cold days mean that good hearty food is needed. i had a pumpkin left over from blip 365 so that could only mean one thing...

mmmmmmmmm, vegetable risotto. my favourite rice dish by a mile. i cooked enough for today, lunch tomorrow and tomorrow night.
there are different kinds of risotto rice, arborio and carnaroli. i used arborio as i prefer the texture and its usually more readily available in more shops in the UK. it has a light, creamy texture too.
ingredients:
500 grammes of Arborio rice
2 large onions, chopped small
2 fat cloves of garlic
1 red pepper
half a medium pumpkin, cubed small
mushrooms ? lots of mushrooms
broccoli
peas
Parmesan Cheese
3 pints of vegetable stock

chop up the onion, and sauté it with the garlic, add in chopped pepper, pumpkin and mushrooms and sauté for a couple of minutes. everything should be soft but not brown.
add in the rice, along with pepper and salt. continue to sauté for five minutes and then add in the first of the vegetable stock and the peas and cook slowly on a low heat.
add more stock as it is soaked up by the rice. about half an hour but real gauge is when the stock has reduced away.
you can use pretty much whatever vegetables you like (chicken too), so you can try it out with your favourites. a cheap and cheerful addition is to add in a tin of chopped tomatoes just before you put in your vegetable stock (use slightly less stock to compensate) or drain off a tin of baked beans and add them in. you can even use a tin of vegetable soup along with some stock for a richer taste. traditional italian recipes would add in parmesan cheese (i may have overdone the parmesan!), which is great for taste, but if you fancy adding a little of your favourite cheese at this point and mixing it through for a creamier taste, i think that works really well. once the cheese has been melted and stirred through you're ready to serve. sprinkle a bit of parmesan on the top and Hey Presto!, a fine risotto.

it was demolished in no time.