A gorgeous pie that increases the freshness of local and seasonal products like squash, leeks and chestnut with a twist given by Phyllo pastry.

Not a personal creation, but a recipe I stole from Cristina Lunardini, an excellent Italian chef, a Romagnolo like me, who I admire, a model to me.

Fresh vegetables which can brighten up our Thanksgiving table or a rainy Sunday brunch; leeks, chestnuts and squash are offered in a new combination, a quite intriguing pie. With this dosage you can make two, you can serve them still warm from the oven or cook and freeze.

Prep Time: 30 minutes | Cooking Time: 50-60 minutes | Total Time: 90 minutes | Yield: Makes 12 servings.

Ingredients:

• 10 sheets of Phyllo pastry, thawed if frozen
• ¼ cup (35 g) corn starch
• 2¼ cups olive oil or unsalted butter, melted if you cannot find good quality olive oil

Ingredients for the filling

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 leeks, cleaned and cut into rings
• 0,65 pounds (300 g) butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and grated (using the biggest side of a four-sided grater) or finely chopped
• 7 oz (200 g) chestnuts, boiled and peeled
• 7 oz (200 g) creamy cheese (possibly chèvre) or Robiola cheese
• ½ cup (125 ml) milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 oz (60 g) grated cheese
• Sea salt and white pepper, freshly milled

Special equipment

2 plum-cake molds

Instructions

In a pan, brown slightly the leeks and add the squash as they turn into light gold (no more then 10 minutes, as all ingredients will be properly cooked in the oven)

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180 C).

Butter or oil a plum-cake mould.

In a bowl beat eggs with grated cheese, the creamy one and milk. Add salt and pepper and crumbled chestnuts.

Unfold the sheets of phyllo dough, lay the stack on a work surface, and cover with wax paper and then a damp kitchen towel to keep it from drying out. Remove 1 piece of phyllo, place it in the mold, and brush it with some oil (or butter). Continue in the same way with the phyllo and oil/butter until you have used the other 4 sheets of phyllo. Repeat with the other mold.

Move the filling from the pan to the bowl and fill the pies. Cover the tops with the flaps of the phyllo dough, intersecting them and making a kind of decorative pattern. Brush again with some fats.

Bake for 30-40 minutes.

Still excellent if served the day after, warm.

Usually “potage” and “sea” contradict each other. This recipe is connected to “land” ingredients like potatoes, leeks, and a lot of fresh cream.

I created this recipe when trying to exalt Autumn vegetables, and trying to propose something healthy but extremely stimulating. I have always been inspired by French cuisine, but the recipe of the normal potage sounded really a bit too rich with all that cream. I decided to keep potatoes and leeks, add squash and a good fish stock and prawns, and I have to admit that it is very appreciated.

This encounter of fresh ingredients, poor in calories and rich in vitamins and fibers, is an excellent way to taste an unusual dish, light but full of taste.

In Italy, there are other dishes, mainly first courses, that enhance squash, like butternut squash gnocchi, the Ferrara squash ravioli, the Mantua ravioli. This vegetable is wonderful and versatile, rich in fibers, minerals and increases the sensation of fullness, helping a lot for the diets.

While in traditional Italian first courses squash is processed and squeezed, here the labor is extremely reduced; the addition of prawns and chili pepper balances the sweet note of squash and leeks.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cooking Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes | Yield: Makes 4 servings.

Butternut squash is one of the many joys of the season: rain and cold temperatures are compensated by incredibly rich and comforting foods. It is another gift from the Americas, like potatoes.

Accompanied by a creamy Taleggio cheese sauce, this dish speaks about the valley crossed through the Po river, its fog, its chilly temperatures. In this discomforting weather, nevertheless, the inhabitants created a varied cuisine, sophisticated, that requires some manual skills but is a great source of satisfaction.

One of my personal favorites is this recipe of gnocchi: the great canonic recipe of gnocchi is enriched by the addition of Butternut squash. It is extremely versatile: the 00 flour can be easily replaced by the same quantity of gluten-free flour in order to create a dish which can be tasted by our celiac guests. It is important to underline that the temperature of potatoes and squash is fundamental: just tepid, not too hot, or it would require an excessive quantity of flour, nor too cold, or it would be very hard to knead. Still, for the egg intolerant or vegan tablemates, we can decide not to add the egg. We must be quite skilled, though, since the egg makes pasta easier to knead. (and of course, the Taleggio sauce should be replaced by a vegetables one.

This recipe, like many others, is a starting point for a journey in the pleasures of Autumn.

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cooking Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 2 hours | Yield: Makes 6 servings.

Ingredients for gnocchi