Autumn Risotto

If they would just skip the rainy parts, I really love autumn. It's always a little sad to see the days getting shorter, but there's also a lot you get back. Wearing a sweater instead of a jacket on a sunny autumn day, the sun low in the sky, long walks through the forest when the leaves are turning yellow and red. And the food. I love autumn food: (portobello) mushroom, pear, beet, eggplant, pumpkin...

This is one of my favorite autumn recipes: pumpkin risotto.

This serves one: half of a small pumpkin // 1 small onion // 1 tbs of butter // splash of dry white wine // 60 grams of risotto rice // 350 ml of vegetable broth // olive oil // thyme (dried) // salt & pepper // 30 grams of grated parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees. Wash the pumpkin and take out the seeds. Leave the skin on. Cut into 2 cm cubes. Put them on a tray with lining paper. Sprinkle olive oil on the cubes and season with some salt, pepper and the dried thyme (about two teaspoons). Put in the oven for about 30 minutes, until completely soft.

Heat the butter in a heavy-bottom pan. Cut the onion in pieces (not too small) and cook them in the butter for 5 minutes. Add the rice and mix it all together. Add the white wine and let it evaporate. When it's dry again you can add the vegetable broth little by little. Wait for all the liquid to be absorbed by the rice before you add the next bit. It should take about 20 to 25 minutes before you are out of vegetable broth. Keep stirring every now and then. Taste if your rice is cooked. If not, add a little boiled water and take a few extra minutes.

When the rice is cooked, you can add the parmesan cheese and 2/3 of the pumpkin. Mix together. Put it on a plate and place the rest of the pumpkin on top.