I'm introducing a new series that I'm calling "Wingin' It!".

This is actually an old idea that I had a long time ago,

but I'm finally implementing it,

and it's basically I'm gonna just make some food

based on what I have in my pantry.

Today it's gonna be a pumpkin risotto.

Basically I was just getting like so stressed out

over what to make every week.

I'm a Gemini, I don't know if that tells you anything,

lot of indecisiveness going on

within my brain and my heart, so it's such a relief to me

to just be like, "Okay, I'm just gonna like decide

"what to make based on what we have in the pantry."

It'll probably be good, I'll be honest with you,

not that this will be S-H-I-T,

it'll be D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S, right?

High-five, I'm just gonna make this

go right into the camera, like pow.

(upbeat electronic music)

So let's go to the pantry and see if we actually have

everything that we need to make a butternut squash risotto.

Did I say pumpkin risotto before?

I don't remember, dang it.

Look, we have Arborio rice,

and look, a butternut squash.

I guess I got the squash at the farmer's market

like two weeks ago, it's got a little bit of a spot on it.

I'm gonna cut that off, I don't care,

it's fine, it's totally fine.

I also need to get an onion.

Ooh, I hope I have onion.

Don't look in my fridge, I mean you are looking

in my fridge, it's kinda messy.

Oh, okay, so I don't have white wine but I have sherry.

I'm gonna try that.

This is totally like I'm turning into my grandma,

I have sherry but not white wine.

All right, so I did a video many, many moons ago

about just how to do a basic risotto.

So I'm just gonna kind of use that,

I'm gonna start out with some onion,

let's see, let's chop up some onion.

I wanna chop it up pretty small

'cause I like when it just ends up sort of

dissolving into the risotto.

Am I pronouncing that right?

You know what, I think I'm not gonna use a peeler on this,

I'm just gonna do it with my knife.

Don't cut your fingers off, for heaven's sake.

So I like to separate the shaft from the bulb.

Oh my gosh, these onions are making my eyes water.

You guys, I'm crying.

Oh yeah, so I'm gonna go a little bit deeper

on this little weird spot.

Oh, a little bit deeper.

Oh, gonna have to go a little bit deeper still, hang on.

We'll get there.

There we go, dang, man, organic produce,

what a ripoff, I'm just kidding.

I do try to buy organic produce,

not only for the Earth but also

for the people that work in the fields.

Chris and I did a video series for Tastemade years ago

called "Hilah's Texas Kitchen",

and one of my favorite videos that we did

was we went down to South Texas

and we met with an organic citrus grapefruit farmer,

and he had been, you know, like his family

had had this orchard or whatever since like he was a kid,

and he said, "In the '70s,"

and he had worked on it his whole life,

and he said, "In the '70s, Texas A&M University came,

"and they wanted to do a study on farm workers

"to see how much pesticide residue

"was in their bloodstream,"

and he had been, you know, working on the farm

since he was a child, and I think he was like a teenager,

like 17 or something when they came and did the study.

He said that literally the pesticide residue

in his bloodstream was "Off the charts," he said,

I don't what kind of chart they had at the time,

but that really, like, I don't know,

that really affected both Chris and I.

So anyway, not to get all like preachy and stuff about it,

but that is actually a big reason

why I do try to buy organic produce.

Okay, I'm gonna scoop the seeds out,

and you know, I mean, I hope that you know,

that any kind of winter squash,

like acorn squash or butternut squash,

and actually butternut squash is really delicious,

any kind of seeds can be that roasted

like you do pumpkin seeds, I've got a video on that too,

but lately, actually, I've not been doing it in the oven,

I've just been rinsing them off and kind of pat them dry,

and then just fry them in a skillet in some oil,

and I like it much better that way,

so you can try that too if you like.

And I'm gonna keep all the like juicy bits of the seed stuff

aside here 'cause it's got a lot of flavor

and a lot of color, that was so loud,

and it's got a lot of color, which I like for this dish,

or at least I think I'm gonna like it.

As I said, I haven't actually made this before,

I am just making it up.

But this is like what I would do if it was dinnertime

and I was like, "Oh, what am I gonna make?

"I have butternut squash and some rice."

So anyway, I'm sure this is a familiar thing

for most of y'all, I bet a lot of y'all

don't cook with recipes every night,

and you just like figure it out.

That's what makes cooking so creative.

Next step is we're gonna go to the stove

and saute some onion with some rice,

then you'll just have to wait and see.

Whoa, cliffhanger.

Well fancy meeting you here, over here by my stove.

Okay, so I've got some vegetable broth here,

you could use chicken broth,

but I had some vegetable broth so I'm gonna use that,

and I'm gonna add my butternut squash to my broth,

which a lot of recipes want you to roast it,

but that seems like a waste of energy and time.

So while that's happening, I'm just gonna like

let that come to a boil, 'cause that's the trick,

is you want to make sure that your stock

is simmering as you add it to the rice.

So let's get some E-V-O-O in here,

what's up Rachael Ray, did I ever tell y'all

like I used to watch Rachael Ray religiously

like when she kinda first started

and just had her like "30 Minute Meals" show?

I would wake up, so I have chronic insomnia,

which is super fun, I would wake up

at like three or four in the morning,

and just go watch like Rachael Rae reruns

and plan my menu for the week, and make a grocery list.

This was when I was like 25,

I was in like prime party mode,

but still a major dork.

I mean, I partied, but I also did dorky stuff like that.

But anyway, I just, I love her, I think she's so cute.

Okay, so I also minced up some garlic

when you weren't looking, sorry about that,

but you know how to do that, right?

And I'm gonna add that,

and then we're just gonna let this cook together

and get kinda nice and soft,

soft and doughy like my entire abdomen

after I had a child.

Just kidding, hey, what's up moms,

you know what I'm talking about.

It's okay, I love my body.

Even like that Elvira video,

like I thought I looked pretty hot,

and then when I was watching the video,

I was like, "Oh, I look like,

"I can see like fat rolls and stuff,"

but I don't care, I just don't care anymore.

What a relief, how amazing.

Whoa, this is like becoming an online journal

where I like talk about my feelings.

I started seeing a therapist,

I mean, I've seen therapists before,

but I started seeing a new therapist,

talking about my feelings a lot.

It's been good.

Okay, so I'm gonna add a little bit of salt to this

to help these onions soften up.

It'll kinda draw some of the water out.

Smells delicious, ooh, you know

what I think I'm gonna add is maybe,

what if I added a bay leaf?

I'm gonna do it.

There we go, half a bay leaf, what else?

That's all for now, there'll be more later I'm sure.

Ooh, it already smells fresh.

So this is getting nice and soft,

I'm gonna add, such a pretty sound,

I'm gonna add a cup of Arborio rice.

You could use any kind of short grain rice.

Again, don't at me, I mean I've made it

with like sushi rice, I've made it with bomba rice,

the Spanish like paella rice,

but you want something short and starchy, that's the key.

And we're gonna let this kind of cook

for a couple of minutes,

make sure it gets coated with all the oil.

This is so fun, I love just kind of cooking without,

I mean I have an endpoint obviously,

I'll stop when I'm done, I'll sleep when I'm dead.

That's what I tell myself when I'm having insomnia

in the middle of the night,

"You can sleep when you're dead,

"just get up and start working, it's fine."

But it's kinda nice just going with the flow, you know?

It's like when you're on your surfboard,

I've never surfed, I don't know what that's like.

You don't want it to brown, but you want it

to kind of start looking translucent.

Oh yeah, it's happening, baby.

Okay, I think we're ready for the scary part,

I mean the sherry part, get it?

This is a dry sherry, not a cream sherry,

cream sherry's a little sweeter.

So I don't know, let's just see what happens.

Maybe I should measure this so I don't totally F myself.

(loud sizzling)

Whoa, a lot of stuff's happening.

Oh okay, it smells good.

I feel like it'll go well with this butternut squash thing

that we're doing here 'cause it's

like a sweet, kind of rich wine.

Oh, and look, okay, so as soon as this kind of cooks off,

look at that, perfect timing,

this was meant to be, obviously.

I've got my sauce a-cooking, and I'm gonna add about a cup,

so four little ladles, and if you get some squash in there,

that's fine, it'll keep cooking in here.

This ladle, actually, funny story, the orange kitchen,

I know a lot of y'all remember the orange kitchen,

this came with the kitchen.

This was like one of the weird things

that the previous person left behind.

I'm just gonna keep adding and stirring until it's done,

until we get to the endpoint,

and it'll probably take 20 or 30 minutes

from the time you add the first bit of broth.

So have patience, and go easy on yourself.

I'm talking to myself.

Okay, we're almost finito,

I'm such a poser y'all with my fake Italian.

This is looking real creamy, real nice.

If you need to add a little bit more liquid,

just kinda taste your rice as you go,

you want it to be soft all the way through,

but it shouldn't be mushy,

and see the pumpkin or the butternut squash

just kind of disappears.

It's almost like a magic trick.

Perfect, perfect, perfect, oh my god I'm so smart.

I'm gonna add some butter, three tablespoons,

and then I'm gonna, I'm gonna turn the heat off,

and then I'm gonna add some Parmesan.

I feel like about two ounces is the right amount.

Let's see, oh my goodness, this is so beautiful.

Oh and the texture just feels so smooth.

I will say that even though this

is maybe a little bit tedious,

risotto is a really fun thing to make, I think.

I find it very relaxing to just stand and stir and smell.

Don't forget the smell, it's a very important part