Divina Cucina

Your Best Friend in Italy

I love Pumpkin!

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Pumpkins are so fall!

Not only do you have left-overs from halloween,but the hills are also covered in various shades of gold, rust and green which are all pumpkin inspired.
I adore pumpkin in soup, risotto and gnocchi.

Try pumpkin gnocchi served with traditional balsamic vinegar and shaved parmesan cheese! The lovely elixir like qualities of traditional balsamic are a great contrast to the grilled pumpkin slices too. Thanks Andrea, for reminding me!

A Fall palate in the hills

 

 

in the market

 

on the table

 

 

Here is my soup, based on Fabio Picchi’s yellow bell pepper soup, using pumpkin instead of the peppers. I follow Fabio’s lead in garnishing with parmesan cheese, crushed amaretto cookiesand a lovely drizzle of traditional balsamic vinegar, which is worth every penny.

zuppa di zucca gialla

 

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Cibrèo's Soup ( Yellow bell pepper or Pumpkin)

Ingredients

  • 4 yellow Bell Peppers, cut into small cubes ( or 1 lb. peeled, cubed pumpkin)
  • 3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, cut into large cubes
  • 1 medium carrot
  • 1 stalk celery
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 12 croutons of fried bread (for garnish)
  • 4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

  1. Finely chop the carrot, onion, and celery into a tiny dice. Sauté slowly in olive oil until the vegetables begin to turn golden.
  2. Wash the bell peppers, remove the seeds and any white veins on the inside. (If using pumpkin, peel and cut into large cubes.)
  3. Cut into into small cubes and place in the pot to cook with the potatoes.
  4. Add the broth, and if necessary, water to cover.
  5. Cook for 45 minutes and then purée.
  6. In Italy we use a food mill to remove and skin and seeds or an immersion blender to purée.
  7. If it seems to thick, add more water. If the bell peppers seem a little acidic, add 1 cup milk.
  8. Heat with a bay leave, but do not let boil.
  9. Remove the bay leaf before serving.
  10. Garnish with croutons fried in extra virgin olive oil. Put a drizzle of olive oil and the parmesan in a small pile in the center of the soup.
  11. In season, Fabio Picchi of Cibrèo does this as a pumpkin soup, garnishing the soup with crushed amaretti cookies a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and grated parmigiano.
https://divinacucina.com/2008/11/i-love-pumpkin/

Using the best ingredients is the most wonderful gift to yourself and in a cost per serving is nothing!!!
TREAT YOURSELF TO THE BEST, YOU DESERVE IT!
But the recipe that is the most requested inthis house is:

Todays lunch was the grilled pumpkin-Tuna and zolfini bean salad with radishes and chives-and stuffed cherry peppers in oil with capers and anchovy.
My friends in Palermo have started to put traditional recipes on their blog and have included the pumpkin recipe too. Stop by!

 

Comments

  3. "Diva" says

    kayln- thanks, in Italy pumpkin is considered meat for the poor. we have tons of recipes using pumpkin.

    Andrea- thanks for reminding me,
    I used to teach a class using all balsamics and did a gnocchi di zucca with balsamic and parmigiano.

    Will put that on site too!

  4. Diane says

    Judy, I love pumpkin too! Will try your recipe tomorrow with the pumpkin we have decorating the front entryway.

    I also can’t wait for your recipe to cure olives! We are spending all sunny days picking picking picking. Last week in 4.5 days we picked enough to make over 150 liters of extra-virgin. Good stuff!

    What a bumper crop we have this year…especially when compared to last year when one whole field wasn’t even worth harvesting there were so few.

  6. Andrea Bezzecchi says

    And you remind me a “soup” of pumpkin (like a cream, to eat with spoon) with Parmigiano Reggiano, crushed amaretti and some drops of Balsamico on top … mmmhh, delicious!

  9. janie says

    Inspired by your post I decided to roast some pumpkin only to find that here once Halloween is over it is almost impossible to find a pumpkin! I’m hoping that the farmers market tomorrow might have some for sale.

  10. "Diva" says

    Janie- usually can find a butternut squash someone in a market. I just made pumpkin soup and pan roasted pumpkin to make gnocchi for tomorrow!