Smashing Pumpkins: Creamy, Cheesy Mashed Pumpkin

How can something so simple be so tasty? This creamy, cheesy mashed pumpkin is a side dish that you may bypass the main for! This is one of the tastiest, simplest ways to enjoy roasted pumpkin mash. And if you love pumpkin, this is a pushy recipe!

I don't know why it has taken me this long to make pumpkin mash but can I just say that it is exponentially easier and less effort to make than potato mash. You let the oven do all the work. All you do is caramelise a whole pumpkin (no cutting! Protect those precious fingers). Then remove the seeds from the centre and the skin peels away easily and it's pretty much mashed in texture and soft as cotton.

All it needs now is a little help from garlic, cheese and cream and it's such a wonderful side that I am now going to be making this throughout winter on rotation. Because I'm never leaving the house it's so cold and there are good things on tv. In case you're burrowing in like me over Winter and need some tv recommendations, I have some for you:

So you know how things go viral? First they flood your social media feeds-in Fleabag's case it was my twitter feed. And then your friends ask you about it. Nina asked me if I had seen Fleabag as she wasn't sure if she liked it or not and wanted to know what I thought. Well I loved Fleabag within the first 5 minutes. It's a comedy drama created, written by and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Fleabag is the name of her character and she's flawed and at the same time all of us in parts. It's also a bit hard to describe but I love that she breaks the fourth wall and talks to the camera. I rarely ever laugh out loud at tv shows or movies but this show gives me the biggest throaty, belly laughs.

I have an almost pathological hatred of rom coms. I know, who hates rom coms? I do! But I love comedian Ali Wong and Always Be My Maybe was an easy watch. Okay, sure I still screamed at the tv that things were unrealistic but it's less unrealistic than most romcoms. And I watched it while I was on the treadmill so time passed quickly!

Confession: I love watching shows about sport, especially extreme sport. We recently watched a documentary called "The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young" about the famous ultramarathon held annually in the Frozen Head State Park of Tennessee. It is so difficult that since 1986 it has only been completed 18 times by 15 runners. Some years nobody finishes at all! The documentary isn't perfect, it needs to delve more into back stories of the competitors but they do go into the quirky nature of the run and the people that started it and it is gripping and crazy.

And Killing Eve is back. Need I say more?

So tell me Dear Reader, what are you watching? And have you watched any of these shows and what have you thought of them?

Creamy, Cheese Pumpkin Mash

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 5 minutes

• 2 cups roasted pumpkin*
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 100g feta, crumbled (I use Danish)
• 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup cream
• Salt and black pepper for seasoning
• 3 tablespoons chives, chopped

To make roasted pumpkin, pierce two holes with a sharp knife in a whole pumpkin (or a pumpkin segment) and roast for 45 minutes at 180C/350F or until soft and tender. I usually do this and then portion it out for cakes, breads and dishes like this.

Step 1 - Heat oil in a medium sized saucepan and fry garlic on medium high heat for 30 seconds or so. Add pumpkin, feta, parmesan and cream and heat until cooked through and the cheese has melted (the feta won't melt and you'll get some lumps of feta throughout it). Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with chives.