I had a friend coming over for dinner tonight, I needed a quick menu for a fabulous dinner.

Well, I have been looking at my pumpkin who survived on the corner of my kitchen table since Thanksgiving. Tonight it was its night to shine and I made a great pumpkin soup.

I took of all the seeds out and drizzled it with olive oil, salt and pepper. And put in the oven to roast for about 1 hour, or until the flesh is fork tender.

In a pot I start sweating an onion with some fresh thyme and rosemary, a clove of garlic once the oil is infused with the aromas, I take the thyme and rosemary out and added the flesh of my pumpkin. Add about a cup of Turkey stock I had made after Thanksgiving, but chicken stock or veggie stock perfect too! Don’t mind my recipe, as you probably have notice, I like to use up everything I have in my kitchen. That’s how I save a couple bucks here and there. The pumpkin soup didn’t cost me anything as I had every ingredients already!

Then take your blender and blend your soup, I always sieve  it to give it a smooth texture. And then season to taste. I served it with a little drizzle of garlic and rosemary infused oil and minced parsley to garnish. Voila!

Rinse the pumpkin seeds and sprinkle them with salt, put them in the oven at 350F until nice and crunchy (about 20 min.). This is a perfectly healthy snack.

For the main course, I needed:

4 lamb chops $8

4 Brussels sprout $1.07

A handful of black trumpet $1.75

Heavy cream $3.39

2 slice of bacon $.49

Marinate the well seasoned lamb chops in olive oil, garlic and herbs. Let the meat take in the flavors a hour or so before if you can.

In the mean time, cut your bacon is small dice, and cook it in the pan until nice and crisp, sit aside over a paper towel to absorb the extra fat.

Clean your Brussels sprouts and shave them finely with a mandolin. I find this to make the cooking time just seconds and I think it looks so much better on a plate. The sprout would be the last thing to cook as they literally take seconds and I use the pan I crisp the bacon in, keep the fat of the bacon, sauté a thinly sliced shallot and throw in the shaved sprouts. I give them a couple tosses and they should be done. I add at the end the bacon bits kept aside.

For the risotto: I sweat a shallot in a bit of butter and oil, add a clove of garlic finely minced. Add the Arborio rice (I use Beretta, it’s my favorite), let the rice coat itself in the fat until grain becomes almost translucent. I add a cup of Proseco because i had some leftover in the fridge but any white wine will do. I let the alcohol evaporate and then add your stock. depending on the seasoning of your stock add more seasoning. Once the rice is almost cooked I usually add a 1/4 cup of heavy cream to give it some creaminess.

I sautéed the mushroom on the side and add them to the rice 5 minutes before the rice is done.

The lamb chops were just seared in a cast-iron pan. A minute on each side should be more than enough. Let the meat rest while you plate the risotto.

I could have spent more time by making the plate more restaurant like presentable by using a cookie cutter like ring and fill it up with the risotto. But my guest was a very good friend who appreciated the rustic look of the plate.

Bon Appétit!