Risotto alla Zucca e Amaretti con Speck

Ingredients

• For the roasted pumpkin
• 800 g Marina di Chioggia pumpkin, peeled, seeded, cut into large wedges
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• For the risotto base
• 320 g Carnaroli rice
• 1 white onion, finely chopped
• 60 g unsalted butter, divided — half for the soffritto, half for the mantecatura
• 150 ml dry white wine
• 1.2 litres vegetable or light chicken stock, kept at a bare simmer
• For the mantecatura
• 60 g Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano, finely grated
• 40 g amaretti biscuits, finely crumbled
• To finish
• 80 g Speck Alto Adige, sliced paper-thin, cut into ribbons
• 30 g pumpkin seeds, lightly toasted
• 4 tsp aged Aceto Balsamico di Modena, a few drops per plate at table
• 1 tsp fine sea salt, to season throughout

Method

1. 1
   Heat the oven to 200 °C. Arrange the pumpkin wedges on a baking tray, coat with olive oil, and season with salt. Roast until the flesh is deeply caramelised at the edges and completely tender throughout — 35 to 40 minutes — so the sugars concentrate and the flesh loses the raw, watery weight that would slacken the finished risotto. Scoop the flesh from the skin and pass through a fine sieve or blend to a smooth, thick purée; the purée must be dense, not watery, and a spoon drawn across it should leave a clean channel.
2. 2
   Melt half the butter in a wide, heavy-based pan over a low flame. Add the onion and sweat without colour until fully softened and translucent — 8 to 10 minutes — so the base sweetness releases gently rather than browning and turning bitter. The onion must yield no resistance when pressed against the side of the pan.
3. 3
   Raise the heat to medium-high, add the rice and toast, stirring constantly for about 2 minutes, so the outer surface of each grain firms slightly and the rice can accept stock gradually without turning mushy. Add the wine and stir until fully absorbed; the sharp alcoholic smell should dissipate completely before the first ladle of stock goes in.
4. 4
   Begin adding the hot stock one ladle at a time, stirring and allowing each addition to be absorbed before the next, so the grains release their starch evenly and build the creamy consistency the dish requires. After 10 minutes of cooking — at the midpoint — stir in the roasted pumpkin purée fully, so it melds with the starch into the characteristic dense, amber-coloured mantovano base rather than sitting as a separate layer on top. This is where the dish lives or dies: purée added too late fails to integrate, but added here it becomes the very sauce in which the rice finishes cooking. Continue adding stock and stirring until the rice is al dente — a grain cut in two should show the faintest white dot at its core — a further 8 to 10 minutes.
5. 5
   Remove the pan from the heat, add the remaining cold butter and the Parmigiano (or Grana Padano), and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon for 90 seconds, so the cold fat emulsifies into the hot starch and produces a risotto that flows in a slow wave when the pan is tilted — the all'onda consistency. Immediately scatter in the crumbled amaretti and fold once or twice; the residual heat dissolves them into the sauce without clumping, and the bitterness of the amaretti must be perceptible but not dominant.
6. 6
   Spoon into warmed shallow bowls. Lay the thin Speck ribbons over the surface without cooking them, so the gentle heat of the plate warms the fat and draws out the smoke without toughening the meat. Scatter toasted pumpkin seeds over each portion, carry the Aceto Balsamico to the table, and add a few drops to each bowl at the moment of serving; the plate is ready when the Speck has relaxed and the surface shines.