This will be my 6th and final post in this week’s series, as I have run out of ingredients and we ended up having leftovers one night! (For those of you just joining me, I have been cooking exclusively from Colleen Patrick Goudreau‘s three cookbooks this week.)
I love risotto. I have been making one, and only one, risotto recipe for several years now –the Risotto ala Milanese from Donna Klein’s Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen. So when I saw this butternut risotto recipe in The Vegan Table, I figured it was time to branch out. I love butternut squash, and I love risotto…so how could I not like this dish? I kind of cheated – using frozen butternut squash cubes rather than cooking the squash from scratch. We are past our local butternut squash season (sob) so I figured, why not save myself some time?
Well, next time, I will make this risotto with freshly cooked butternut squash. The risotto itself was delicious, but the squash was not quite as amazing and succulent as the fresh squash that I am used to. But the dish was still a win!
I served this risotto with some creamy, garlicky cannellini and kidney beans and lightly steamed kale with pine nuts and olive oil. I didn’t use a recipe for the beans, but I’ll share the cooking method with you because it is super easy and delicious. Just drain and rinse two cans of beans. Sautee some chopped garlic in olive oil, then add the beans and a little bit of vegetable broth and let simmer on low heat for 10-15 minutes until they start to break down. The beans get soooo creamy this way. The cannellini beans break down first, and I loved the way they created a kind of creamy sauce around the mildly sweet kidney beans. YUM!
So, this ends my week highlighting Colleen Patrick Goudreau. I want to take a moment to tell you a little bit about her and the work that she does. Her organization is called Compassionate Cooks, whose mission is “empowering people to make informed food choices and to debunking myths about veganism and animal rights by giving people the tools and resources they need to reflect their values of compassion and health in their daily lives.” (quoted from the website.) Colleen puts out an amazing podcast, writes cookbooks, and even has a cooking DVD. Her cookbooks are filled with healthful and delicious recipes, and they also contain a lot of great information ranging from animal cruelty issues to health and cooking tips. I encourage you to check them out!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this week of Colleen’s recipes. If you have any of her cookbooks, what is your favorite recipe?
Oh, YUM!!! Your plate of food looks divine! (I cheat in the winter and use frozen butternut squash, too) Colleen is so elegant and well spoken and likable, too. I think her gentle approach to “the cause” makes her a fantastic ambassador for vegans. I don’t have a favorite recipe, but I do recall how stoked I was the first time I made the Caesar salad from Vegan Table. I hadn’t had a Caesar since going vegan and it was my favorite restaurant salad. That alone was worth the price of the book to me!
Good to know! I haven’t tried that recipe yet and I always loved Caesar salad.
This looks delicious! My favorite recipe of hers is the Creamy Macaroni with Cashew Cheese from The Vegan Table. It is hands down the best comfort food ever.
That sounds delicious! I hardly ever try anyone else’s mac and cheese recipes because the family likes my own version, but maybe I’ll give this one a try. I like the idea of using cashews.
Sounds and looks delicious!