1. Steam the butternut chunks and cook until very soft, then puree with a stick blender until smooth.
2. While your butternut cooks, add a splash of olive oil to a deep saucepan and fry your onion and garlic on medium/low heat until it starts to look translucent and the onions are soft, but not coloured.
3. Add the rice and cook, stirring often for about 3 minutes.
4. Add the wine and stir until it has all but disappeared.
5. Once the alcohol has cooked off, it’s time to start adding the stock. Heat the vegetable stock in a pot or in the microwave before to start adding it to the rice.
6. Next add your first ladle of hot stock and a good pinch of salt. Turn the heat down to a simmer so the rice doesn’t cook too quickly on the outside.
7. Stir gently and constantly. Once the stock is all absorbed, add another ladle of stock. Repeat until all the stock is used up and the rice is just cooked. As it cools it will cook a bit more so try to cook it to al dente (just cooked with a bit of a bite).
8. Once all the stock is finished, stir through your butternut puree, parmesan (or nutritional yeast) and season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour the risotto into a container and allow it to cool. You can pop the risotto in the fridge to firm up, which will make it easier to work with.
   • The step above is best done prior to Christmas so you don’t need to hang around waiting on the risotto to cool.
9. Once the risotto has cooled, cube the cheese into 1cm bites.
10. Remove 1 Tbsp of cooled risotto and form it around the cube of cheese.
11. Next, massage your bag of panko to break up the large crumbs, before pouring the bag into a cereal bowl. In another bowl add a beaten egg or vegan milk and finally in a third the flour. First, roll the risotto balls into flour, then dip them into the egg/vegan milk and finally into the panko.  Repeat with the remaining rice balls.
12. Heat a pot of oil over high heat. Remember you need enough oil to cover the arancini, but use a big enough pot as the oil will bubble up and may overflow. Never fry in a pot more than 2/3 full of oil!
13. Fry the arancini until golden, before removing them with a metal spider onto kitchen towel to drain. Repeat until all the arancini are finished. This step can be done a few hours in advance and the arancini reheated at 180C for 10 minutes (from room temperature) in the oven or in the air fryer for 5 minutes at 170C.
14. While the arancini fry, grate 1/4 clove of garlic into 60ml mayo. Season the mayo with salt if needed.
15. Once all the arancini are cooked, add the sage leaves to the oil and fry until crisp. Drain on kitchen paper.
16. Pile your arancini onto a serving plate, scatter over the crispy sage. Serve with your garlic mayo and kale pesto, hot and gooey from the oven!

Happy cooking!