Halloween dinner: a pumpkin-based menu

    The spookiest night of the year is approaching and between a trick and a treat, in line with our all-green style, we have decided to offer you, after giving you a taste with pumpkin and nutmeg cannoli, a Halloween menu, to amaze your friends with a dinner like true sorcerers!



    He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

    "Tremble, tremble, the witches are back!" The spookiest night of the year is approaching and between a trick and a treat, in line with our all-green style, we have decided to offer you, after having given you a taste with cannoli with pumpkin and nutmeg, a Halloween menu, to impress your friends with a dinner for true sorcerers!



    If you have thought of organizing a themed evening, you must first of all take care to decorate your kitchen or dining room with typical masks and figures, to create a warm, engaging and witty environment; a pumpkin lantern will suffice, inside which you will place a candle, a bat-shaped centerpiece, a few ghosts here and there and that's it!

    At this point we need to focus on the menu!

    We will start with pumpkin soufflé, we will continue with a vegetarian-style first course, consisting of two courses: lasagna with pumpkin and parmesan flavored with herbs e wholemeal penne with pumpkin sauce. We will end with a sweet: a very delicate one pie, naturally based on the most popular Halloween vegetable! Not to your liking? Do you also prefer a second? Alternatively, you can also take a look at the Halloween menu proposed by wellMe.com.

    The doses for the preparation of the dishes on this menu are quantified for four people; if your guests are more numerous, all you have to do is increase the quantities of the various ingredients proportionally: from pasta to cheese, from pumpkin to herbs.

    PUMPKIN SOUFFLÈ

    Ingredients for the pie:
    70 g of butter
    50 g of parmesan
    3 eggs
    50 g flour
    100 g of fresh ricotta
    100 g of pumpkin
    a few tablespoons of corn flour
    a pinch of salt

    Ingredients for the sauce:
    200 g of pumpkin
    a pinch of salt
    a couple of tablespoons of oil



    The preparation

    Peel the pumpkin, remove the seeds and slice them. Put it in the pressure cooker and when the valve hiss begins, let it cook over low heat for about half an hour.

    When it has become very soft, blend it with a little of its cooking water. At this point add a couple of tablespoons of oil, a pinch of salt and let it cool. Your sauce is ready!

    For the pie the procedure is slightly longer: peel the pumpkin, clean it well from the seeds and, after having cut it into slices, cook it in a preheated oven a 200 degrees for about twenty minutes. Once this is done, let it cool for a few minutes, blend it and add the ricotta mixing everything well until you get a soft dough.

    Besides, whip the softened butter gradually adding the grated parmesan and a pinch of salt; gradually pour in both the flour and the eggs, continuing to mix everything well. Mount for a few more minutes, then add to the mixture pumpkin and ricotta previously amalgamated e put the cream obtained in buttered molds and lightly floured with corn flour. Bake in a preheated oven at 170 degrees for about ten minutes.

    After this time, take the soufflés out of the oven, let them cool for a few minutes, remove them from the molds and decorate them with the pumpkin sauce that you prepared at the beginning. Your appetizer is ready to serve!


    PUMPKIN LASAGNA WITH THYME AND MAJORANA SCENT


    Halloween dinner: a pumpkin-based menu10 slices of pumpkin
    a package of egg puff pastry
    cheese sauce
    chive
    oil
    500 ml of fresh cream
    150 g of parmesan
    3 eggs
    sale
    a pinch of thyme and one of marjoram

    It starts with the sauce ...

    Mix the grated parmesan cheese with cream and eggs, add salt and cook in a bain-marie, stirring slowly and continuously to obtain a thick cream. Then add a pinch of marjoram and one of thyme, which will give your sauce a delicate and intense aroma at the same time.

    In a separate pan fry in oil the ten slices of pumpkin cut into cubes, until they are soft to be able to pierce them well with a fork. At this point add the cream to the diced pumpkin that you have prepared.

    The sheets of pasta

    Take the egg puff pastry and cook for 4 minutes in boiling water, pass them under cold water to stop cooking and spread them out to dry on a dry and clean kitchen cloth.
    At this point, pour some oil on the bottom of a pan evenly, roll out the cooked egg pasta sheets, cover with the pumpkin cream mixture and arrange another layer of sheets; repeat this operation until you reach the edge of the pan, alternating pastry and filling as for a normal lasagna.

    TO REMEMBER!

    When filling your lasagna, be careful to distribute the cream of the sauce equally between the various layers; consider that you will normally be able to make four levels of pasta, so for each layer, calculate a quarter of the cream at your disposal.
    Once filled, sprinkle with chives and parmesan, put it in the oven for about ten minutes at 180 degreesie before serving, season it with a light cheese sauce and a drizzle of raw oil.

    WHOLEMEAL PENNE WITH PUMPKIN SAUCE

    Unlike lasagna, wholemeal penne are much faster and easier to make.
    You will need:
    320 g of wholemeal penne (or alternatively of normal penne)
    400 g of pumpkin
    1 onion
    200 g of spreadable cheese
    100 g of Parmesan cheese
    sale
    pepper
    1 sprig of rosemary
    extra virgin olive oil

    Clean the pumpkin, removing the peel, seeds and larger filaments, cut it into chunks and put it in a pressure cooker with a whole sprig of rosemary. Once the valve hisses, let it cook over low heat for about half an hour.

    Meanwhile, clean the onion, cut it into very thin slices and fry them in a pan with a little oil and a little water to soften them; add a little salt and pepper and cook for about ten minutes.
    When the pumpkin is ready (it must become a very soft mush), remove the sprig of rosemary, pour it into the pan and mix well with the onion helping you with a wooden spoon.

    In the meantime, you can start preparing the pasta. Once the penne is cooked, drain e add them immediately to the pumpkin mixture that you will whisk over low heat, adding the cream cheese. When the pasta is well blended with the cheese and pumpkin, sprinkle with Parmesan and serve!

    PUMPKIN AND CINNAMON TART

    For the preparation, you will need:
    300 g of shortcrust pastry
    800 g of pumpkin
    150 g of cane sugar
    3 eggs
    30 g flour
    cinnamon powder
    150 g of fresh cream
    1 tablespoon of powdered sugar

    Cut and clean the pumpkin from the seeds in order to obtain about 600 g of pulp, cut it into cubes, put it in a pan lined with kitchen paper e cook. Once cooked, leave to cool separately.

    At this point prepare the cream. Beat the eggs with the brown sugar, add the flour, add a few pinches of cinnamon, finally incorporate the cream pouring it slowly.
    Then roll out the pastry with a rolling pin on a sheet of baking paper, until it reaches a thickness of about half a centimeter. Transfer it to a pan that you will have lined with baking paper, put the cooked pumpkin cubes on the bottom and pour over the cream you have prepared. for about half an hour in the oven preheated to 180 degrees.

    Put in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for about 40 minutes, take out of the oven and let it cool completely. Before serving, remember to sprinkle with icing sugar, cinnamon or alternatively bitter cocoa.

    USEFUL ADVICE!

    If you are alone preparing the whole menu, first cook the dessert, which must be served cold, then the starter soufflé and the lasagna, which can also be quickly baked in the oven before being served, and finally the penne. which, on the other hand, require express cooking.

    And as always good appetite, indeed Happy Halloween!

    Verdiana Amorosi

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