My Roast Chicken Risotto Leftovers

After we got back from Barcelona neither of us had any food inspirations, the weather was still quite hot and we didn't have much of an apatite. But then finally Shane decided we would have Roast Chicken. We don't usually have roast dinners as I normally end up making far to much so we save it for when we have family round. 

So I decided if we were going to have a roast, I was making the most of it and buying a whole chicken. I stuffed it with thyme, sage, basil and lemon and did most of the trimmings to go with it, it was amazing and worth all the effort, although I find roast dinners not as hard as some dishes, I think I'm just so used to making them now. 

But, obviously between the two of us we couldn't eat a whole chicken, so we decided on using the left overs for curry and risotto. 

When I lived with my parents, brother & his girlfriend (they're renovating their current uninhabitable house) there was always plenty of food in the pantry, as you could nether guarantee who would be in for tea, lunch or even breakfast! So always plenty of food leftover to just throw meals together in order to prevent waste. But with the two of us now it's easier to only buy what we need, and therefore we don't get the opportunity to just create something. 

For the risotto, I used my "just throw it all in" approach. Which to this day, surprisingly, has not let me down! 

Ingredients - for two slightly piggy portions (can be served with a side salad and saving some of the risotto for lunch the next day)

• Lurpack or olive oil 1 tablespoon
• Onion 1/2 medium
• Green pepper 1/4 or Celery 1/2 Stick
• Mushrooms Small handful
• Pancetta 100g
• Carrots 1/2 medium
• Butternut squash 250g
• Stock Veg or Chicken 1 Litre
• White wine small wine glass
• Risotto Rice 1/2 cup
• Left over roast Chicken 2 handfuls
• Grated Parmesan 1 handful

Method

Where to begin? 

I started by roasting the butternut squash (which I had brought the tesco frozen chopped bag) in a preheated oven at 200°C/Fan 180°C, Gas 6  on a roasting tray with some oil and salt and pepper for 25 minutes. The butternut squash was finished before the the risotto was ready for it so I left it on the side, don't worry if it cools down as it will heat back up in the risotto, but you don't want to put it in too early as it'll turn to mush. Well, by all means put it in early, as it is an easy way of hiding vegetables!

For the main body of the risotto, I started by heating the oil in a large saucepan, ideally i would use lurpack but I only had olive oil. Once that is heated up, bout 2 mins on a medium heat, add the onion, green pepper or celery, mushrooms, and pancetta and carrots all cubed into small pieces as this way they cook quicker. Fry until the pancetta is browned, and the veggies are softened and starting to go slightly golden. Then add in the rice and mix so it is coated in the oil and juices. Once the rice is coated, add the white wine and a ladle of stock. Once the liquid has been absorbed add another ladle and so on for roughly 15 mins, or until the rice is soft but with a bite. Hopefully that makes sense! For me I keep tasting the rice to see whens it cooked. once the rice is cooked, add the left over chicken, we had diced breast meat, and the butternut squash and heat through for about 5 minutes. Once warmed, turn the heat off and stir in the grated parmesen.  
In total the dish takes about half an hour to 45 mins to cook. Risotto is not the easiest dish out there, and does take a lot of practice, for me I only really started to get in right when I moved out and my dad wasn't there to take over when I couldn't get the rice perfect. But don't give up! Once you get the skills perfected you'll never look back and can throw all sorts in so long as you have the key ingredients, rice, onion, celery or green pepper, stock and parmesan.   

I added a little to  much stock to mine, so it ended up a little too wet, but was still yummy. 

♥