What to do with pumpkin #2

Ever heard of potato or orange guns? Check this out!!

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Pumpkin Risotto

I know it's a bit early yet, but i am going to start putting up pumpkin recipes.. After all, if these babies grow to 300kg, that's a lot of pumpkin!!!

First cab off the rank is pumpkin risotto (We had it for tea tonight)

1 Butternut pumpkin
2 cups arborio rice
Mushrooms
Bacon
Boiling hot chicken stock
White wine
Cheese (parmesan and cheddar)

Peel and chop up the pumpkin and boil it for about 15 minutes.

Melt a good knob of butter in a heavy based saucepan, add the arborio rice and cook it in the butter for about 5 minutes until it goes translucent and "nutty". Add a good glass of white wine. When all the wine is absorbed, start adding cups of hot chicken stock, stirring constantly, until it wont absorb any more moisture.

In a seperate saucepan, fry the bacon with the mushrooms. (do all the above at the same time as it makes a bigger mess in the kitchen. Looks like total chaos, but trust me, it all comes together)

When the pumpkin is cooked, put it in a blender with some of the water.

When the risotto is cooked, take it off the stove, add 2/3 off the pumpkin puree (we keep the rest for Finn food), the bacons and mushrooms and handfuls of grated cheese Yummo, the kids love it, and don't be put off thinking it takes forever, i had it on the table in a little over 20 minutes! Served wth snow peas (that the mouse didnt get)

Late Starters

Some people received their seeds a couple of weeks after the first mailing went out. So as not to disdavantage these people too much, we have decided to have a handicap system. We will weigh our pumpkin two weeks before the weigh in date and add the weight gained over the last two weeks on to the weight of those who received their seeds late.