For 2 portions

200 g squid
2 strips of bacon
50 g panko breadcrumbs
1 clove of garlic
30 g feta cheese
1 Hokkaido pumpkin
1 tbsp of red curry paste
1 tbsp chopped basil
1 tbsp parsley
50 ml whipping cream
200 ml milk
2 tbsp sugar
150 g butter
salt, pepper

First, clean the squid. I chose smaller ones, but if you want to make it easier buy a little bigger (pre-cleaned tubes are available too). Rinse the insides with water, pull out the dirt and cut out the head from the tentacles right under eyes. The next step is to prepare the filling. Cut the bacon in small pieces and fry it to golden brown. Add the breadcrumb, little butter and finely grated garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Add finely chopped basil and parsley. Pour in 50 ml whipped cream, add feta and mix well. Fill the squid up to ¾ and close it with a tooth pick to keep the filling inside.

Now prep the pumpkin. You don’t have to peel it, just cut it in half and spoon out the pulp with the seeds. Slice the flesh to smaller pieces, sprinkle with sugar and salt and put a little bit of butter on each piece. Bake at 180 degrees for about 25 minutes until soft. Heat a little bit of olive oil in the pan, add the curry paste and fry off. Add the roasted pumpkin, milk and let it boil. Mix with the blender and add the rest of the butter. Season with some honey.

In the end, fry gently the stuffed squid in hot oil: it takes about 2 minutes and just before the end, add the tentacles. After cooking let it rest for minute and cut to a smaller pieces. Garnish with some purée, fresh basil and edible flowers! Enjoy!

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For 2 portions

1 hokkaido pumpkin (around 500 g)
1 egg
100 g flour (semolina or farina)
50 g butter
20 g grated parmesan
1 bird’s eye chilli
1 pear
30 g pumpkin seeds
50 g gorgonzola
80 ml whipping cream
20 g parsley
5 ml pumpkin oil
10 ml honey
salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon
piping bag
silicone baking mat or baking paper and cling film
bamboo steamer

First, wash the pumpkin, cut it in half and deseed it. Cut the pumpkin in smaller pieces, drizzle over with honey, add the chilli cut in half, add olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Move the mixture to a tray – it is better to use a baking paper or a silicone mat (I highly recommend you to buy one, it’s great).

Bake on 160 degrees until soft, it takes about 25 minutes. Remove the chilli and blend the pumpkin until smooth. Add the egg yolk, melted butter and blend again. Add the parmesan, flour and continue to blend the mixture (lol, yeah, it does get repetitive, but it has results). The consistency is a little sticky, don’t be afraid though, it’s fine! Move the mixture to the piping bag and get ready for the next step, yey!

Mix the pumpkin seeds together with whipped egg white and salt, move the mix to a tray and bake it in the oven. The temperature can be the same, but leave it there for only 10 minutes. Let it cool down and break into various pieces. It’s a cool decoration and and least you get to use the egg white: we all know how it looks in the fridge after a few days, right?

Back to gnocchi, as we need to cook them now: I like to use a bamboo steamer. Cut out rounds out of cling film (preferably the size that fits the steamer). If you make the rounds double, they will retain shape much better. Put the rounds into the steamer and use the piping bag to create lines about 1 cm thick – they will widen a bit.

Put the steamer with the dough in the fridge, so that it sets. It is quite important: the final shape will be much better. 10 minutes will be enough. Steam for 8 to 10 minutes and cool down again – we will sear the gnocchi later.

Cut the pear into shapes of your choice and drizzle with lemon, so that it doesn’t turn brown.

Prepare a little pot and put in the cream, half of the gorgonzola and let it simmer. Season with pepper. Save the remaining cheese for plating.

Cut the gnocchi in diamond shapes and sear them on some olive oil. Season with salt. They are slightly sweet, but gorgonzola is relatively salty, so the balance is good. Add some thinly sliced lemon zest (or use a zester).

Arrange the gnocchi on the plate, add the cream, fresh pear, gorgonzola, baked pumpkin seeds and some parsley leaves. It is a lovely dish of many textures and good for vegetarians, too! Enjoy 🙂

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For 2 portions:

400 g pork belly
20 g ginger
20 g garlic
1 bird’s eye chilli
100 ml soy sauce
200 ml red wine
20 ml fish sauce
300 butternut squash
250 ml coconut milk
10 g yellow curry paste
30 g onion
300 ml milk
50 g peanuts
10 g brown sugar
50 g cucumber
20 g cilantro
20 g honey
20 g butter
a few drops of pumpkin oil
salt and pepper

First, prepare the marinade. Mix the soy sauce, fish sauce, chilli, thinly sliced ginger, whole garlic and red wine. Marinate the meat overnight (or as long as you can).

Cook the pork belly until tender, it will take about 90 minutes. When it’s ready, take it out and let it cool down. You can even press it between two sheets of baking paper – it will preserve its shape better. So just weight it down with something in the fridge. Strain the marinade and reduce it to a sirup. Add honey and butter – we will glaze the individual portions later.

Peel the pumpkin and cut it into 1 cm dices, all the pieces should be approximately the same size. Put a bit of oil in a hot pan and sauté the pumpkin until golden (at this point save aside about one third for plating). Add sliced onion and continue sautéing. Add the curry paste and continue for a bit longer. Pour in the milk and let it cook for 10 minutes. Add the coconut milk and season with salt. Blend the mixture and if needed, balance the seasoning with salt and sugar.

The purée should be creamy, slightly sweet and about the same consistency as potato purée. If you like, you can add some chilli – we used habanero.

Cut the pork belly into portions, sear it from all sides and add the reduced marinade that we cooked it in. Slowly glaze the meat until it has a great dark colour.

Cut the cucumber into small dices – it will give the dish a lovely crunchy texture and freshness.

Roast the peanuts in a dry pan until they start catching colour. Add salt, brown sugar and let the nuts caramelize. It takes only a moment. Cool down the peanuts and chop them roughly. Beware, this is an ideal snack that won’t be unnoticed..

And voila, we can serve! Put the meat on the plate, add pumpkin purée, pieces of pumpkin, cilantro, cucumber and pumpkin oil. Enjoy!

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