Pumpkin and Apple Strudel

In autumn the sun apparently wants to remind us that we live in the country with the highest concentration of Unesco sites worldwide. WIth its golden nuances the sun lights angles that we almost forgot, a monumen, a 'palazzo', a frieze or a decoration that we never noticed. Sunrays warm the heart and the body from winter coldish that apparently wants to lean out with thunder rains, sudden fogs and the gradual cooling. If it's not yet the time for huge cups of hot chocolate around the fireplace, it's true that we can start appreciating some cake with autumn flavours. Then we start experimenting with season's ingredients, possibly 0miles.

Puff pastry

Apples

Baked Pumpkin

Cinnamon

Liquorice

Cloves

Nutmeg

Red wine (Chianti or similar)

Extra virgin olive oil

Butter

Refined sugar

Honey

Warm butter and oil with spices, add the peeled apples chopped in cubes and the mashed pumkin pulp (see  the pancake of baked pumpkin), raise the flame and add red wine, evaporate the alcohool. Spread out the puff pastry dough in a baking tray covered with parchment paper, add the apple, pumpkin, spices, close the dough as for the strudel and bake in a warm oven (200°C/400°F) till cooked, approx. 30'.

©2010.2020

Pumpkin Broth

A rainy day in Italy can eventually block a city, and if you get the not that lucky chance to walk on the slushy slurry, with festively happy horns, enraged commuters, dismayed tourists and you can still savour the wonder of wet spuce leafs scent, well that means that you are on the right way for zen enlightment. If you are a normal person who, going back home wants simply to savour a good cup of hot soup that with its brilliance evocate a bit of joy, the pumpin broth is perfect for the season.

Pumpkin (2 slices approx.)

Garlic (very little)

Onion (very little)

Extra virgin olive oil (Sabino Nomentano or another as delicate)

Rosemary salt

Freshly picked provinciali herbs (thyme, rosemary, laurus, etc.)

Juniper,

Chilli

Water

(Milk)

Cook the pumking as in the pumpkin with provinciali herbs do not sprinkle with wine, but add abundant water and cook at medium heat for at least one hour or till the pumpkin is soft and the broth shrinked (it doesn't become dense). When it's almost cooked add milk to 'velvet' the soup. Add pasta, cereals, or thick slices of toasted Italian bread, or friselle, miso, tofu or mature cheeses.

©2010.2020

Pancake of Baked Pumpkin

That's the very same feeling of Christmas time, wheter you are a Christian or not, you are going to end up or bump in a traditional market. It's about the pleasure of the ritual that goes well beyond the religious meaning of the holiday: during those weeks of the year cooking pumpkins has exactly that ritual flavour, goes beyond the religious, commercial or secular feasts. That deep orange gives a feeling of happiness, just like if one could savour the colours of autums. Then let's cook some recipes with eggs, as for instance, a pancake of baked pumpkin.

Slices of pumpkin

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt

Eggs

Slice the pumpkin and bake it in a warm oven (200°C/400°F) on  parchment paper for the time needed, depending on freshness, kind of pumpkin, etc., you can understand it using a fork.  When cooked, peel it with the spoon, mash the pulp, warm the oil in the pan, add the mashed pumkin and  the scrambled eggs, cover and cook at a not high heat.

 

©2010.2020

Pumpkin and Gram flour

Pumpkin can be cooked in many ways, to create a completely different dish sometimes it's necessary only to add an ingredient, in a recipe that seems, in its simplicity, to be able to get the American ispired and the Arab cultures talking in a long distance dialogue. 

Pumpkin (2 slices approx.)
Gram flour (approx. 3 spoons)

Garlic (very little)

Onion (very little)

Extra virgin olive oil (Sabino-Nomentano or another as delicate)
Rosemary Salt
Freshly picked spices 'provinciali' (thyme, sage, rosemary, laurus, etc.)
White wine from the province of Rome or similar (approx. one glass)
Juniper
Chilli
Vegetable broth (approx. 2 dippers)

Same recipe as for the pumpkin with provincial herbs, chopping the pumpking in small cubes instead of medium-big cubes. When cooked and there's still a bit of sauce, mash to obtain a cream and add gram flour as needed, mix with a wooden spoon adding a dipper or two of vegetable stock, cook for some minutes to create a dense  but not stiff cream. Perfect as side dish or for pasta.

©2010.2020

Pumpkin with Provinciali Herbs * Basic Recipe

All Saint's Day, All Soul's Day, or Halloween. Whether you are inspired by the Catholic or American tradition, this time of the year is Pumpkin time. There are many cultivars, any of them with its peculiarity and characteristic. When buying a whole typical big-thick-skinned-pumpkin, one can decide to use it in dribs and drabs or to free the imagination and experiment special recipes, mixing ingredients and flavours from diverse regional Italian, Mediterranean, European and obviously American cuisines.

Pumpkin (2 slices approx.)

Garlic (very little)

Onion (very little)

Extra virgin olive oil (Sabino-Nomentano or another as delicate)
Rosemary Salt
Freshly picked spices 'provinciali' (thyme, sage, rosemary, laurus, etc.)
White wine from the province of Rome or similar
Juniper
Chilli

Warm at medium heat onion, garlic and chilli very finely chopped and the herbs provinciali roughly minced in the oil. Add the pumpkin peeled and roughly chopped in cubes, salt, cook for some minutes, raise the flame and sprinkle with the white wine, approximately one glass or as needed, evaporate the alcohool, cover and cook at a low heat to soften the pumpkin. Serve with not too ripe cheese, tofu seasoned with herbs provinciali and balsamic winegar or for a pasta.

©2010.2020

High-proteine quiche with aubergines

Once found the ready-to-cook  lard-free puff pastry, there are very well known in commerce, with quiche and 'pizza rustica' it's possible to free the imagination, transforming a traditional recipe in a all-in-one high-proteine and tasty course. Every season has its typical vegetables and using fruit and using in season fruits and vegetables is always the best choice both for the nutritives and for the flavour. One of the ingredients that evokes summer to my mind is the eggplant, probably because it is the base of many cuisines of Mare Nostrum. This is a  recipe for a high-protein quiche with this vegetable that recalls with its sweetness the Mediterranean weather.

 

Ready to cook puff pastry

Tofu, one box

One egg

Seitan

Field mushrooms

Mozzarella

Eggplants/Aubergines

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt

Onion

Carrots

Rosemary salt

Chilli

Rosemary

Potatoes

Oregano

Shoyu

Wash and chop the aubergines in cubes, warm the extra virgin olive oil in a pan with a bit of finely minced onion and a little chilli add the eggplants and Sicilian (or other Southern Italian) oregano, cook on middle heat and stir with a wooden spoon. On a side boil carrots in salty water with rosemary salt, or steam. Peel the potatoes and julienne them with the grater, squeeze the water out, salt and pan cook in warm oil with freshly picked rosemary for a few minutes. Clean the mushrooms, slice or roughly chop them. In a bowl mince tofu andd mozzarella, add the shoyu, the chopped seitan and while cooking, the potatoes, the carrots and the aubergines. To cream use an egg. Spread the puff pastry out in a rounded baking tray, pour the mix on the base, close the lateral edge and bake in the warm oven (220°C/400°F) for about 30'.

 

© 2007.2021

Quiche with tofu, seitan and oregano

Quiche, the French version of the Italian 'torta rustica', is a all-in-one course that gives the opportunity to combine a number of ingredients, there are  many variations and the result is always surprising. Quite easy to prepare, requires basic attentions to, for instance, the choice of the puff pastry.  Some ready to cook puff pastries in the refrigerator case or in the frozen food section have lard or other meat and fish based fats, so read the ingredients.

Ready to cook puff pastry

Tofu, one box

One egg

Seitan

Field mushrooms

Mozzarella

In oil aubergines/eggplants

Oregano

Shoyu

Spread out the puff pastry in a rounded baking pan, after eventually defreezing in case of frozen puff pastry. Clean the mushrooms and slice or roughly chop, mince the tofu in a bowl, add the shoyu and the minced mozzarella, chop some in oil aubergine and add  the egg to the mix to cream, and the Sicilian (or other Southern Italian) oregano, Pour in the puff pastry, close the edges and bake in the warm oven (220°C/400°F) for about 30'.

© 2007.2021