Pumpkin Perfection

Zucca treats are just in time for Halloween and Autumn

Halloween is almost here and that brings us to the vegetable associated with the season of ghosts and goblins: the pumpkin. This orange-coloured member of the Cucurbita family which includes squash and cucumbers is believed to have originated in North America. It was already a staple of the Native American diet when the white settlers arrived. From there on it became a popular North American vegetable which is most often associated with the Thanksgiving dessert, pumpkin pie.
So how and when did the Halloween connection come in? Well, the day dates back 2000 years ago to the Celtic celebration of dead ancestors whose souls were believed to return on the evening before November 1. It was the Irish who brought over the custom of carving out vegetables like turnips and potatoes and lighting them in honour of the dead. But then it was discovered that the pumpkin, both larger in size and easier to carve, would make the ideal symbol to ward off any evil spirits. Carved out with a scary face to keep evil away, and lit in honour of the dead, the Halloween pumpkin became christened the Jack-o-lantern after Irish folklore. According to the story, a notorious trickster named Jack tricks Satan into climbing a tree. Mischievous and clever, Jack carves an image of a cross in the tree's trunk, hence, trapping the devil up the tree. The devil agrees that he will never tempt Jack again if he promises to let him down. After Jack dies, both Heaven and Hell deny him entrance - Hell because he had tricked the devil, Heaven, because of his evil ways. However, the devil does provide Jack with a single ember to light his way through the frigid darkness.
While Halloween is not celebrated in Italy, Italians are no less passionate about their zucca than their North American counterparts. To show their enthusiasm, on the last weekend of October the twelfth-century walled city of Venzone (province of Udine, Friuli), presents a medieval festival dedicated to the pumpkin. In local restaurants, tastings of specialities last into the night, while during the day there are prizes for pumpkins of all shapes and size. Pumpkins come in many varieties of shapes and sizes: smooth-skinned, knobbly skinned, green, beige or orange-red, perfectly round, club-shaped, big and small. They all have slightly sweet, even nutty flesh, ranging in colour from yellow to deep orange and hard thick skins.
In Italy, zucca is the most widely used of the squashes and, like the rest, goes very well with lots of flavours such as pancetta, rosemary, and sage. It is one of those neutral vegetables which can be eaten both in savoury and sweet dishes.
Northern Italians in particular adore the vegetable and use it in many inventive and delicious ways. Piedmont's Zucca al forno is just the ticket for a cold autumn day. Here, a whole pumpkin is baked in the oven and the cooked flesh spooned out and eaten. Another favourite Piedmont pumpkin dish requires that the zucca is fried and then left to marinate with cooked onions and balsamic vinegar. In Veneto, zucche are served with pickles, and in Lombardy, the vegetable is used in risotto.
Both Emilia-Romagna and Mantua claim to be the inventors of a delicate stuffed pumpkin pasta called Tortelli di Zucca otherwise known as ravioli di zucca. Here, the pumpkin puree is mixed with chopped mostarda di frutta, a kind of piquant candied fruit. The stuffed pasta is then dressed with melted butter, Parmesan cheese, and sometimes sage. A perfect hearty autumn dish is pumpkin gnocchi, a delicious offering that hails from the region of Emilia-Romagna.
Northerners also like pumpkins in gratins, soups, or simply roasted in slices and served as a side dish. And who else but northerners could come up with pumpkin risotto, a popular dish in Piedmont and Lombardy.
And yes, you can even use pumpkin as an appetizer. For a perfect example there's Piedmont's and Lombardy's Zucca in Carpione or fried marinated pumpkin. Carpione usually involves pouring flavoured cooked vinegar on to previously fried food such as meat, fish or vegetables, and leaving it to marinate before using. In this pumpkin dish, use the skin of a yellow-orange pumpkin, plain white flour for dusting, olive oil for frying, along with balsamic vinegar, garlic cloves, basil leaves, and seasoning.
Southern Italians also get a lot of use out of the thick-skinned veggie. It is simply sliced, blanched and fried in Campania, while Sicilians use candied strips of zucca for making the ricotta and marzipan dessert, cassata Siciliana. Southerners also like to snack on dried pumpkin seeds. They are also enjoyed after being toasted and scattered over gratins or salads.

Publication Date: 2001-10-21
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=516