I made this for the family this weekend as part of a Halloween lunch and it went down really well, especially with the littlest Munchkin! We ate this as a main course but if you reduced the amounts it would also work well as a starter at a dinner party.
Good old autumn comfort food…
(Serves 4)
- 4 Munchkin pumpkins
- Drizzle of olive oil
- 6 shallots – peeled and finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves – peeled and finely chopped
- Drizzle of maple syrup
- 1.5 mugs of Arborio rice
- 1 cup of dry white wine or dry Vermouth
- Couple of pints of vegetable stock (I use Kallo stock cubes)
- 1 mug of pureed roast pumpkin or, if you’re feeling lazy a jar or tin of pureed pumpkin (I bought mine from Ocado)
- Chopped fresh sage (dried will be fine if you don’t have any fresh herbs)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Place the whole, munchkin pumpkins on a a baking tray and in an oven at 180° for about 45 minutes
- Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pan and then add shallots and garlic for a few moments until they soften and then add the maple syrup, allow them to caramelise for a few minutes.
- Add the rice on a high heat for a few moments until the edges of the rice start to go translucent then add the wine/Vermouth. Reduce the heat and then gently massage/stir the rice with a wooden spoon to help release the starch.
- Have a pan of simmering vegetable stock at the side and slowly keep adding stock to the risotto, stirring as you go for around 30 minutes minutes.
- Remove the pumpkins from the oven and carefully remove the tops and scoop out the insides, removing the seeds as you go.
- Mash the pumpkin flesh with the back of a fork and stir into the risotto.
- Add the pumpkin puree and sage and cook for a further 15 minutes, stirring and adding more stock as you go.
- The risotto is ready when you have a nice, creamy texture but the rice grains still have a bit of a ‘bite’ to them.
- Season the risotto to taste.
- Spoon the risotto into the scooped-out pumpkins before replacing the tops and then arrange the rest of the risotto on the plate, alongside the pumpkin.
- Happy Halloween!