On the kitchen table… a couple of pumpkins we bought from a farmer’s roadside ute near Esk. I love being able to buy straight from a farm ingredients that are in season at their peak and pumpkins even have autumn colours! These will help make many meals but my first thought was pumpkin and ricotta crespelle with crispy sage leaves and a little Parmigiano on top. (Luckily Roger is a fine maker of crespelle, crepes, or scrippelle as they’re called in Abruzzo.)
For centuries in Abruzzo, pumpkins have remained a significant part of folklore and the farming calendar with late autumn being a time of reconciliation and thankfulness when harvesting is over. With the end of the growing seasons and the ‘dead’ of winter ahead, it’s also a time of acknowledging those before us, now gone. Cocce de morte (death heads) are carved from pumpkins and a candle lit inside to illuminate them, welcoming past loved ones to join those present back at their houses and tables for a feast from the harvests. With its roots in pagan times there is dancing, singing, bonfires, gratitude, new wine and plenty to eat and, of course, pumpkins! A lovely tradition melding the past, the present and acknowledging what the earth and hard work can provide. Zoë x
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Zoë Boccabella 