This recipe is by Neven Maguire who says the flesh of pumpkin has so much flavour but is underused. This recipe will ensure nothing will go to waste this Halloween night.

“Risotto is a great comfort food” says Neven, “and you can put anything into it; for example, prawns or leftover roast chicken or roast vegetables. And remember the golden rule: a risotto boiled is a risotto spoiled.”

Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients

1 tbsp sunflower oil

4 chicken thighs

1 pint chicken stock

40g/1.5oz butter

4oz/100g pumpkin, peeled and diced

1 small onion, diced

1 tbsp mascarpone cheese

4 carrots, peeled and diced

2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated

1 baby leek, diced

2 tbsp parsley, roughly chopped

Sunflower oil for deep frying

Handful sage leaves

Crusty bread to serve

300g/110z Arborio Rice

Salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 170ºC (325ºF/Gas Mark 3). Heat the oil in an oven-proof frying pan and fry the chicken thighs, skin-side down, for four minutes, until crisp and golden. Place in the oven for 15 minutes, until cooked through.

Leave to cool and then dice the meat.

Melt the butter in a large pan and sweat the onion, pumpkin, carrot and leek for four to five minutes, without changing colour. Add the rice and sauté for a minute more.

Gradually add the stock a ladle-full at a time, once the previous has been absorbed, until the rice has cooked. This will take about 20 minutes.

Finally, add the mascarpone and Parmesan cheeses and the parsley, then season to taste.

Stir in the cooked chicken.

Heat about an inch of sunflower oil for frying in a deep pan and quickly fry the sage leaves for a couple of seconds, until crisp.

Remove and drain well on kitchen paper.

To Serve: Serve the risotto in a large bowl, garnished with the crisp sage leaves and with some crusty bread.