tagliatelle with roasted pumpkin sauce

I like using long, flat pasta not only for this sauce but whenever. And this is hardly a sauce, maybe it would be better to call it roasted pumpkin and walnut pesto. If you are using pumpkin puree from a can then no cooking is required. You simple blend all ingredients and wait for pasta to be ready.

Or when you bake a pumpkin leave some in a freezer and simply defrost when needed.

Put a large pan of water on to boil. When starts boiling season well with salt and cook the pasta (cook the pasta according to packet instructions). Amount of sauce serves 4, but you can use only few spoonfuls and leave the rest in a jar refrigerated until next time (if you decide to cook only for yourself)!

While pasta is cooking, make the sauce.

Ingredients

4 heaped tbsp pumpkin puree (roasted pumpkin puree)

2 handfuls of toasted walnuts

about 120ml milk

two slices of staled bread (use crust if you like)

one clove of garlic

grated Parmesan or Pecorino (about 40g)

about 3 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Place bread on a plate, get milk over it and let soaks in. Toast the nuts in a dry pan. Place walnuts, bread and milk and all other ingredients in a blender and mix until you have a thick sauce. Scoop the sauce out in a jar.

Take some cooking water out from the pan where pasta is cooking. Place drained pasta back in a pan and add the sauce. If you are cooking for yourself, 120g of pasta, use about 2 tbsp of sauce and 3-4 tbsp of cooking water. Adding cooking water helps the sauce adhere and makes sauce creamier. Toss everything and that’s it. Serve with fresh dill and chopped walnuts on top. 

her excellency Ms. Fig

My best memory of figs comes from an early childhood. We were quite young and we ate fresh figs only during summer holidays. Figs were reserved for hot summers spent on Adriatic coast. For a long time I thought one must go very far over land and seas in order to enjoy her excellency. And then one day, magic happened in my grandparents' backyard. Fig tree grew. It's still there, bigger then ever, showing off and producing pouches of 'hidden flowers'.

Apparently ficus family counts 700 varieties, but the perfect fig is the one picked from the tree and eaten right away. 

If you didn't know..

The fig is not strictly a fruit botanically. It is a ‘false fruit’, actually part of the stem of the tree that becomes a fleshy bag for the flowers and seeds. These develop inside and never see the light of day. So when you are eating a fig you are munching on hidden flowers! This is perhaps what gives it its unique texture.

Figs on toast

An early morning cooking session. Actually almost no cooking required.

fresh figs

ricotta cheese/fresh goat cheese *fresh goat cheese works magically

sage honey

fresh sage

Toast bread for about 2-3 minutes.

Spread ricotta over the toast and top with few fig slices. Drizzle with honey and place fresh sage leaves on top. Simple and sinful!

mini watermelon

Mini watermelon

Wishes for the endless summer might come true. In my happiness I remain motionless. I am unaware of what will happen. I do not open the curtains. I cut watermelon and let myself disappear while I am listening the murmur of the endless summer.