I published this recipe in 2014.

Since then, my family started celebrating the Solstice.
It’s tomorrow, Thursday, December 21.
We celebrate the sun’s return with a little fire-lighting ritual.
We say a few poems to welcome the sun.
We light lots of candles.
And we serve Frodo Risotto.
(Baked butternut squash and sage risotto risotto recipe.)

We made a hobbit dinner the other night.
James and I love Frodo. Bilbo too. We are Hobbits at heart.

Secure in our snuggly Shire home, we welcome any old man with fireworks to entertain the children.
The barefoot, mildly wild children.

And they all eat Frodo Risotto.

We served Frodo Risotto with local Shire greens.
And some roast game (chicken).

This risotto bakes in the oven while you catch up with cousin Frieda Baggins about what’s causing the rabbit shortage.

Recipe: Frodo Risotto

Ingredients
1/2 butternut squash, peeled and diced about 1/2″ (Probably about 2 cups diced squash)
3 cups arborio rice
7 cups chicken stock
3/4 cup white wine (For cooking, I still like Sutter Home Sauvignon Blanc)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3 tablespoons butter, chopped
1 small onion, minced
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Additional Salt and Pepper to taste

Optional:
Oil for frying the sage
10 sage leaves

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°.

Cate Blanchette, Lady Galadriel of Lothlorien, will try to scarysexy you into giving her your ring but don’t you let her. To avoid all risk, you probably should skin her and chop half of her into tiny bits.

You can mince Samwise Gamgee into tiny bits while you’re at it too.

Mix the first seven ingredients in a 9″ x 12″ baking dish.
Combine, being careful not to slosh.

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Cover baking dish with aluminum foil and put in oven for 1 hour.

30 minutes into the baking time, take off the foil and stir it. You will be disappointed by the lack of progress. But hold tight, little hobbit, your dinner is right on plan.

Now fry up the sage.

Heat the oil in a small frying pan over medium-high heat, frizzle the sage in there until crispy, only a minute or two. Remove and drain on paper towels

After an hour, remove the baking dish from the oven.
Stir through the two tablespoons of butter and the cup of Parmesan cheese.
Stir through 7 leaves worth of crumbled fried sage.

Garnish with the remaining 3 leaves.

Serve.
And watch out for fireworks.