I don't think I would be too wrong in estimating that at least 95% of the people love risotto! I am a die hard fan. Give me mushroom, give me saffron or any other vegetable, I would first think of how I can make risotto with it. And with pumpkin season on, can it be left far behind? Its surprising that I have received 13 mails in the last 3 months asking me for a Risotto recipe made without using wine which plays an integral part in this dish - questions like 'Can you make risotto without wine?' or 'Do we have to have to change ingredients to make risotto without it'?

Well, we are less than occasional alcohol drinkers and I don't carry any alcohol in my house. Hence to buy wine just to make an occasional risotto simply does not seem feasible to me. I have been making risotto without wine for as long as I can remember and it works just fine for me. You don't have to replace any ingredients as such. Instead of adding wine just add more vegetable stock or water to the rice. It does not hurt the recipe at all. This recipe was an accident. I have this inane habit of multitasking, hence kept butter in a pan to heat it. I went off to do something else and suddenly an aroma hit me. I ran to the kitchen to find that the butter had browned nicely ( not yet burnt - thank god!) and I proceeded to add the rest of the ingredients. The taste was amazing and delicious. The aroma was amazing to say the least. You can use this brown butter in different ways - you can add it in the middle or cook right in it. Either way works. You can even use pumpkin puree towards the end of cooking the risotto to replace some of the stock. You can either use Parmesan cheese or try Romano cheese. They both work very well in this recipe ( well, its cheese - what's not to work)