I’m starting to get some order into the freezer. I can actually see the back of the top shelf! I found some leftover leftover roast lamb soup lurking in there. That’s a fabulous recipe from Nourishing Traditions. One of those dishes that isn’t massive on flavour but extreme on hearty. Anyway, it was an odd amount of soup, too much for a single serve, maybe a double serve, certainly not enough for the four of us. Today being Friday which is both swimming and cleaning day, I was determined to find something low effort. Cooking on Friday’s isn’t really my thing.

This makes an unbelievably hearty risotto. Slightly wetter than a traditional risotto because of the way it is cooked. Let it stand for 10 minutes before serving.

1 1/2 cups diced pumpkin (minimum, you could use up to three cups)
2 1/2 – 3 cups leftover, leftover leg of lamb soup (you could substitute this with diced leftover lamb, you would get a much smaller serving as the soup is already chock full of rice)
1 cup arborio rice
2 cups stock ( I used beef stock from Nourishing Traditions)
1/2 cup white wine (I used Chinese cooking wine because I had no white left)
45g butter, chopped
grated parmesan to taste
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
seasonings to taste

Preheat to oven to 200 degrees and bake the pumpkin until it’s nice and crispy around the edges. This stage isn’t critical but I think it adds a divine flavour.

To cook risotto in the thermomix:

Saute rice and wine for 2 minutes at 100 degrees on reverse speed 1.

Add soup, pumpkin and stock and cook for 16 – 17 minutes at 100 degrees on reverse speed 1.

Pour into a dish, stir in cheese, parsley and seasonings to serve.

To cook risotto in the oven:

Place pumpkin, soup, wine and rice into a large ovenproof dish. Stir in stock. Top with butter. Cover dish tightly with a lid or foil.

Bake in a moderate (180) oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until rice (and pumpkin if you didn’t pre-bake) is tender.

Stir in cheese, parsley and seasonings to serve.