Pumpkin, soft and sweet, warm and inviting in colour, is one of the most versatile vegetables that has never been used to its fullest due to the laborious task in preparing the flesh for use.
Menu’ has done all the hard work and has left us with a puree’ of pumpkin that can be used in numerous ways from savoury to sweet recipes. With a little imagination wonderful Mediterranean and International dishes can be created.
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Pumpkin Risotto

Ingredients for 10 portion:

– 430g Pumpkin Sauce
– 22g Buon Brodo (makes 1lt Veg. Stock)
– 1 kg Vialone Nano Rice
– 2 Onions Finely Chopped
– 60 ml La Nonna Extra Virgin Olive Oil
– Salt & Pepper
– 150g Walnut Sauce
– 100g 5 Cheese Sauce
– 2 Glasses Dry White Wine
– 100g Freshly Grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Gently fry the onions until golden, add the rice to toast slightly and got transparent. Add a little wine and then slowly add the vegetable stock, a little at a time as the rice absorbs the liquid.
Half way through cooking, when the rice is still slightly hard, add the pumpkin sauce, walnut sauce and the 5 cheese sauce. Salt and pepper to taste.
Add the remainder of the wine.
Slowly finish the cooking the risotto until well
amalgamated and al dente. Add the parmigiano reggiano stir and leave to rest for a few minutes then serve.
You can trickle a little extra virgin olive oil on the portion of risotto that you are serving.
Please note, that if you are preparing the risotto in advance, after you have added the ingredients and the rice is still slightly hard, remove from heat and cool down quickly. Place in the refrigerator until
required. When ready to use, take the portion
required and finish off with the remainder of the stock and serve at once. This procedure allows you to serve a risotto in 5 minutes rather than keeping the customer waiting with excellent
results.

Pumpkin and Potato Gnocchi in a Tomato Sauce

Ingredients for 10 portions:

– 700g Gnocchi Powder
– 430g Pumpkin Sauce
– 1 Lt Water
– Salt & Pepper
– 600g Pomodorina
– 100g 5 Cheese Sauce

 

Mix the powdered Gnocchi with the pumpkin sauce and water. Knead well into a dough making sure there are no lumps. (Add a little flour if the dough is slightly wet). Roll out into long sausages and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.

Prepare the pomodorina with the 5 Cheese sauce and leave to one side. Add the salt and pepper to taste. Drop the gnocchi into salted boiling water. As soon as they rise to the top, remove with a strainer and toss in the sauce. Serve at once.