Three dinners

If your working life is regular and your domestic arrangements are pleasingly simple, then you probably don't often find yourself wondering "How many children will I be feeding, tonight?"

The answer, this evening, was five. Dan and Abi had decided they would be happy with fish and chips - although Abi wanted fish fingers - but the big girls had thrown me a complete curveball and asked for butternut squash risotto, which I haven't made for years.

And then I needed to feed myself, risotto being a bit carby for my tastes.

The layout of the cottage - the kitchen opens into the living room - means that spending so long cooking is actually quite enjoyable; I still felt part of what was going on and the children drifted in and out to check on my progress. The first sitting, the fish and chips, went well, but there was some grumbling about the time it took to prepare the risotto.

Here are the chunks of butternut squash, roasted in oil with some roughly cut sage, shortly before they were introduced to the rice, at which point they surrendered their shape to form a gorgeous, gloopy mass.

I'm pleased to say that there were subsequent thumbs up from the diners.