Tag: peel

Pumpkin: the peel is not thrown away – Italian Cuisine

Have you ever tried the peel of pumpkin baked? And have you ever served a risotto inside a warm steaming and soft pumpkin? This and other ideas in an article about this season's best vegetable.

How to clean the pumpkin

Pumpkin is the autumn vegetable par excellence, but some people are afraid because it seems difficult to clean and cut, having a hard and irregular skin. First we want to tell you that it is not always necessary to peel it, because the pumpkin can even be cooked whole in the oven or sliced with the peel, as you will read in the following recipes. However, if you only need the pulp, then first wash the pumpkin under running water to remove any soil residue, dry it and then cut it in half with a long, sharp knife. At this point, cut it again into slices and remove the seeds. Leave the slices thick enough to cut the peel better. Place them on a cutting board and remove only the hardest part with the knife. Always keep your fingers away from the blade because this work is rather delicate.

How to recycle pumpkin skins

As in rural tradition, waste is not thrown away in the kitchen, but recycled. Pumpkin skins, for example, are excellent to cook in a soup. Did you know? And also additions in jams they give an extra touch of taste and creaminess. If you want to prepare them in the oven with other vegetables, boil them for about 30-40 minutes and then drain them and season them with oil, salt and aromatic herbs and cook them at 200 ° for about 20 minutes. Try them in combination with carrot skins, other excellent scraps to be reused in the kitchen.

Whole baked pumpkin

If you want to cook a whole pumpkin in the oven the ideal quality to choose is the Avalon, which weighs around 2 kg and manages to fit perfectly inside the appliance thanks to its small size. Just wash it very well and cut the shell. You can also leave the seeds inside and remove them after cooking, or you can do it immediately. Then make incisions in the pulp with a small knife and a sharp blade. Place the pumpkin on a sheet of parchment paper or aluminum or inside a baking dish and let it cook for about an hour at 200 °. The whole pumpkin can be a perfect container for a risotto, for a short pasta or for creams and dishes based on meat or cheese; and if you find pumpkins that are not too large, you can also serve them as single portions. Obviously, use the oven-cooked pulp to prepare the seasoning of risotto or pasta or add it to other dishes if you want to use the vegetable only as a container. If the pumpkin is small and remains soft even outside, you can eat it all, including peel!

Pumpkin sliced in the oven with the peel

For this type of preparation you need a pumpkin with a rather soft skin Delica. Just slice it not too thinly and cook it in the oven with parchment paper for 15-20 minutes at 200 °. It is excellent simply seasoned with oil and aromatic herbs, but if you love the contrast between sweet and savory try it with Maldon salt, liquid honey and aromatic herbs (thyme and rosemary).

Pumpkin without baked peel

If you want to prepare a pan of baked vegetables mixed with pumpkin, then peel it off and add it to the rest. It is very good in combination with some seasonal vegetables such as radishes, red turnips, onions and celeriac. Always with the peeled pumpkin slices you can prepare a kind of very tasty parmigiana. Just alternate thin slices of pumpkin with taleggio cheese, mozzarella, parmesan and aromatic herbs to taste in a baking dish. Complete with Parmesan and butter flakes and bake in the oven at 200 ° for 25 minutes. A second course, but also an easy and quick side dish that will amaze your guests.

What to do with pumpkin seeds

Never throw them away! They are an excellent snack-breaker, light and low in calories and a source of magnesium, zinc and selenium. They also do good for the heart because they reduce the levels of bad cholesterol in the blood. You can cook them in the oven or in a pan, but first it is very important to wash them thoroughly and dry them. Then place them in a baking pan with oil, salt, and spices such as paprika or curry and cook at 150 degrees for 50 minutes. If you prefer to cook in the pan instead, dress them with a little oil and let them toast over medium-low heat for about an hour.

Recipe Frosted cedar peel – Italian Cuisine

Ingredients

Duration:

Level: Easy

Dose:

For the recipe of frosted cedar peel, cut the cedar peel into small pieces, also keeping the white part. Mix the peels in a bowl with the sugar, pressing them lightly, so that the sugar adheres well.
Put the peels on a plate lined with baking paper, cool them in the freezer for 30 minutes, then serve.

In vegan cuisine now recipes with banana peel go crazy – Italian Cuisine

Unbelievable, but true: thanks to an American blogger, vegan recipes based on banana peel are now the new viral trend in vegan cuisine

There banana peel, waste food generally destined for the garbage can, could be the next vegetable and vegan alternative to animal meat. This new fashion was launched and made viral by the well-known Canadian food blogger Melissa Copeland by The Stingy Vegan. His recipe of pulled pork sandwich with banana peels instead of the usual and popular jackfruit has become not only a media case, dividing the web into two, but has given way to a long series of vegetable recipes that have this bizarre ingredient as a protagonist. From burgers to meatballs, to vegan bacon, the recipes based on peels go crazy on the web and seem to convince even the most skeptical.

Is the banana peel the new jackfruit?

The banana peel, recently promoted to an ingredient thanks to this brand new vegan trend, is actually a food widely used both in the cuisine of Southeast Asia and South America, particularly in India and Venezuela. If in India you could in fact come across vegetable curries or rich recipes based on vegetables and coconut milk, in Venezuela the banana peels are replaced with those of plane trees, usually boiled and sautéed in a pan with other ingredients. In the vegan universe, however, the banana peel they have become popular especially in the greedy vegan version of pulled pork, that is the US branded sandwich made from shredded pork, barbecue sauce and various seasonings.

From vegan pulled pork sandwich to vegan bacon

The basic preparation for this new vegan variant of pulled pork sandwich, which can also be used for other plant-based recipes and which recalls the previous fashion of the jackfruit, it is quite easy and takes half an hour at the most. First, peel the banana and, using a teaspoon, delicately remove all residues. The next phase, the most laborious, is that of the fraying: Using a fork or knife, the skins should be reduced to vertical threads. The next phase is the marinating, which requires the skins to be left immersed for a few minutes in a mixture of spices and sauces, including cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, BBQ sauce and maple syrup. As soon as they are seasoned, the banana peels must be cooked in a pan with some water for 5-10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets and the level of maturity of the banana used.
What you get at the end is a surprisingly soft and richly flavored base dish, which does not remember the banana at all, but which can rather make you think of marinated vegetables.

In addition to the classic marinated dishes, such as the pulled pork sandwich or vegan strips in BBQ sauce, banana peels are also suitable for other variations of meat-based preparation with strong flavors.
Among the many options shared by vegan food bloggers and food lovers are, for example, the vegetable meatballs and the vegan version of bacon and tuna, two plant-based recipes already very popular on the web and with many variations.
We just have to wait and see if this vegan trend will really take hold or if it will slip away quickly, like when we fall on a banana peel.

Photo: vegan burger pulled pork with banana_chefjanapinheiro.jpg
Photo: vegan banana peels trend_Pixabay.jpg