Pasta With Roasted Winter Squash, Pioppini Mushrooms and Baby Spinach

 This morning I woke up to a frosty world, white grass and icy roads. It was beautiful, cold and beautiful but had it been say three weeks ago I wouldn't have appreciated the beauty at all, now I enjoy it because I can feel spring in the air. No Italians do but I am Swedish, or maybe I should say Nordic, and have this gene of survival, the spring detecting gene, because if we didn't have it, we would never be able to survive the long, cold months of winter. So every little sign, be it birds tweeting, the sun rays slanting in a certain fashion or a certain feeling in the air, we catch it and just know in the deep of our souls that there is hope and we cling to that. And so do I, nothing can change that.

Last week I realized that I hadn't beed cooking anything with winter squash this year so I had no choice, winter squash it is. And Pioppini mushrooms too. I love these little cute, velvety mushrooms, they grow in such a beautiful way and they are a treat to photograph, I can't resist them as you can see! This pasta dish is made in a slightly different way than you usually make them, you roast the squash and the mushrooms in the oven while you cook the pasta and then toss it all in the oven form. I like it, I hope you do too!

PASTA WITH ROASTED WINTER SQUASH, PIOPPINI MUSHROOMS AND BABY SPINACH

serves 4

400-500 g/ 0,9-1,1 lb pasta

1 small winter squash

400 g/ 0,9 lb pioppini mushrooms or some other interesting mushroom you like

a bunch of fresh baby spinach

rosemary

black pepper

salt

juice of 0,5-1 lime

extra-virgin olive oil

   Peel and cut the winter squash into small cubes. Clean the mushrooms and put these together with the diced squash in an oven-proof form. Sprinkle rosemary over.

   Mix lime juice, you decide how much, salt, pepper and olive oil and then drizzle the mixture over squash and mushrooms, stir well and put in a pre-heated oven (200°C/390°F) for 15-20 minutes or as long as it takes for the squash to soften and get golden. Stir now and then.

   While the vegetables roast in the oven, cook the pasta, I suggest that you put in the vegetables in the oven a little before the water is about to boil. When you take out the form from of the oven, add the spinach leaves immediately and stir so the start wilting from the heat.  Drain the pasta and add it to the form, mix well and serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Always good to know a tangy tart - Polenta Tart With Lime, gluten-free and traditional versions

 Do you ever get a craving for a nice and tangy lemon cake? I do, there are a few flavours that have accompanied me through life and one of them is lemon. But sometimes I like to vary a little and I use lime instead. I have always liked the way lime looks, green is one of my favourite colours and yellow one of my least favourite but pale lemon yellow is nice, I could even think of using it as a colour on a wall. See how unfashionable I am but colours are far too important to me to be treated as fashion trends. Of course trends can inspire and make you discover new nuances or combinations but when I see all the homes on the interior decorating blogs I read for prop inspiration, I get a bit depressed really. So little of the personality of the people living there shines through not to talk about the order you see, it makes me feel uncomfortable and also a little inadequate because our home is no way close to these ideal homes. But you can be sure that I rather live in our chaos than in a place without personality although sometimes I long for and dream of huge empty spaces.

Rambling again, I was going to talk about lemon tarts or rather the Polenta Tart With Lime I have made for you. It is a tangy tart, exactly the kind my taste buds longed for. I have made both a gluten-free version and one traditional one too, well the only difference lies in the tart dough because the filling is the same, polenta and lime and a few other ingredients.

POLENTA TART WITH LIME, gluten-free and normal versions

gluten-free crust:
100 g / 3.5 oz salted butter
100 g / 0.42 cup sugar
1 egg+ 1 egg yolk
170 g/ 6 ounce fine polenta flour
100 g/ 3,5 ounce almond flour
1 tsp baking powder

traditional crust:
100 g / 3.5 oz salted butter
100 g / 0.42 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
400 ml /1.7 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder

filling:
3 big eggs
150 g/ 5,3 ounce sugar
4 tbsp fine polenta flour
1 tsp baking powder
3-4 tbsp lime juice, it is up to you how tangy you want it to be
grated zest of 3 lime

   Prepare the crust of your choice. First stir the butter and the sugar until smooth and then add 1 egg yolk or egg at a time. Add flour/flours and baking powder, work the dough until it keeps together. Press out the dough in a tart pan, I suggest one with a 25 cm/ 10 in diameter.

   Pre-bake the crust in a pre-heated oven (175°C/350°F).

   It is easy to make the filling, just whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl. Whisk it well and then pour it into the crust and bake in a pre-heated oven (175°C/350°F) for about 15-20 minutes, you have to check it. Don't bake too long as it gets dry, better try with a tooth pick or by pressing on the filling with your finger.

After a short break they are back - Links on Sunday

Last Sunday I just felt to tired to post my usual links but this week I am back. Nothing serious really but always something to idle away your time with if you have any to idle away. If not, take some time for it. The idling I mean, not necessarily for clicking on these links.

It is sad that they cannot be there for ever, at least they remain in photos

It took me a little to understand what it was all about

I love this idea, writing in colour.

And by now you know that I can't resist this kind of stuff.

I would really enjoy having this as a summer house right in the middle of nature

Who is having most fun-the father or the daughters??