Doc V's Healthy Kitchen

Last week we were still wearing a bikini and having meals outside. Today I’m covered in a warm hoodie 😏. I’m a true sun lover, but what is more magical than the change of season, as long as it doesn’t rain a whole week.

New season, and thus other cooking styles.

If you want a healthy, vegetarian meal to prepare in advance, this could be the one: a pie with squash, porcini and chickpeas.

For 4p, 1 good tasting pumpkin of approximately 1 kilo, 600 grams of fresh local porcini ( other mushrooms can be used, but the ones with a lot of soil are the best 😉, 1 can of chickpeas, garlic of course, 1 onion, lemon, sundried oregano, cumin seeds and 1 round puff pastry.

Start with the pumpkin. Remove the skin and seeds. Chop in cubes of 2-3 cm. Put in a large round oven dish. Mix with oil. Bake in the oven at 180° for approximately 40 mins. Halfway, stir and add 4 chopped garlic cloves, 1 chopped onion, 2 table spoons of sundried oregano, 2 teaspoons of cumin seeds, and 1 chopped chili.

Clean and chop the porcini. Bake in a mixture of butter and olive oil until almost ready.

Mix pumpkin with porcini and 1 drained can of chickpeas. Add the zeste of 1 lemon, pepper, salt, a handful of chopped fresh parsley and some lemon juice if you prefer.

Cover the oven dish with a round, readymade puff pastry. Brush some egg yolk on the pastry. Bake in the oven at 200° for 25 minutes, until the puff pastry has become golden brown.

Serve with the best salad* ever.

PS * green salad plus a few chopped dates (1 pp) marinated for at least 30 minutes with 1 small chopped red onion in some red wine vinegar, some bread cubes (roasted with a drizzle of olive oil and 1 chopped garlic clove) and some extra olive oil.