Creamy pasta with pumpkin and sage, step by step

The sage is flowering, and the flowers are edible!

I love to make a creamy pasta sauce with pumpkin, and sage is the perfect herb for it!

Cut about 500 g of pumpkin, into cubes, big and small. Sauté with olive oil for a few minutes, then add about 400 ml of vegetable stock and simmer for 20.

When the pumpkin is soft add about 200ml of cream, sage leaves (save the flowers for later) and black pepper. Simmer for other 10 minutes.

You can use the sauce immediately, or let it sit for a while, covered, to absorb even more sage flavour. I also like to break some of the bigger cubes with the spoon, for a creamier sauce (but always leaves enough pumpkin cubes visible).

Toss the cooked pasta in! I used 500g of fusilli here. Stir well to incorporate the sauce, and then top with the sage flowers. Not only they are beautiful, but they also taste great!

 Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

 

Strangolapreti (Strozzapreti), with silverbeet, onion weed and sage flowers

I had lots and lots and lots of silverbeet and Swiss chard in the garden, I filled a big basket and though of a recipes to use them all, plus the omnipresent onion weed, plus flowering sage. Strangolapreti is a type of gnocchi made either with spinach or with silverbeet, plus bread crumbs or stale bread. 

First divide the leaves from the stalks and wash well (the stalks will be used in a different recipe)

Then cook the leaves with a little water and a pinch of salt, drain, add the raw onion weed (well washed) and blend.

Place into a bowl, add a couple of tbsp of grated Parmigiano, and some breadcrumbs, enough ti get a soft dough. If using stale bread grate it to breadcrumbs (if very dry), or soak it in milk and break it up, if not dry enough to grate. Add salt and pepper to taste, and if you like add one egg (it will keep the 'gnocchi' more 'together'. 

Shape into longish gnocchi, more or less the size of a cotton bobbin. 

Bring a pot of water to the boil, add salt and then turn the heat down to a gentle simmer. Add the strangolapreti one by one, and if you have big quantities cook just a plate at the time. They will loose some green bits during cooking, but not their shape (unless you did something wrong!) Pick them up when they rise to the surface and place them in a plate.

Drizzle with butter, melted in a pan with a few sage leaves, and sprinkle with fresh sage flowers (and onion weed flowers too, if you like). Add more Parmigiano and serve hot.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Sage flower butter

Sage flowers are beautiful and have a delicate taste of sage, lighter than the leaves. They are perfect for sprinkling on food like risotto, pasta, bean salads and roasted vegetables. I also like to make sage flower butter, which is also a way to make the petals last longer (sage butter will keep in the fridge for a couple of months, depending on the expiring date of the butter, of course!). There are two ways to make this: one is to melt the butter completely (a bit like making ghee) and then insert the flowers little by little while the butter is cooling, and then pour it into a container before it is completely solid. This way you loose a little aroma, but the butter lasts longer. The other is to soften the butter at room temperature and then work the flowers in with a fork or spatula, and then roll the butter up into a log and refrigerate. I love this but then I end up using too much butter as it is so good on warm bread...). In either cases every time you need a bit of flavoured butter you can just cut it or scoop out (in the photo I used an old butter curler I got from Italy). Flowers have less flavour than leaves, but the the petals melts in your mouth, making it ideal for those who find sage leaves a bit too tough.

My favourite way to use sage flower butter is on fresh tagliatelle, and then you need just a bit of Parmigiano and you are done! Delicious!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Do you know the name of these Campanula flowers, and Vegan chocolate pudding with strawberries and edible flowers

Sue gave me these beautiful flowers, the purple ones smell like honey, so delicious!

I believe that they are a type of Campanula (bell flowers), but I don't know the exact name. 

Do you?

Vegan chocolate pudding with strawberries and edible flowers

Arantxa picked flowers from the garden: roses, lavender, sage, violets and nasturtiums 

 I made my trusted vegan chocolate pudding, and since we are in season I wanted to top it with some strawberries, and maybe some flowers too? So I asked Arantxa to look after this.

For 4 puddings:

500 ml oragnic soy milk (I use Vitasoy, either Original, Milky or Calci Plus)

2 tbsp raw sugar

1 heap tbsp cocoa (the better the cocoa the better the flavour, so don't go for cheap baking cocoa, but for 'hot chocolate' quality)

1 tbsp cornflour

Natural Vanilla essence (or a little cinnamon if you prefer)

Strawberries and edible flowers to finish.

Dissolve the dried ingredients with a little soy milk to make a paste, then add the rest of the milk and mix well. Put on the stove on low and, always stirring, bring to simmering point. Make sure that you stir well, especially around the borders and bottom of the pot, so that the pudding has a smooth consistency. As soon as it start thickening turn the element off, add the vanilla essence (if using) and keep stirring until it has cooled down a bit. Divide into 4 dessert ramekins or small bowls (or teacups) and refrigerate. Cut the strawberries and place over the puddings, then add the petals of edible flowers (I think that maybe there was a bit much here, with lots of lavender, rose and sage aromas… but it was definitely a very perfumed dessert!).

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Asparagus and onion weed soup with flowers

This is so easy to make, but looks impressive and tastes delicious.

Ingredients

1 big agria potato

1 bunch asparagus

3-4 onion weeds with flowers

1 l vegetable stock

nasturtium flowers and baby leaves

sage flowers

violet flowers

Peel the potato and cube. Clean the asparagus, remove the woody stalk ends and cut into small pieces keeping the tips aside. Clean the onion weed, set the flowers aside and cut the stalks. Place potato, asparagus spares and onion weed stalks in a pot with the vegetable stock and simmer until all the veggies are soft. Add the asparagus tips and blanch. Remove the asparagus tips and blend the rest of the soup. Serve and top with the whole asparagus tips, decorate with nasturtium flowers and baby leaves, sage flowers, violet flowers and onion weed flowers. Eat everything!

Have a happy long weekend (if you are in NZ)!

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©