Butternut Squash and Licorice Muffins / Muffins alla zucca butternut e liquirizia

Butternut squash mon amour. I started appreciating pumpkin and butternut squash quite late into my twenties, but since my father grows these vegetables in his garden I now cannot wait for the arrival of the cold season in order to taste sweet and savoury dishes cooked with this versatile ingredient. Its natural sweetness makes it an excellent ingredient for cakes and muffins so why not do a little experiment and combine it with one of my favourite ingredients ever? And here it is…the omnipresent liquorice! Needless to say the pairing is superb, these muffin are soft and sweet (but not too much). You can’t get any better than this!

Living On My Own, The Ultimate Comfort Food: Fried Polenta bites and Butternut Squash / Living On My Own, il cibo coccola per eccellenza: Cubetti di polenta fritta e zucca butternut

Autumn is finally here, with its warm colors and scent of damp earth, burnt wood and hot soups. Even though it is my favourite season I can’t deny its characteristic cold weather and leaden skies can have a melanchonic effect on the mood. Today’s recipe is mostly a remedy against autumnal melancholy, the ultimate comfort food for singles. Something you might want to eat on one of those lonely nights when you feel a bit down after a bad day at work, when its cold all around and inside your heart too. As a single woman sometimes I speculate about relationships, especially on those cold and lonely nights, envying a bit my friends who have a partner waiting for them at home.

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Trofie with Chestnut and pumpkin sauce / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Trofie alla salsa di castagne e zucca butternut

It has been quite a while since the last time I posted a fresh pasta recipe for Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook. My choice fell on a classic of Genoese cuisine, trofie, which are accompanied with two typical ticinese ingredient, pumpkin/butternut squash and chestnuts. There’s nothing more autumnal than this, and considered the cold weather nothing better than a good seasonal dish to warm our hearts and bodies isn’t it?

MTC Challenge February: Savoury strudel with Butternut squash, creamed Cassava, Bacon and Walnuts with Roquefort cheese Béchamel / MTC Challenge Febbraio: Strudel salato alla zucca butternut, crema di manioca, pancetta e noci con besciamella al Roquefort

MTC Challenge this month is being held at the home of Mari, aka Lasagna Pazza, who has challenged us with strudel. Now I will bother you once more by saying how much I love these challenges, every month living the anxiety and joy of a new culinary discoveries (a proper strudel made with homemade dough, not a plastic store bought version), breaking my head against the wall thinking about flavour pairing and seeking the right ingredients. Improving my skills. And I can not but be grateful.

Autumn Brioche Flower with Chestnut and Butternut Squash, a winner recipe / Fiore d’autunno alla castagna e zucca butternut, una ricetta vincente

Put together a contest, some seasonal ingredients, my brioche dough and shake until thoroughly mixed. The result? An extremely soft sweet bread and a first prize win. But let’s start from the beginning. Almost two months ago I stumbled into an article in Azione, a weekly newspaper by Migros which is one of Switzerland’s retail chains leader.

MTC American Breakfast Challenge: An Autumn Delight / MTC Challenge e la colazione all’americana: Una delizia autunnale

Few weeks ago, in one of my usual daily stroll into the blog universe I stumbled into Cranberry’s blog, drawn in by a very nice biscuit recipe. And as it happens more and more often I got lost into this “dark forest” of recipes (did I ever mention my love for Dante?). What a delight! I discovered raviole del plin and ended my journey onto MTC challenge’s. Nothing like a nice good old challenge to push me into a new recipe! I immediately wrote a mail to Alessandra who kindly accepted my enrollment into the MTC crew.