth.)

Serve risotto immediately.

*Also GREAT as a leftover/reheat next day!