What a delicious weekend! It was lovely. We mooched, shopped, cooked, had a little tidy up inside and spent time outside. The weather was unseasonably warm and for three days straight it was like being transported back to July. What a gift.

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter you’ll know that on Friday night I ended up hanging out in the bathroom on the floor as there was a spider as a big as a mouse in my living room. Well it turns out it was a mouse but that didn’t make me feel any better as I was still up there for a good forty five minutes before Robert came in with the curry to rescue me. Then, when I thought it was over, I walked in to my bedroom to find a spider as big as a mouse in my shower tray.

I know I need to get used to them and I will but on Friday night the babies were in bed, I was relaxing after a busy week and out of the corner of my eye I saw it running along the skirting board. I like to think I was simply caught off guard and in actual fact I’m a lot braver than that.

Yeah right!

Hanging out in the bathroom floor with your leg hooked over the bath is not cool, never has been cool and probably never will be. *sigh*

On Saturday night, after a disastrous shopping trip during the day, you know the sort, you’re all ready to get something really special and there seems to be nothing of interest in a thousand and one shops, Robert and I came home with the twins and rustled up a new recipe.

So today, for your viewing/reading/tasting pleasure I have my delicious, scrumptious and thoroughly appropriate Pumpkin, Pancetta & Sage Risotto.

For this recipe you will need -

• 200g of risotto rice
• 150g of pumpkin flesh – diced
• 60g pancetta – diced
• 1 pint of vegetable stock
• 1 yellow onion – diced
• 6 sage leaves
• Black pepper
• Ricotta
• Olive oil

If you use different weights and measurements then please click here for my conversion chart to help you.

To make this risotto you will need to -

• Cut open the pumpkin and remove the flesh.
• Take the seeds and stringy bits out, leaving pure pumpkin flesh, dice and set to one side
• Peel and dice the onion – set to one side with the pumpkin
• Gently heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a pan
• Add the pumpkin, onion and pancetta and sauté gently
• Add the risotto rice to the pan and continue to sauté on a gentle heat until the rice becomes transparent in places
• Add half of the stock and stir, allowing to simmer gently, cooking all of the ingredients
• When it seems as if the stock has evaporated add some more and continue to do so until all of the stock has been used or the rice is cooked
• If you need to add more liquid then do so but add water not more stock or the dish will be far too salty
• Stir the ingredients in the pan often, do not allow them to stick to the bottom, you want to keep them moving.
• You’ll notice as you cook this dish that it becomes creamy. This is the pumpkin cooking down and this is why it goes so well in risotto. It saves you having to add Parmesan at the end which keeps it all a bit more healthy
• Just before the  rice is cooked take another pan and add some olive oil to it
• When the oil is hot but not burning add the sage leaves and fry them for just a few moments until they become crispy but not burnt
• Take them out of the oil and blot them in some kitchen paper to remove excess oil
• Crumble the sage leaves in to the risotto pan saving two leaves for the top of the dish (as pictured)
• When the rice is cooked, the dish is creamy and the ingredients have softened and released the flavor add freshly ground black pepper to taste and stir in
• Serve on to two plates, adding a blob ricotta to the top of the rice and placing a sage leaf on top of the ricotta
• Like a type of hat

Robert and I ate this in front of the television on Saturday night. The lights were low and the sky was dark outside. But the best thing, apart from this delicious risotto, was that we still had Sunday to come!

So we ate heartily and went to bed.

Well I went to bed because I’m a lightweight and still hadn’t gotten over the spider as big as a mouse incident, delicate little flower that I am *guffaw*

But I also went to bed early because I wanted to get up early. Sunday promised to be another glorious day of sunshine in West Sussex and autumnal sunshine is one of my favourite sorts.

The berries are out on the tress and the leaves are starting to turn one by one. The light is magical and being outside and feeling the sun on our faces again was a gift.

I was running about with a huge grin all day that was made even wider by the posy of roses I cut from the garden. They are currently in two vases in the kitchen but I think they should be upstairs by the bed. The garden is still doing really well in this weather but today marks the day that we are starting to put it all away for the Winter. Things like the gazebo in the middle of the paddock have to come inside as it’ll ruin if left out. But you know how it goes, before you know it we’ll be here together discussing how the gazebo is being dragged out of the garage for another season in the sun.
YES!!!!!

The weekend was full and busy and seemed long. It had cuddles and giggles and naps and dirty nappies that came up so far it landed on ears (don’t ask me how that happened, it gets everywhere).

But the week has to start sometime so it may as well start now and already I’ve got a good feeling about the next seven days.

So let me pass that feeling through my screen and may it land in your lap wherever you may be.

Pick it up and carry it with you.

Let this week’s adventures begin.

I love you,
Cherry x

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Cherry Menlove

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2. My ‘Huge Amounts’ of Black Pepper Risotto and Tales from a Very Hot Kitchen!

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