Pumpkin Risotto with Sage and Parmesan

At a certain moment while preparing this dish I thought: this isn't a five star-recipe, it's four stars at most - too many vague or misleading instructions. The squash wasn't roasted but cooked and thus soft, it didn't say anything about how the squash should be added (chunks of 5 cm? Cut into smaller cubes?), and 100g of parmesan really would have been too much - but in the end I was really addicted to it! I'm normally not such a fan of a risotto, partly because often it's just not well done, but also because I don't want to have only mush for dinner. Well, this one really was the exception.

And it wasn't really complicated to make, on the contrary, you could even prepare it for guests - just turn off the gas just before it's nearly done - with 2-3 ladles of stock to go, and the re-heat and finish off when needed. Do be careful with the liquid, our's was just a bit too dry, though I take full responsibility for that, we started re-heating it too early.

What I would recommend to do is add some extra sage to the risotto, while you begin to cook the rice - the sage on the squash won't be enough at all.

We served this with the Bacon-wrapped Pears with a Celeriac and Lamb's Lettuce Salad as a starter and Lemon Moussse as dessert - a wonderful seasonal and easy to prepare menu, although the season just didn't behave accordingly.