Say hello to Tedi the cheeky pumpkin + a recipe for pumpkin risotto with pancetta and pistachios.

My boyfriend and I are celebrating Halloween with pumpkin food again this year, but this time it feels like an extra special well deserved rest from all the home renovation. We’re nowhere close to done yet, but it’s coming along nicely, so all the planning seems to have paid off.

We also found the time to enjoy a Halloween-themed board game night with friends on Friday, as Halloween celebrations seem to be on the rise in Slovenia (I already wrote about how we have a different holiday on the 31st here). I didn’t have time to bake anything then, so I decided to make our actual Halloween meal a bit more decadent. Obviously, there’s a recipe for you too:

Pumpkin risotto with pancetta and pistachios recipe

Ingredients (for 2 people):

• 1 small Hokkaido pumpkin
• 1 cup three grain mix (rice, spelt and barley) or any other kind of rice
• 1/2 cup roasted, shelled pistachios
• 50 g thinly sliced pancetta
• 1 small yellow onion
• 4 garlic cloves
• 0.5 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• salt and black pepper

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Instructions:

Core and chop the pumpkin into small pieces (if you’re using Hokkaido pumpkin, the skin is also edible), peel and chop the onion and garlic cloves and cut the pancetta into small bits. Put the pancetta, onion and garlic in a large pot with butter and roast everything together until the pancetta fat dissolves. Add pumpkin and salt and roast for at least 5 more minutes. Stir often and add a bit of water if it sticks and starts to burn.

When the pumpkin is tender, add rice and nutmeg and roast some more. Add about 1 cup of water, then let it slowly boil away and add water by cups as needed until the rice is fully cooked. When it’s done, stir in the pistachios and serve with freshly grated black pepper and some more pistachios sprinkled on top. Enjoy!

What do you think about this pumpkin risotto recipe? I thought it deserved to be called decadent. 🙂

We also had roasted chestnuts and played the Witcher 3 game on computer, because we haven’t managed to finish it yet. By the way, the Witcher season 2 is coming out in December I think, who else is watching?

Happy Halloween!