Pumpkin Risotto

For all of my supermarket bashing, I really should cut at least one of them some slack.  Z has the pleasure of working for one of the big four in Space Planning, which means that the supermarket in question gives us the money to spend on food.  In an attempt to keep money flowing around the country I try not to give it back to her employers.  I know we also get staff discounts but we need to drive past three other supermarkets to get to our nearest store.  It's not worth the petrol.

The other advantage of Z working for a Leeds based supermarket, other than keeping a roof over our heads, are the occasional samples from a producer who is about to get their stock on the shelves, or launch a new range.  Tonight's meal comes courtesy of one of these product test events.

If you have learned one thing about me since I started writing this blog, I hope it is the fact that I love risotto.  I love risotto so much that I have stopped ordering it it restaurants.  The quality can vary from awful to alright and seldom gets close to perfect so to avoid dissapointment I just stopped.  With this in mind I was dubious about trying the packet of dried risotto that Z brought home.  In the spirit of hating food waste and trying to save some time at night we decided to give the risotto a go this evening.

My doubts about the packet were strengthened when I read the cooking instructions "simmer for five minutes from boiling and serve."  No risotto should take so little time to cook.  It was clear why when we both took our first fork full.  Rather than arborio rice it seamed to be made of small grains of pudding rice, which even after only five minutes were overcooked and pulpy.  There was no real flavour to the dish either, if I had ordered this in a restaurant I would have sent it back.

We had had a feeling that the meal was going to be disappointing so we roasted some butternut squash and made some garlic bread to eat alongside the risotto and it was a good job we did.  I have now resolved to make a proper pumpkin risotto in the not too distant future.