Five recipes to enjoy Delica pumpkin

The Delica pumpkin has always been a true reserve of vitamins, minerals, sugars, and easily digestible vegetable fats, especially during the toughest periods of our Italian history. A nourishing and warming vegetable with a strong energy potential. A product where nothing goes to waste. Here we present some classic ways to use Delica pumpkin from north to south of our Beautiful Country, five simple recipes to indulge and have fun in the kitchen.

Salty pumpkin seeds: let’s start with the heart of the pumpkin. The pumpkin seeds are delicious, a perfect appetizer if you have friends and want to impress with simplicity. Just wash the pumpkin seeds well and remove the filaments. Then, coat the wet seeds in a plate with salt (we recommend using coarse sea salt like Cervia or Marsala and crushing it with a meat mallet to make it finer). The salt will stick to the pumpkin seed shells. Then place them on parchment paper and lay them on a baking tray. Put them in a preheated oven at 200°C for 10-15 minutes. Stir them occasionally. You can serve them both warm and cold with a good glass of white wine, a Valdobbiadene and Conegliano Superiore Prosecco DOCG would be great.

Oven-baked pumpkin. It was a delight for us kids when mom prepared the sweet Delica baked pumpkin. Simply cut thin slices of pumpkin and arrange them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Place them in a preheated oven at about 150°C for 10-15 minutes (the time also depends on the thickness of the slice, normally about 5mm). They can be garnished with sweet spices, cinnamon, nutmeg, turmeric, ginger, with acacia honey, with creamy cheese or ricotta mixed with a pinch of sea salt. They are also great garnished with a few drops of IGP Balsamic Vinegar of Modena or, even better, with Tradizione di Modena and Reggio Emilia Vinegar. There is plenty of room for creativity. For Halloween, you can also create molds in the shape of a pumpkin face to cover with concentrated tomato sauce, to give it more of a... thriller feel!

Pumpkin gnocchi. Let’s add some color to our dishes! Take 300g of good gnocchi potatoes with a compact and starchy pulp, 180g of Delica pumpkin pulp, stone ground organic white flour type 1, fine sea salt. After boiling the potatoes and roasting the pumpkin in the oven (boiling it in water would lose too much flavor and nutritional value), add a pinch of salt and a bit of flour, just enough to make the dough workable. Not too much—better if the potato flour acts as a binding agent. Knead for at least 3 minutes and then cut the gnocchi. At this point, you can simply dress them with butter and sage, or with some sweet pecorino from Pienza and freshly ground pepper, with scallops and zucchini flowers if you want to go gourmet, or with some good Gorgonzola dolce DOP.

Risotto with pumpkin. Better creamy! It’s an old tradition from the Venetian plains where Vialone Nano rice dominates. A rice that has a great balance between fiber and starch and allows for excellent creamy risottos. With pumpkin, it’s a must! How to make it? The classic recipe calls for using 320g of Vialone Nano rice, 300g of Delica pumpkin, 1 liter of vegetable broth, 80g of butter, 1 onion fresh chopped parsley, 40g of Parmigiano Reggiano DOP, fine sea salt, and white pepper. First, we cook the pumpkin pieces in the oven until they’re firm and sweet. Then, we sauté the finely julienned onion in a saucepan with butter (you can also use freshly pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil, considering the season). Add the roasted pumpkin pieces, a pinch of fine sea salt, and cover with a lid. Cook until all the pumpkin has melted in the saucepan. Then, prepare the rice. First, toast the rice in another saucepan with a drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The toasting is done when you can no longer hold the rice grain due to the high temperature reached. At that point, add the pumpkin mixture from the saucepan and stir in the broth, ensuring the rice is always covered, until fully cooked. A few minutes before finishing cooking, stir in a bit of butter or with Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Filling for Mantovani pumpkin tortelli. This is a filling that works well for tortelli, for caramelle, for agnolini, in short, for a variety of stuffed fresh pasta or other products. The ingredients are 300g of Delica pumpkin pulp, 100g of amaretti, 30g of Mantovana Senapata mustard, 200g of Parmigiano Reggiano DOP, 60g of butter. First, we need to make the pumpkin cream with a mixer after cooking the pumpkin in the oven or steam. Once we have the puree, add finely crushed amaretti, then add the mustard, a pinch of nutmeg, salt to taste, and finally the Parmigiano Reggiano, which will thicken the filling. Once the mixture is ready, keep it in the refrigerator for about three hours. Et voilà, the gourmet creation with Delica pumpkin is served!

S&M