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Posts Tagged ‘pumpkin’

Pumpkin Lasagna…and turning vegetarian

Posted in Bake, Cook, tagged , , , , , , , on June 13, 2011| 48 Comments »

Pumpkin and Ricotta Lasagna

Pumpkin and Ricotta Lasagna

I had a friend who was visiting for a few days and I found out that she had stopped eating meat since the last time I saw her.  On a whim, I told her that I too would give up meat.   If you read my blog, you’ll notice that I’ve always loved cooking/eating meat and there are a considerable number of recipes penned here.  So while the decision to do this was initially born out of curiosity to see if I could last a few days, I knew lasting more than a week wasn’t going to be easy.  I don’t know how long this will last – a few more weeks?  Months perhaps?  Forever?  I’m not really sure but for the meantime, I’m starting to enjoy the challenge of making tasty and meatless dinners.

This is one of those meatless dishes that I could happily eat everyday.  Think layers of creamy pumpkin puree and ricotta in between sheets of homemade pasta – believe me – it’s enough to convert any carnivore.

A little note about the recipe – it’s very simple to put together – unless you’re like me where you want to complicate things and make your own pasta (it’s worth it though) – but if you’re pressed for time, use store bought lasagna sheets.  Also, the pumpkin puree is delicious as a side dish too.

“I’m vegetarian!” I told proudly told a  work colleague during drinks one day.

“Since when?”  he asked.

“Wait a second,” another friend interrupted.  “Didn’t you just put that pate in your mouth?”  She asked.

“Ahh… actually I still eat chicken… and sesafood.” I clarified.

Vegetarian… almost.

Pumpkin and Ricotta Lasagna

Pumpkin and Ricotta Lasagna

Pumpkin and Ricotta Lasagna with Sage, Hazelnuts and Burnt Butter Sauce

Serves 4

  • 1 kilo Pumpkin
  • 150 grams unsalted butter plus 50 grams butter
  • 1 vanilla bean, scraped
  • 400 grams ricotta
  • 1 egg
  • pinch of nutmeg
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 recipe pasta (see here)
  • 100 grams parmesan cheese
  • 10 sage leaves
  • 20 grams toasted hazelnuts
  1. To make the pumpkin puree, peel the pumpkin and diced into 2 inch cubes. Heat the 150 grams of butter in a pan and add the pumpkin once the butter is melted. Add the vanilla bean and scraped seeds and cook the pumpkin until soft enough that you can cut it with a spoon, around 20 minutes. Stir the pumpkin once in a while to make sure that the pumpkin doesn’t catch to the bottom of the pan. Once the pumpkin is soft enough, blend or process the pumpkin until smooth. Set aside.
  2. Mix the ricotta, egg and nutmeg together in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside
  3. Grease a baking pan with some olive oil and lay sheets of cooked pasta to cover the bottom of the pan. Layer a third of the pumpkin puree and top with more of the lasagna sheets.
  4. Top with a third of the ricotta mixture and the cover again with more lasagna sheets.
  5. Now add half of the remaining pumpkin puree and cover with the lasagna sheets. Add half of the remaining ricotta and again, more lasagna sheets. Finally, spread the remaining pumpkin puree and on top of this add the rest of the ricotta. Top with parmesan cheese.
  6. Bake the lasagna in a pre-heated oven at 180c (fan forced) for 30 minutes, or until the cheese is golden brown.
  7. Heat the remaining butter along in a small sauce pan until it goes nutty brown. Add the sage leaves and to crisp them up. Top with the toasted hazelnuts.
Pumpkin and Ricotta Lasagna

Pumpkin and Ricotta Lasagna

On another note, the Council of Italian Restaurants Association (CIRA) has just posted their latest class schedule for June/July/August.  If you are interested in attending any of their classes, email cira@cira.com.au or follow @italcira on twitter for more details.

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Looking Back and Moving Forward plus Easy Roast Vegetable Cake

Posted in Bake, Cook, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 2, 2011| 52 Comments »

Roast Vegetable Frittata

Roast Vegetable Cake

What a year 2010 was!  As I reflect on the year that’s just past, I can’t help but feel grateful (despite many, many stressful moments) to be where I am at this point in my life.  My top five unforgettable moments this year:

1. Hong Kong in February  for a girls only weekend.  It was the first time in ages that we had an exclusive “girls”-cursion which included my Mom, sisters and aunt.  Lots of eating, shopping and bonding.  I could tell you more about what we did but what happened in Hong Kong, stays in Hong Kong…

2. Watching the birth of my nephew James – Last July I was with my sister and her husband when my nephew James was born after more than 13 hours in labour.  In exchange? I was given the honour of cutting his umbilical cord (well, more like my brother-in-law was too queasy to do it) and being named his godmother.

3. Teaching my first macaron class – In August I taught my first macaron class at The Essential Ingredient.  I was so worried about making sure my class ran smoothly that I actually took leave off work two days before the first class to practice, practice, and practice some more!

4. Moving homes is one of the most stressful things I did this year.  Especially when the move required two trips using a ten ton truck, a month of packing, twelve hours of moving,  and three days completely devoted to unpacking (we’re still unpacking bits and pieces until today).   There were times when I wondered to myself “is it worth it?”… looking around now, I can say it was definitely worth it.  But let me tell you, I never want to move homes again!

5. Changing Jobs –  I had reached a plateau with my previous job but I was also hesitant to make the change to do something new. With the encouragement of friends and family, I finally decided it was time to move on after four years.  I am extremely excited to be working with a committed and successful team when I get back to work in the new year.

So what’s instore for 2011?

I wouldn’t even want to take a guess because had someone told me this time last year that I would do any of the following: go to Hong Kong for a bonding session, be present for my nephew’s birth, teach a macaron class, move home or change job – I would have told them that they were crazy…. and to think I did all of that in the last year alone!

So whatever happens in 2011, I say bring it on.  If 2010 is any indication – it’s going to be an exciting year!

Roast Vegetable Frittata

Roast Vegetable Cake

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The One Days and the Never Evers….Pumpkin Gnocchi

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on October 28, 2010| 43 Comments »

Pumpkin Gnocchi with Sage, Burnt Butter and Balsamic Vinegar

Pumpkin Gnocchi with Sage and Burnt Butter

There are moments in our life that stand out because we make promises to ourselves and say:

One day…

Then there are moments in our life that also stand out because we say to ourselves:

Never ever…

In 2002 I was visiting my husband in New York and we decided to have dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant with his schoolmates.  I forget the name of the restaurant but will never forget reading the menu and feeling a sense of anxiety.  For one thing, everything seemed so expensive compared what I was used to, so I decided to order a pasta dish which seemed cheaper than having a main.  My cause for distress was from wanting to order something I’d never heard of before, the Pumpkin Gnocchi.

“What the hell is gnocchi?” I thought to myself.   I realized I had an even bigger problem – how was I going to order this dish when I didn’t know how to pronounce gnocchi?  Was it Guh-noki?, Nyo-chi? I wasn’t too sure and in front of seemingly more sophisticated New Yorkers I was too embarrassed to ask the waiter what was pumpkin gnocchi and even more embarrassed to order Guh-noki (my first guess) out loud.   So when the waiter came to take my order I simply pointed at the gnocchi dish and said “I’ll have this one.”

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Change The World 9 To 5 (Fresh Pasta with Pumpkin, Pine Nuts & Goat Cheese)

Posted in Cook, tagged , , , , , on October 21, 2010| 41 Comments »

Pumpkin Pasta with Pine Nuts and Goat Cheese

Pumpkin Pasta with Pine Nuts and Goat Cheese

Let me tell you about a day in the life of Trissalicious.

I get up a little before 6 am and take my two labradors for an hour long walk. Then I go to work, where I spent a good nine or ten hours of the day. When I get home, I cook dinner, eat dinner, do house chores, pay bills, answer emails and occasionally find the time to blog. The blogging is a whole different affair altogether. There’s cooking, taking photos, writing, editing and because these things don’t come as naturally to me, even more editing. I admit, I do find it difficult to juggle everything and hardly find time for anything else.

Once on holiday I bought a book on how to be more philanthropic but sadly, after the holiday I never got past the first two chapters.

One day my husband gave me a book from one of his trips to London. The hotel he stayed in had given each guest a book called Change the World 9 to 5 and he handed me his copy. I was sceptical. I had a back log of two weeks worth of laundry, hadn’t had time to visit my favourite blogs – how was I going to find the time to “change the world”?

I’m glad though I gave the book a second chance. The book is filled with simple, practical things we can all do during the work day to make a difference. Many of these things seem very small, but do really have far reaching consequences.  Some are even fun to do:

  • Leave work on time at least once a week
  • Praise people
  • Share your lunch with someone
  • Lose the plastic cup
  • Speak rather than email
  • Smile when you answer the phone

If you’re interested to “Change the World 9 to 5” or are just interested more to learn about it – I’ve stumbled upon this website. Small action x Lots of people = BIG CHANGES.  Have a look – and tell me – what small actions will you be doing today?

Fresh Pasta with Pumpkin, Pine Nuts and Goat Cheese

Serves 4

  • 400 grams fresh pasta (a recipe can be found here)
  • 30 ml olive oil
  • 1/2 onion, diced
  • 500 grams peeled and cubed pumpkin (I used Japanese pumpkin variety)
  • 50 grams mascarpone
  • 50 grams pine nuts, toasted
  • 75 grams goat cheese, crumbed
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and saute the onions over low heat until translucent (around 5 minutes). Add some salt and pepper as well.
  2. Add the pumpkin to the pan and continue to cook for around 20 or so minutes until the pumpkin is soft enough such that you can mash it with the back of a wooden spoon.
  3. Using a stick blender or food processor, blend the pumpkin/onion mixture until smooth and then add the mascarpone. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
  4. Toss the pumpkin sauce over fresh pasta and serve with toasted pine nuts and crumbed goat cheese.

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Boo! Tortelli di Zucca & The Wicked Witch of Pasta

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on October 20, 2009| 22 Comments »

Tortelli di Zucca

Tortelli di Zucca

A food post in October/Halloween  is not complete without at least one pumpkin recipe correct?  So here’s my favourite pumpkin recipe.  When I learned to make fresh pasta a few years ago, the first “filled” pasta we learned to make was the Tortelli di Zucca.  I still remember the lady who taught me to make pasta.  We were in a class of 10 students and she was an Italian lady from Emilia Romagna.  She was absolutely militant that there was one and ONLY ONE way to make pasta.  She would have been a great witch for halloween! haha!

No halloween is complete without a costume!  So here is one of me and my family.  Can you guess which costume I’m wearing?

Can you guess who I am in the photo?

Can you guess who I am in the photo?

She said you had to place the flour on the a wooden surface, make a well in the middle of the pasta, crack the eggs into the well and “scramble” the eggs and then slowly incorporate the flour.  Anyone in the class caught doing otherwise would always get reprimanded and, as I guess passionate Italians are, she wasn’t shy to reprimand!  I was half expecting her to take out a ruler and slap someone’s hand if caught not following directions…

Pumpkin puree, parmesan cheese, amaretti biscuits and home made pasta!

Pumpkin puree, parmesan cheese, amaretti biscuits and home made pasta!

In the end, I do have to admit that, being to several other pasta making classes, this is the one technique and recipe that I continue to go back to.

The filling, I have changed because looking at the original recipe, I realized there were no quantities.  I think we were expected to write down quantities as she talked but I must have forgotten. I was too scared to call her and ask for the recipe so… I can safely say that this is my variation on the Tortelli di Zucca and it tastes just as good as what we made that day in class!

DSC_0172

Recipe for Pumpkin Filling

  • 1 kilo pumpkin, peeled, seeded and chopped into pieces
  • 2 cups grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 1 amaretti biscuit, crushed
  • olive oil
  1. Place the pumpkin in a pan and drizzle some olive oil on top to prevent sticking.
  2. Pre heat the oven to 180c and bake the pumpkin for 40 minutes until soft
  3. Pass the pumpkin through a sieve and place in a bowl
  4. Add the cheese, egg and amaretti biscuit
  5. Fill the pasta sheets with the pumpkin filling and cover with another layer of pasta
  6. Shape and rest for a few minutes

For the pasta, the recipe can be found here.

DSC_0176

To serve:

  • 100 grams butter
  • a few sage leaves
  • a handful of crushed hazelnuts
  1. Heat some water until boiling and add salt.
  2. Cook the tortelli for 3 to5 minutes and drain, set aside in a warm place
  3. Heat the butter in a pan and when browned and foaming, add the sage leaves
  4. Remove the butter from the heat and pour over the pasta
  5. Add a handful of crushed hazelnuts before serving

Okay okay… the suspense must be killing you… let it be known that I CAN MAKE FUN OF MYSELF… here I am.  Did you guess correctly?

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

So sorry to C3PO, The Nurse, (Not so…)Minnie Mouse, The Overfed Indian and The Geisha (who is a bit too old to go trick or treating!!!) that I did not get photo approval ahead of time!

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