Hello team, good to have you back and glad I didn’t scare you off with my philosophical thoughts on soufflé last week because there is a lot more to come.
As you might have understood I love food, my nickname when I was younger was ‘ la petite poubelle’ (the little dustbin), I used to polish off all my of siblings’ plates, always. My passion for cooking came a little later thanks to my mother’s influence and it’s a big part of who I am. For a long time I struggled with defining what my cooking style and identity were. I felt a little like an imposter when posting about food as I felt I wasn’t being original enough. It’s only taken me 35 years to realise that embracing influences is not stealing, that’s just what creativity is about.
A friend recommended a fun little book recently called ‘ Steal like an artist’ and this sentence resonated so much with me:
‘If we're free from the burden of trying to be completely original, we can stop trying to make something out of nothing, and we can embrace influence instead of running away from it.’
Life is a journey of discovery and self-expression, and it makes so much sense to draw from various influences to shape your own unique style. I am not sure why I needed the reassurance about the fact I was not just stealing other peoples recipes but just inspiring myself from what I saw on Instagram, ate when I was out and remembered from my childhood. And that’s ok, that’s how every creative person refines their own personal style. Study your heroes they say.
So here I am today sharing with you my pumpkin recipe, and I say that because I have seen at least 10 different similar ones over the last weeks on various websites or Instagram pages. Mostly because it’s the season but also because I think pumpkin is very visual and everyone loves it.
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Copycat pumpkin
Light lunch for two or side for 4
Ingredients
1 small pumpkin, seeded, and cut into 1cm slices
1 burrata or good quality buffala (350gr), torn into pieces
50gr butter
100ml olive oil
5 garlic gloves crushed
Half lemon juice
A big handful of basil
A handful toasted cashew nuts
50gr grated Parmesan
Salt and pepper
Instructions
Preheat the Oven: Preheat your oven to 200°C
Prepare the Pumpkin: Place the pumpkin slices on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, salt and massage into the pumpkin with your hands. Spread them out in a single layer and roast for 20-25 minutes or until the pumpkin is tender and lightly golden.
Prepare the Pesto: While the pumpkin is roasting, prepare the pesto. In your blender, blitz the basil, parmesan, 2/3 of the cashews, lemon juice, 2 garlic cloves and salt. I like my pesto bitty and not too smooth.
Once the pumpkin is roasted, remove it from the oven. If you are preparing this dish in advance stop here until you’re ready to serve.
10 mins before serving, heat the butter in the pan and drop in the remaining garlic cloves. Let them cook but not colour for 3-4 mins. Add the pumpkin slices and remaining cashews to give them a beautiful golden finish (2-3 mins).
To serve, tear up the mozzarella (strain any excess liquid), spread out on the plate, add the pumpkin slices, nuts, garlic and the butter. Spoon over the pesto and garnish with a few little basil leaves. This dish can be enjoyed as a side or as a light main course.
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Recommendation of the week
I feel like changes, so instead of restaurant of the week, it’s going to be a recommendation of the week. It gives me freedom to share what I really liked that week.
So this week I will be sharing with you my top 3 Instagram food accounts, I go through phases but currently my favourites are:
Julius Roberts. Chef/ farmer - he cooks seasonal, accessible and very tasty recipes. His cookbook recently came out and is a great xmas gift for anyone into seasonal cooking.
Paul Delrez. The showman of the moment with his great reels. Love his recipes, love his music taste, love his energy. He just opened a restaurant in London in case you’re there.
Sophie Wyburd. The Queen of comfort food and much more than that. Her recipes are just one big hug.
You can thank me later for all this cooking inspiration.
Hope you have a great weekend x
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