Pumpkin Risotto... the easy way

So lately when I cook, I want something savoury and PRETTY!! I want it to be a feast for my eyes as well as my tummy. And pumpkin/squash is just such a beautiful vegetable. So I went online searching for pumpkin recipes that wouldn't require pureed pumpkin or things that I couldn't get here in Turkey and this is what I came up with:

The recipe called for some things I didn't have or couldn't get so I modified it and made it my own recipe. For this you need:
Pumpkin, 2 cups of rice (I combined rice and bulghur wheat for a different texture), 5 cups of chicken stock, 2 sprigs of fresh dill, 2 cloves of garlic or some garlic powder, 1 or 2 red peppers, 1 purple onion, a small bunch of fresh basil, 1 or 2 sprigs of oregano, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 3 or 4 pats of butter.



In a pyrex dish (a fairly large one), pour your oil, hot chicken stock and rice. Stir them around a little... like the murkey picture above. Don't rinse the rice first, the starchiness is required to make a more sticky and risotto like rice.



Chop up all your veggies and spices and toss them into the pyrex. Add a little salt and pepper if you like, stir, cover tightly with foil and pop into your oven at about 375 F and cook. Check it occasionally to stir it and once it is near to being done, put the butter on and let it cook down a little more. I let my cook a little too far so it was dryer than a risotto should be, so be careful to let there be some liquid still in it...



Happy Eating... it's a delicious savoury dish!