This warm winter salad, with roasted pumpkin, spinach, baby roasted tomatoes and mozzarella, drizzled with balsamic is a wonderful and healthy vegetarian option…
Words, recipe and photo © Mario Matassa
Naturally, when we think of pumpkin, we tend to visualise the large orange head-shaped variety, perfectly suited for carving scary faces. In my local supermarket, this variety, the American pumpkin, tends to be stocked for a week or so towards the end of October, never to be seen again for another year.
More commonplace is the local variety, the zucca berrettina piacentina, which is a dark green, sometimes greyish colour, flat and irregular shaped. It’s similar to the famed Mantovan pumpkin, also known as the cappello del prete (priest’s hat).
Other commonly found varieties include the zucca marina di Chioggia, typical of the Veneto area, which is grey-green in colour and looks like it is covered in warts. Whilst I readily admit that is not a particularly appetising description, it has a superbly sweet flavour and is widely sought after as a stuffing for pasta and for making gnocchi.
The list of dishes that can be, and are, created with pumpkin in Italy, is beyond imagining. Just to mention a few of the more common usages, many consider it a must in their daily bowl of minestrone.
Alternatively, if you don’t have other vegetables to hand, it can be simply cooked, preferably with a couple of potatoes, and whizzed into a vellutata (a creamy pumpkin soup). Topped with a thick dollop of mascarpone, it’s a firm favourite in my household.
As an appetiser, roasted pumpkin chips compete with the Italian version of a savoury pumpkin pie. The addition of a piquant gorgonzola contrasts perfectly with the sweetness of the pumpkin.
It also makes for a great snack in between meals. For a non-vegetarian option, a little pancetta can be added to the mix.
As far as main courses are concerned, the tendency in Italy is to simply roast the pumpkin and serve as a contorno (side). For the more adventurous, a warm winter salad, with spinach, baby roasted tomatoes and mozzarella, drizzled with balsamic is a wonderful and healthy vegetarian option.
Pumpkin, baby tomato and mozzarella salad | Insalata di zucca, pomodorini e mozzarella
➤ SERVES: 4
➤ PREPARATION: 15 minutes
➤ COOKING: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
- 300g fresh spinach
- 400g pumpkin
- 200g radicchio rosso
- 250g ciliegine di mozzarella
- 300g cherry tomatoes
- 100ml balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- extra-virgin olive oil
- sea salt and pepper
Method:
- Cut the pumpkin in half and carefully slice into wedges. Leave the skin on. Place the pumpkin into an oven dish, add a few tablespoons of olive oil, sprinkle with salt and bake the pumpkin for 40 minutes, until soft. You will need about 3 or 4 slices per person, depending on how thick you cut them.
- While the pumpkin is in the oven, prepare the balsamic reduction. Simply pour the balsamic vinegar into a saucepan, add the sugar and reduce until about half the volume.
- Approximately 10 minutes before the pumpkin is cooked, add the cherry tomatoes to the dish, lightly seasoned. Once cooked, allow to cool slightly while you prepare the plates.
- Wash the spinach and the radicchio and chop roughly. Arrange evenly on 4 plates. Add the pumpkin slices, the tomatoes evenly divided and 4 or 5 mozzarella balls per person. Drizzle liberally with extra-virgin olive oil, season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper and, finally, a drizzle of balsamic. Serve with a crusty ciabatta bread.
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