With the temperature seriously dropping all my body craves is comforting, soul warming food. In all honestly the idea of a salad for dinner really doesn’t appeal me anymore! I am sure when eventually the temperatures will raise again I will start to fancy more raw food but for the moment I have got to be clever and trying to still get lots of green goodness into my daily routine. This recipe is actually a very good example, even if you don’t like kale I promise you, you will love this dish! The kale is kind of in disguise with the fragrant basil, crunchy hazelnut and sweet pumpkin, it’s still there giving you all his green super power but the flavour is subtle, perfect for kale first timer!;)

Make 2 large bowls

Ingredients:

1 small pumpkin of your choice

for the risotto:

3/4 of a cup of millet

3/4 of a cup of quinoa

2 cups of vegetable stock

1 small onion

3 cloves of garlic

salt and pepper to taste

for the pesto:

1 cup of chopped kale

1 bunch of basil

1/2 cup of hazelnuts

the juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 clove of garlic

1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil

1 flat tablespoon of nutritional yeast

salt and pepper to taste

to decorate:

mixed seeds ( pumpkin seeds,sesame seeds etc…)

Start by roasting the pumpkin. Heat the oven at 180.

Wash the pumpkin, cut it in half, with a spoon remove all the seeds and slice it length way. Put the slices onto a try with a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper. With your hands rub the seasoning  into the pumpkin slices. Roast for at  least 20 minutes until soft.

To make the risotto: chop as finely as possible the onion and the garlic. In a saucepan heat a tablespoon of olive oil and start gently frying the onion and the garlic. In a colander rinse the millet and quinoa. Once the onion is translucent add the grains into the pan together with the vegetable stock. Cook the risotto on a low heat stirring from time to time until all the liquid has been absorbed and the quinoa and millet are tender.

While the risotto is cooking make the pesto: in a food processor put the kale, hazelnuts, basil, nutritional yeast, lemon juice olive oil, salt and pepper and the garlic. Pulse for a couple of minutes until the pesto has a creamy consistency, if you feel is still too thick you can add gradually a bit of water.

Once the risotto is cooked fold in the pesto and add some pumpkin seeds if you want an extra crunch. Serve the kale pesto risotto with the slices of pumpkin on top, a drizzle of olive oil and mixed seeds to decorate.