In creating the recipe I am sharing with you, I use the Butternut Squash Risotto from Chez Panisse Vegetables as a jumping off point. Some changes Ive made to that recipe include roasting the squash beforehand, substituting vegetable stock for chicken stock, lowering the amount of broth (I like a stickier risotto and the Chez Panisse recipe creates a brothy, soupy risotto), and of course I also substitute an ambercup squash for their butternut. Risotto has a stigma for being time consuming, and when you mention cooking it, people envision you standing over the stove obsessively pouring in spoonfuls of broth every 2 minutes, amidst continuous stirring of the rice. Mom and I discussed this perception, and we arent really sure where it comes from. I do stir the rice for a second after adding additional broth, but I promise that this risotto is incredibly simple, easy, and you wont have an arm cramp when it is time to eat. Get ready to savor the delicious textures of fall in this dish--this is cozy, healthy, comfort food at its best. I end up craving this dish again maybe two hours after we finish the leftovers.
One last quick note about risotto: if you have a dutch oven-type pot, use that. If you dont, your largest soup pot will suffice.
Separately, thank you so much for the gorgeous gift for my birthday! You are so sweet, and I cannot wait to get to know the cookbook better--and to try out the recipes! Of course, due to your hint that your winter squash recipe is related to the book, I am so intrigued to learn what youve made for this week.
Thanks again, you are the best.
xo,
Leigh



Roasted Ambercup Squash Sage Risotto

1 medium ambercup squash (about 2 pounds whole or your sweet winter squash of choice
24 sage leaves
Salt and pepper
6 to 7 cups vegetable stock
1 medium onion
5 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter*
2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano, grated*

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Peel and clean the squash, then dice it into approximately 2-inch cubes. Put the diced squash in a Pyrex-type 9x13 dish, splash some olive oil on top of the cubes, add salt and pepper. Place pan in the oven and let cook for approximately 30 minutes--stirring the cubes every 10 minutes.
2. While the squash is roasting, combine a few chopped sage leaves and the stock in a saucepan. Bring to a low simmer, and hold it there.
3. Chop 6 sage leaves fine and dice the onion.
4. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat 3 tablespoons of butter, add the chopped sage and cook for a minute or so; add the onion and continue to cook over medium heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and cook over low heat for about 4 minutes, stirring often, until the rice has turned slightly translucent. Turn up the heat and pour in the white wine. When the wine has been absorbed, add just enough hot stock to cover the rice, stir well and reduce the heat.
5. Keep the rice at a gently simmer and continue to add more stock, a ladle or two at a time, letting each addition be absorbed by the rice.
6. After 15 minutes, the rice will be nearly cooked. Stir in the cooked squash, the rest of the butter and the cheese. Continue cooking for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring often. Taste for texture and consistency, adding more stock if necessary. Adjust the seasoning.

*To make a delicious vegan version of this recipe, as I have many times, substitute the butter for Earth Balance, and the parmesan cheese for 1/2-3/4 cups nutritional yeast.

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Method

1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Grease a baking sheet. Prepare the choux pastry. Place the egg yolk in a small dish with 1 tablespoon water and beat. Set aside. Break the whole eggs into a mixing bowl and beat. Set aside. Place the milk, salt, sugar and butter in a saucepan and bring to boil. Stir with a spatula and add the flour all at once. Stir continuouly. When the mixture is thoroughly blended and begins to come away from the sides of the pan, cook for a few seconds more, then remove from the heat. Add the beaten whole eggs gradually, in batches, stirring constantly. The mixture should be soft, but not too liquid.

2. Transfer the batter to a pastry bag fitted with a medium round tip. On the prepared baking sheet, pipe out lines of batter about 4 inches long and spaced about 1 1/2 inches apart. Brush the tops with the beaten egg yolk. Bake until golden, 20-30 minutes.

3. Remove from the oven. With a small sharp knife, make a lengthwise slit in the side of each pastry. Set aside to cool. Prepare the caramel. Gradually pour the sugar into a medium size saucepan set over low heat. Cook until the sugar begins to caramalize. As soon as it turns dark bron, remove from the heat and immediately add the cream, taking care not to splatter. Stir, then set aside to cool.

4. Prepare the pastry cream: Place the milk in a saucepan, add 1 teaspoon if the sugar, and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, place the egg yolks in another saucepan, add the remaining sugar, and beat until lemoon-colored. Stir in the flour. Slowly pour in half of he hot milk, whisking continuously, until smooth. Add the remaining milk and place over medium heat. Cook, whisking continuously, until thick. Remove from the heat. Set aside to cool completely, stir often to release steam and prevent the cream from getting soggy. When cool, stir in the caramel. Fill the pasteries with the cooled caramel pastry cream, using the slit in the side.

5. Prepare the glaze: Place the sugar in a saucepan, add 6 tablespoons water, and bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes, until a dark caramel color. Remove from the heat, stir in the fondant and place over low heat, stirring until thoroughly blended. Set aside to cool. Glaze the top of each filled pastry with this nixture. Let harden before serving.

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By Al Ries
Published: October 01, 2008
Holism is the concept that the whole has a reality independent and greater than the sum of its parts. Marketing people should pay more attention to this concept.

Take Tiger Woods' endorsement of Buick. On the surface, this might seem like a good idea. A young, charismatic, world-class athlete drives a Buick. How could this not improve the perception of the brand?

But wait. According to Forbes magazine, Tiger Woods made $115 million last year, including $90 million in endorsements. More money than any other athlete in the world. He owns a $20 million, 155-foot yacht. And he drives a Buick? Highly unlikely.

Nor is Tiger Woods' endorsement working in the marketplace. Buick sales in the U.S. have declined every year for five straight years, from 432,017 vehicles in 2002 to 185,791 vehicles in 2007. Last year, even Subaru outsold Buick.

Another point: If Tiger Woods endorses Buick, who is left to endorse Cadillac? God?

It's a stretch, but Tiger in a Cadillac is a plausible endorsement. To quite a few people, the best American cars are on a par with the best European and Asian cars. So if Tiger drives the "best" American car, it would be a Cadillac, of course.

That's holism at work. Look at the big picture, not just the details.

Take Tiger Woods' endorsement of Nike, the No. 1 athletic brand in the world. That also makes sense. But suppose he had endorsed Reebok instead. Would that have worked? Of course not.

And how about the mathematicians and computer scientists who developed the art and science of risk management on Wall Street. They hired Ph.D.s to build sophisticated systems to comb through complicated mortgage portfolios to analyze everything that could possibly go wrong.

Now it looks as if they missed about $700 billion worth of things that could go wrong.

Why didn't they look at the big picture? When you put a person with no down payment (or a low down payment) in a home that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, you are asking for trouble. No computer is as smart as a human being with a holistic point of view.

After World War II, a shortage of cars created a seller's market. Prices skyrocketed. Then things returned to normal, as they usually do, and many people found themselves with vehicles worth less than their car loans. A number of young guys I knew owned cars that were underwater. So they went out and "burned" them before they were repossessed. They deliberately over-revved the engines to destroy them.

I wonder how many houses have recently burned down in mysterious fires.

Everything is interconnected. When you make a change in one area, you also affect many other areas.

Take the 1982 launch of Diet Coke, the "new product of the decade." As successful as Diet Coke is, the company has paid a big price. Regular Coca-Cola sales have declined substantially.

The Coca-Cola Co. considers Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Classic to be two separate brands. But consumers connect the two and not always favorably. For many consumers, regular Coke has "too many calories" and Diet Coke "doesn't taste good."

To solve that problem, Coca-Cola introduced "C2," a cola with half the calories of regular Coke. That might be logical from the company's point of view, but not from the consumer's holistic point of view. If consumers want "taste," they buy Coke. If consumers want "low calories," they buy Diet Coke. If consumers want ....., they buy C2. (Try to figure out what word to put in that last sentence.)

More choice often puts consumers in a bind. They often wind up with a "none of the above" reaction.

Take the launch of Sugar-Free Red Bull. That solved a problem many Red Bull drinkers never knew they had. "Geez! I didn't know that Red Bull was loaded with calories." Take the launch of Red Bull in 12-ounce cans. That put many Red Bull drinkers on the horns of a dilemma. "The 8.3-ounce cans look expensive compared to the 12-ounce cans. On the other hand, I'm used to drinking Red Bull in the smaller cans. Now what?"

Campbell's Soup has introduced chicken noodle soup with "25% less sodium.

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