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1. Turn oven on to 400 degrees.
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2. Peel and cube the butternut squash into 3/4 inch cubes.
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3. Toss with some olive oil and salt and spread on a foil-lined baking pan. Put into the oven for 25 minutes.
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4.Mince the garlic, chop the onion, chiffonade the sage, coarsely chop the cilantro, and chop the mushrooms.
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5. Heat the chicken broth over medium heat in a small pot.
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6. Heat some olive oil in a larger pot. Add the garlic and onion and stir to cook until onion is translucent. Add the rice into the pot and stir quickly for about 1 minute.
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7. Add the hot broth about 1/2 a cup at a time, stirring to distribute and then letting the rice soak up the broth. Keep doing this until the broth is used up. The process should take about half an hour.
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8. Zest (grate) the lemon and get the juice of the lemon into the pot and stir to distribute after the first time you add broth.
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9. Remove the squash from the oven when it is done and set aside.
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10. While cooking the rice, saute the mushrooms in some olive oil with a dash of salt till they are cooked down some. Add the squash and toss to combine. Turn off the heat.
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11. Once the risotto is cooked, the texture should be thick and creamy. It's kind of amazing how rich it tastes with no cream or cheese! Add the squash and mushroom mixture to the rice and stir to combine and continue cooking for about 5 minutes.
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12. Turn the heat off and add the sage and cilantro and stir to combine.
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Now you are almost ready to eat! The final step is the poached egg on top that will take this dish up quite a few notches.
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Have you ever poached an egg? There are lots of tips out there. This is what I did and it worked out awesomely.
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1. Heat water and 1 tablespoon vinegar in a pot (enough to cover the egg) to boiling.
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2. Once boiling, turn down the heat to low.
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3. Spin the water into a vortex.
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4. Carefully crack an egg and drop it into the center of the vortex and watch the egg cook!
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5. Cook for 3 minutes for a medium egg. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon and towel off with a paper towel. There you have it! A perfectly poached egg to happily perch on top of your risotto!
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Now for the best part: cut open that egg and unleash the magic!
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Yummm! Wow, that is one sexy egg and risotto!
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Hope you guys enjoy this dish. Grated parmesan would certainly add some fun to this dish, but it is not even necessary because the risotto is so creamy and thick.
